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Wednesday 20 February, 2008
Gameplay:
As I played through more of Donkey Kong Country it became apparent to me, how much this game relied on its graphics to pull it through. Nearly all objects, from playable characters to the enemies to defeat are all rendered in a 3-D like way. Technically they are not 3-D but 2-D, but the graphic design has a nice shading effect and makes just looking at the game more aesthetically pleasing. Like taking Gradius from Super Nintendo and seeing how much it improved through its release on the PS2, even though both hold almost all the same game mechanics and gameplay designs. The extra shine on the ship and the glowing lazers and dramatic explosive effects that clutter the screen allow for more entertaining play.
And the two player aspect of the game also provides a grand extension of entertaining gameplay. Although only one player may be in control at a time, the player in control may press the "A" button to swap control with the other player. It sounds like a boring prospect at first and you may think only one person may end up playing, leaving the other person waiting forever for the swap, but that is definitely not the case. When the player in control dies from getting touched by an enemy bee or lizard man, he/she drops off the screen and the second player takes control and stays in control until he/she is damaged or falls off a cliff.
To further this multiplayer aspect of the game, Donkey Kong Country 2 has these special barrels lying about in most levels that allow the player in control to revive his/her partner if his/her partner wasn't already alive. In two player mode one the most intruiging thinga is having two hits to die. In the single player mode you die in one hit, but with two players when the player in control dies, the second player gains control and the game resumes smoothly.
Design:
Donkey Kong Country 2 keeps its players playing additively through its process of achievement and exploration/discovery. Most video games, or perhaps all give the player a sense of achievement when they accomplish a difficult task or defeat some significant level, but Donkey Kong Country 2 is a platform game with a very defined sense of discovery. The game is extremely good at giving what the player needs most, just when they are about to lose hope, making the player believe that they were extremely lucky or that they played that certain level exceptionally well. The game gives the player pride without letting him/her know it.
Donkey Kong Country 2 is a game that uses variety to its advantage and uniqueness. Most games of its time simply kept most of the same elements throughout the game and made the game harder using the same objects. Like making more holes to die in and less platforms to land on, but Donkey Kong Country 2 is more innovative than that. They keep on giving you new objects to interact with and there are so many objects that sometimes by not allowing the player to see one of them for a while creates a an experience of renewing discovery when they see the object again after so long.
In Donkey Kong there is more attention focused on the player's character than on the environment. Unlike platforms like Metroid, Kirby, Mario, or Castlevania, Donkey Kong Country 2 has a larger character sprite moving across the screen, taking more space on the screen and thus taking more attention. The game makes the player focus more intently on what is near the character than to think about the enemies that lie ahead. This allows enemies to pop up on screen very quickly, while in other platform games you would have seen them from afar. There is an element of surprise in this and a new type of gameplay experience different from what is normally felt in platformers.
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