Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze Review

I’ll be honest here: I’m not a huge fan of the Donkey Kong Country series. Yes, the games are really good and all, it just doesn’t quite tickle my fancy in the same manner as other game franchises. I also haven’t played many of the games. However, with that being said, it is still a really good series of challenging platformers. Back in the 90’s there were the original 3 games on the SNES. The next 2D side-scrolling Donkey Kong Country game wouldn’t come out until 2010 with Returns on the Wii, which later got ported onto the 3DS, which is the version I have. At a first glance, one may mistake Donkey Kong Country Returns as another New Super Mario Bros. in that it’s an updated version of an old formula for the new generations. When people got Returns, they found it to be a great game that took the big ape back to his roots like how the original New Super Mario Bros. did for the Italian plumber. After that, Nintendo continued to make more and more New Super Mario Bros. games since the first one was so successful and they are all seen as nothing but copy-paste sequels made on the cheap. When Tropical Freeze got revealed at E3 2013 during the Nintendo Direct as the game Retro had been working on for so long, many people feared, including me, that the Donkey Kong Country series was going down the same path. So when this game finally came out after being delayed twice, did it end up being the sequel we all thought it was gonna be or did it manage to surprise us? Today I’m reviewing Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze and will give it a verdict that will answer that very question.

Graphics

The graphics for this game are… average. They look nice and crisp in HD, yes, but when looking at other games on Wii U this game doesn’t look nearly as good. For it being a 2D sidescroller, this is to be expected. The cutscenes do look really nice though, so because of that I’m giving the graphics a 7.

Plot

This game’s story is very simple; Donkey Kong’s home is taken over by a tribe of arctic animals known as the Snowmads and Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixey Kong, and Cranky Kong must run them out. I don’t assess a game’s plot strictly on the story, but I also assess it on the main campaign mode that it takes you through. This game has 6 worlds with bosses at the end of each one. It’s a considerably good length, and if you played the game at the pace I played it at then it should take you about a month to complete this game. The plot gets an 8. It’s decently lengthened to the point where it’s not too long but not too short either. I thought it would be a shorter game when I first heard about it only having 6 worlds but after playing the game I was gladly proven wrong.

Gameplay

This game plays almost wickedly smooth. I never played Returns on the Wii so I can’t judge the leap between that game and this one, but the way it controls feels very similar to the 3DS port of Returns, which was already well done in my opinion. You play as Donkey Kong, but you can have Diddy, Dixey, or Cranky Kong as your partner character. You can only play as the partner characters in multiplayer mode and in the challenge mode you unlock after beating the game. Diddy Kong uses his barrel rockets to glide. Dixey Kong, who is my absolute favorite kong to be partnered up with, gives you a little hover with her ponytail that is actually very helpful for avoiding hazards or bottomless pits. Cranky Kong gives you an extra spring in your step with his cane. You can use him to bounce off of enemies and even hazardous things like spikes like a pogo stick. You can build up momentum with this technique given the right opportunity. If you defeat enough enemies to fill up this new bar, you can perform a special attack with your partner character. With Diddy Kong you turn enemies into balloons, which give you extra lives. With Dixey it turns enemies into yellow hearts that give you even more hits that you can take, which is very helpful for bosses. With Cranky it turns them into banana coins that you can use to purchase stuff at Funky Kong’s shop.  At Funky Kong’s shop you can buy extra lives, potions that give you immunity to certain things, shields, barrels with partner characters in them for you to have with you, and things of that nature. You can get these little trophy-like things that have viewers that remind me of the trophy viewer in Smash Bros. The levels are very dynamic and will often change up the way they play. Not too much unlike a level in an action game like Kid Icarus Uprising. For example there’s one level that starts off with you walking around and then you hop into a mine cart. About halfway through the level you fall off the rail and ride on a little boat through the water, and then eventually back to the mine cart with a saw blade carving the path for you. These chaotic levels are very fun to play through and feel like a huge step up from the last game. There are underwater sections in this game like in the SNES DKC games. In this game you have a breath meter that you can either fill with these balloons you buy at the shop, surfacing, or by getting bubbles. The underwater sections are handled rather nicely and they don’t cripple you as much as other games do when you’re under water. Now this game is HARD. REALLY, REALLY HARD. The first few worlds aren’t that difficult (except for the bosses!), but once you get to World 4 it gets even harder. World 6 has one level particular with electricity in it that is one of if not the hardest level I have ever played through in a video game. Do not let the kid-friendly look and feel of this game fool you, it is not a game for noobs. You have to have at least some experience with platformers before playing this game or you will struggle to survive. It does have immunity potions and what not but I recommend that you don’t use those because the feeling of satisfaction you get when you beat a really hard level without using anything to dumb down the difficulty is totally worth the struggle. This goes for video games that are like this in general. Sometimes the camera will give you a 3D view in some of the levels. There’s a rail grinding section like this where you have to constantly switch which track you’re riding on and another for a barrel shooting sequence. They feel quite exhilarating. Like the last game you have your 5 puzzle pieces and KONG letters to collect. If you get all the KONG letters in a level you can unlock a secret level.  The only gripe I really have with the way this game plays is that in some parts (especially the electric level) I face questionable deaths, so because of that this game’s gameplay gets a 9.

