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Thursday 24 January, 2008
GAMEPLAY
My second bout with this game I decided to start with the boss I left for myself earlier. This turned out to be one of the most original bosses I have seen, at least from Donkey Kong. I had to battle a flaming lava bone sword by first running away from it jumping from hook to hook over a pool of lava, then throwing a cannonball at it. Winning this fight took me to the third world, which succeeded in actually thoroughly creeping me out. This Ship was sunken in a woodsy bog, and patrolled by strange creatures. I came across double-sworded kremling babies, purple porcupines, many disgusting insects and pole climbing lizards. The music kinda made me feel like I was in a voodoo swamp in Louisiana.
The boss was probably the scariest part of the whole place. He was just a super buff hulk crocodile on steroids with a giant spike club bigger than Diddy and Dixie combined. The only way to hurt him was by flinging barrels full of TNT at his back as he jumped around from the trees. It was a pretty fair match but I managed to best him anyway.
The fourth world is probably the weirdest part of this game. I think they were trying to freak out clown phobics, because that whole place was creepy carnival themed. The levels were some of the most fun, however. There are several roller coasters where you ride around on a skull and race crocodiles, which remind me a lot of the old mine cart rides from the prequel. Then there is this crazy bramble level where you shoot yourself around in barrels over razor sharp thorned vines. Possibly the weirdest and scariest is the giant beehive you must navigate, where you jump around, get stuck on honey, and avoid giant spiked bees that can only be killed via rhino or barrel.
DESIGN
From an impartial initial inspection, this game is a 1 hit KO platform jumper game. Every time one of your monkey charaters is touched by an enemy, in yelps and takes off down the path. You must rescue your friend before your second monkey is killed, or you lose the level and a life which is marked by the sound of a popping balloon. As like every other platform game you must collect 100 somethings to get a new life, golden bananas in this case, and strewn throughout the levels are other goodies such as big golden coins and the occasional life balloon.
Even though the game seems incredibly cliche for today’s game world, there is no doubt that this game is definitely among the best of its class. Every level feels fresh and new as they vary the themes with the level type, colors, and backrounds. A level can have many platforms, be mostly ropes, be mostly barrels, or can be mostly on the ground; it can be in a cave, in a galleon, on a rollercoaster, or in a bees nest. But the favorite for this game is the pirate ship, fighting crocodile pirates. All of these factors make the gme incredibly versatile.
This game has it all, and seems to oddly mirror the complications that arise from the simplicity at the root of our own lives. I am a primate , whose only objectives are to stay with his girfriend and find his friend, and in so doing recollect his food supply, the Banana Hoarde. They must rise to meet every wacky or creepy obstacle that stands in their way, trampling over and eliminating any enemies with whom they cross paths.
I keep thinking that this game is based on the plastic toy “Monkeys in a Barrel.” These two monkeys can carry or throw each other to whatever destination they need to go, and a constant theme in every level is barrels. You bust your fallen friend out of a barrel, you save your level progress with a barrel, there are barrel enemys, rolling projectile barrels, barrel explosives, and of course you fly around in and are fired by barrels.
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