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SkyKing's Donkey Kong Country 2 (SNES)
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| [February 21, 2008 12:05:50 AM]
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Gameplay 2:
After all these years, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is still amazing. Another hour of gameplay quickly turned into three more hours as my friend and I fought through level after level. I honestly did not want to stop but we needed to make sure we had ample time to write our gamelogs. As I noticed with Super Mario Bros. 3 earlier, cooperative games are an extremely enjoyable experience for me. Sure I love delving into an epic R.P.G. story and getting lost in the world but screaming and laughing as we both run into bees and fall off cliffs is just as fun.
I truly love the art of this game but it seems that not everyone does. My friend's roommate felt the game had hit an uncanny valley between 2-d and 3-d that was asthetically unpleasing. So we told him to look the other way and went back to the game.
Design:
The platforming of this game is top notch. It is right up there with Mario in level design. All of the levels have bananas and secrets spread out as quick rewards. The secrets are a great treat for sometimes when I thought I died, a secret barrel saved my life and helped me get one more. The placement of enemies seems inversely proportionally to the platforming aspect. When there are really difficult jumps, enemies are scarce and vice versa. Well, at least for the first few worlds. There are checkpoints in the middle of all the levels for while not they are not too lengthy, death lurks around every corner. There is no life system so Diddy and Dixie both die upon being hit. Once Diddy (player 1) dies, Dixie (player 2) takes over. The players can also use their teammate as a projectile to help accomplish some puzzles.
The sound design of the game is amazing. As I stated before, just the opening tune brought back all the great memories of the game. I wouldn't be surprised if people caught me whistling the themes for the next few days. The music sets a great tone for the game, for example, the snow levels have a very lonesome, frigid feel to them while the carnival levels seem horrifyingly energetic.
The controls are strange when played on a Gamecube controller. They just feel unnatural. I think I will try to borrow a classic controller and try again with that. Being more SNES derived, I think the classic controller would be better suited.
All in all the game is more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Forgive me, that was uncalled for.
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| [February 20, 2008 10:56:55 PM]
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Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Summary:
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is the second chapter in the platforming based Donkey Kong Country series. The player takes the roles of Diddy Kong and Dixie as they try to save Donkey Kong from King k. Rool. Similar to the predecessor, the game takes place over many very different landscapes.
Gameplay:
I asked my floormate to download DKC2 via the Wii's virtual console system so we could play it for our gamelogs. The game smartly allows a player to control both Diddy and Dixie or have a friend take the role of Dixie. As we fired up the game nostalgia hit me like an anchor. I played this game as a child and just that opening tune was enough to bring all the memories rushing back. I grabbed the first player controller and dove head-first into the game. We started off on the pirate ship that was the final level of Donkey Kong Country 1. A new theme in this second game was the pirate based enemies. The first game had just various deadly animals floating around but in DKC2 most of the enemies are dressed in pirate garb or lumber around on peg-legs. The reasoning behind this is not explained. If I remember correctly, the detailed story behind the game was included in the game's manual when it first made its debut on the SNES.
After an hour of playing, my friend and I had completed the first world and were well on our way up the mountain to rescue D.K. The worlds are very different but the art everywhere is beautiful. Things have a psuedo-3-D look to them due to the rendered art. The animations are very smooth and the whole game moves very nicely.
Playing with a Gamecube controller is a little strange though. The button layout just does not match up to the genius and intuitiveness of the magnificent SNES controller. Possibly after another hour of playing we will get the hang of it.
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SkyKing's Donkey Kong Country 2 (SNES)
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Current Status: Finished playing
GameLog started on: Wednesday 20 February, 2008
GameLog closed on: Thursday 6 March, 2008 |
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