Soundtrack

This game has an awesome soundtrack.  Every theme compliments the feel of the level/boss that they’re the themes of while sounding great. Special mentions go to Windmill Hill, Grassland Groove, Hijinx Homecoming, and the remix of the classic theme of the Donkey Kong Country games.  The soundtrack gets a 10.

Overall

Overall, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze is a really good game.  It takes what made Returns good and expands dong on it with more imaginative level design, partner characters with different attributes, and chaotic and vibrant levels. It does feel very much like Returns, yes, and another Wii U game which is 3D World which was quite different from its predecessor 3D land did a better job at being different than this game, this game is still worth a go. If you have a Wii U, buy this game. It’s one of the best games you can get for it right now and it’s a fun experience. Tropical Freeze gets a 34/40 and an average of 8/10. Good job, Retro. I hope you’re hard at work on a new Metroid or something else that will blow everyone’s minds.

Kid Icarus Uprising Review

Masahiro Sakurai is a great video game developer. I take a great deal of inspiration from him, more than Miyamoto believe it or not. He’s made Kirby, Smash Bros., and the game I am reviewing, Kid Icarus Uprising. Kid Icarus was a long forgotten game franchise from Nintendo that goes as far back as the NES. Another game came out on the Gameboy, but people didn’t think much of Kid Icarus back in those days. It was one of Nintendo’s lesser-known IPs. That all changed when Brawl came out with Pit, the main protagonist of Kid Icarus, was made playable. He was given a totally new design along with Palutena, who wasn’t playable but was rather just there in the background. It seems like there was more demand for a new Kid Icarus game after Pit’s inclusion in Brawl, and in E3 of 2010 when the 3DS was announced, Kid Icarus Uprising was revealed to many people’s surprise. It featured beautiful 3D environments, voice acting, and a ton of potential. Then in 2012 the game came out as has gone on to become a cult classic. It was a gigantic step up in every possible way for the series and today I’m here to take a look at how this game has opened the door for so many more possibilities for Pit and Palutena’s army.

Graphics

Oh man this game’s visuals are something else. These are hands down some of, if not the best graphics I’ve ever seen on a handheld game. Everything is detailed and colorful and flying feels great because of the great feel you get when flying through large and beautiful environments. It looks great on the ground too but it just looks even nicer when you’re flying.  The enemies and characters blend in perfectly with the world too. Graphics get a 10.

