Tuesday 15 January, 2008

/SUMMARY/

Donkey Kong Country 2 is a side scrolling adventure game where you play as the two younger apes in the Kong family: Diddy and Dixie. The core object of the game is to run, jump and maneuver your way through the levels, collecting bananas, coins, finding secret bonus stages, and fighting bosses. Your attacks are kart wheels, jumping, and monkey barrel throwing.

/GAMEPLAY/

This game brings me back to when I was nine years old and waking up at 6:00 am on saturdays just so I could play it. I felt that nostalgia rush back when I popped in this game. The visuals still are compelling, the art direction and style is still very unique to the DKC series. The controls are easy to pick up, very straight forward, I like that. The two characters are pretty funny because they do a cool dance every time you beat a level, Diddy for example whips out a boom-box and starts dancing like some early 90's run dmc Ape.

The levels were very well thought out, as the screen moves, the level seems to naturally become more and more difficult, with the midpoint barrels always a sight for the troubled player. Which brings me to another point, this game is not NEARLY as easy as I remember it. Something about being a kid and hyperactive made me think that the games obstacles were slow maybe. The music is actually what resonated with me the most, some how this 16bit game put together an extremely compelling and complex soundtrack, the music ranged from type of tribal indi-music to groovy funk tracks. Lot of fun.

/GAMEPLAY/ Entry #2

The game continues to be fun, my characters have been running and jumping in many settings, climbing up pirate ship sails that seem endless, driving a mine cart through a pitch black cave and so on. The music continues to be the most compelling part. The soundtracks are fitting to each level I play.

/DESIGN/

The Design of the levels is a series of smaller tasks that require a lot of patience to get past. I notice that frequently in the same level, obstacles are repeated and then subsequently elaborated. For example one puzzle will simply be to jump over a hole in the ground, on to the next small peace of land. But the next jump requires you to jump over a giant Wasp who could end your little monkey life. The third jump could require you to jump over 2 wasps, and the fourth and final could require you to jump over 3 Wasps.

Generally I was rewarded with a type of coin or banana or extra life item after a tough sequence of obstacles. The levels were designed to have many rewards along the way, separate from the simple completion of that level. There is also a side to the game that rewards the more hardcore gamer, the one who takes the time to explore all of the nooks in the game, discovering the hidden passages and retrieving every coin. If you can collect and trade these elusive treasures to Klubba the bridge keeper, he will allow you access to the Lost World, where the levels are noticeably more difficult, lacking save barrels and extra life balloons. However this type of "hidden" world is an engaging way to attract people to continue playing, it's as though there is a higher calling than just going through the game and simply winning.

The gamer can find extreme challenge and ultimately satisfaction through the discovery of these levels that require extra care and patience. This notion of a side quest or lost level is a clever idea in which to engage people in a higher level of gaming.

Pretty good entry, good job with the design and gameplay elements. This is what we're looking for in the entries and this is a really good first one, keep up the good work and keep improving! It was really interesting to read how your gameplay was different when you were a child.
-Chelsea C.(Grader)