Plot

[SPOILERS!] This game has an amazing plot. It has tons of twists and turns that you will never see coming if it’s your first time playing. The basic plot is that Medusa and her underworld army have returned and Pit must stop her. Palutena grants Pit the gift of flight since he cannot fly on his own, but he can only fly for 5 minutes.  Once Pit defeats Medusa and the credits start to roll, you think you’re all done but then the credits are torn away and Hades reveals himself as the true bad guy. Hades is a great villain, with funny dialogue, witty remarks, and a great personality.  A war between the Earth and the underworld breaks loose. Eventually Pit is knocked unconscious for 3 years and Palutena’s army goes missing. Pit is for some reason a ring that takes control of whoever picks it up. Magnus ends up getting him back to his old body, only to find that Palutena has been corrupted by the Chaos Kin and he must snap her out of it. Luckily he is still able to fly due to Viridi, the goddess of nature, being able to fill in for Palutena. Pit snaps Palutena out of her corruption and eventually finds out that in order to defeat Hades he must collect the 3 sacred treasures to create an awesome suit that he uses to take down Hades in an epic and climactic showdown. The characters are great in this game and have very witty remarks, which can sometimes distract me from the gameplay part. They also break the 4^th wall a lot. The voice acting is some of the best I’ve ever heard in a video game too .My favorite chapters have to be the one where Pit becomes a ring, the one where Pit fights Palutena, and the final chapter. Plot gets a 10.

Gameplay

While this game has great visuals and a great narrative, the gameplay falls a little short. I’m mostly talking about on the ground gameplay here when I say that though. Pit controls perfectly fine when in the air and it feels great to shoot at a bunch of enemies while flying through many different kinds of environments, and in this game the places you’ll be flying at change quite often. The huge variety of weapons is great. It makes me wanna replay levels with different weapons to see which ones I like and which ones I don’t. You can also fuse weapons, how cool is that? You select the difficulty you wish to play a level at for a sacrifice of hearts that you collect from defeating enemies. The higher the difficulty setting, the more hearts you will need to sacrifice. Some hearts you collect restore your health bar, which if it goes out, you’re given a few more hits before you go down. If you die, then the difficulty you play at decreases and you have no choice but to play at a lower difficulty. I don’t really mind that. It sometimes stops me from spending too many hearts and makes the game slightly less frustrating. You can pick between 2 different control settings; using the R button to shoot, the touch screen to toggle the camera view on the ground and to aim for targets on the sky, and the circle pad to move around. This is the default setting by the way. The alternative, which is my preference, is using the ABXY buttons to move around, the R button to shoot, and either the touch screen or D-pad to toggle the view or aim. There’s a stand that comes with every physical copy of the game to make it easier on you to control the game. Lots of people complain about these controls and personally I feel rather indifferent to them since you have the ability to switch them, albeit not necessarily to your liking, but still able to switch to an alternative that may or may not be better for you. I wish Skyward Sword and other Wii games that are motion control-focused had this. Now on the ground it feels pretty clunky. Having to constantly change your view can be annoying and I might accidentally dash into something that I take a hit from that I didn’t mean to dash into. If you run for a certain amount of time, which is done by double tapping because this is a Sakurai game, you will tire out and will need to walk. I don’t like that and I wish I could just run indefinitely. This game has some of the same problems that Skyward Sword does. However it does do most of them better like the controls. You can either attack from afar, which is called a ranged attack, but on the ground you can also get up close to an enemy and use melee attacks. Sometimes it quite honestly feels like I’m just mashing the R button when doing melee attacks. I tend to feel a little dizzy after playing this game, but it doesn’t make me feel that nauseous so I’ll give it a pass. You progress through the game’s story via chapters, and each chapter has a boss at the end of it. Most bosses are complete pushovers, but most of them are pretty fun. The final boss battle is especially awesome and feels legitimately difficult without being cheap. After defeating Hades once and for all you unlock a boss rush mode, which is exactly, what it sounds like. Because this is a Sakurai game, there’s a break room between each boss with health replenishing items.  This game really does have that Kirby/ Smash Bros. like feel to it with all the extra content and things like the boss rush. The menu screen even resembles Brawl’s menu screen! Sometimes in levels you can get into vehicles or mechs and go through the level in that way, which is mandatory. The vehicles for the most part control well and feel great to be in. My only problem is with the car where backing up and getting on the right track can be a pain in the ass. AR cards come with every physical copy of the game. You can use them in an AR viewer. There’s also an idol viewer very similar to that of the trophy collection from Smash Bros.. I assume you unlock an idol from using an AR card. There’s a collection factor to these cards. Personally, I don’t really care much for the AR viewer.  There’s also an online mode where you either go against other players in teams of dark and light or a free-for all where you try and beat the shit out of other players to the best of your ability. It’s good for what it is. So the gameplay gets an 8. For the most part this game plays perfectly fine but in some places it feels clunky.

Music

This game has very good music. While it is a bit difficult to hear over all the commentary, it sounds really good for what it’s worth. There are some great remixes of themes from past Kid Icarus games as well as great original themes. The soundtrack gets 9.

Overall

In conclusion, Kid Icarus is a great game. It took a not very popular IP and breathed a ton of life into it. It has opened so many doors for possibilities for the Kid Icarus franchise and it is such a huge step up from what we had previously. It’s a beautiful game with tons of charm, loveable characters good and evil alike, tons of options for the combat, great replay value, and good music. It’s an overall fun time and one of the best games on the 3DS right now. I recommend that you pick this game up if you have a 3DS and you like rail shooters or any game made by Sakurai. Kid Icarus Uprising gets a 37/40 and an average 9/10. After seeing the Smash direct earlier this week, I am more hyped than ever for the next game Sakurai is making, which is Super Smash Bros. 4.

Announcement!

Speaking of which, I’m announcing here and now that I am gonna dedicate an entire month to Smash Bros. eventually. It depends on which month the 3DS version comes out. I might do another one for the Wii U version but I’m not sure. What I have planned for Smash month so far is a review for the original game, Melee, Brawl, and the 3DS version of Smash 4, characters that are requested that I don’t think will be in, top 10 Smash characters, 5 characters I want in the game, and impressions from already confirmed characters. I might do some of it a month earlier or later so I have more time, but needless to say, I’ve got a lot of work to do. I will probably do other months of/marathons for other franchises but for now I just have Smash planned. I hope you look forward to Super Smash month! 

GameBoy Advance Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_ZD3FxMcvQ

Ahhh…. That startup sound brings back so many good memories. Today I’m doing my first game platform review, the GBA! The GBA was the very first platform I ever played video games on so you can bet that it holds a great amount of nostalgic value for me. When I was 6 years old, both my sisters and I each got our own Gameboy for the holidays. Mine was blue, and my sisters’ were red and gray. I still have my sisters’ Gameboys and they work perfectly fine. I lost my blue one. So story time over, how am I gonna score game platforms? Well, I’m gonna judge it by its look and feel, game library, and features, and then give it an average score as well as a score out of 30. Let’s boot this baby up and take a good look at it!

Looks/feel

For this one I’m gonna refer to the GameBoy Advance SP, as that’s the model I own. Looks wise it looks nice. The placing of the buttons is neat and it doesn’t feel like a clusterfuck. It feels great to play on and is truly a great device to being with you on the go. It fits in your pocket perfectly too. The only real problem with the feel of it is how it’s a bit easy to accidentally switch the power off due to the power button being on one of the sides of the GBA. Despite it being something with a hinge, my 2 GBA’s have stood the test of time and the screen on both of them still looks as good as new. Keep in mind that I’ve had these for over 10 years. It might be because they’ve been taken care of, but I’m not sure. I’m going to give the looks and the feel a 9. It looks nice, feels great, and at least my GBAs have aged very well and still work as good as they did when my sisters and I first got them.

Game Library

Oh boy, here comes the truly good stuff about the GBA. Not only does it look and feel great, especially for a portable gaming device, but it has one kickass library of games. When I was younger I mostly played licensed games. The ones I remember having on my GBA were Battle for Bikini Bottom, which is still a pretty good game, Fairly Oddparents: Breaking Da Rules, my first video game ever Finding Nemo, Tak and the Power of Juju, and Shrek 2. The only one of these games of which I have revisited since my early days was Battle for Bikini Bottom. I also had a share of 3^rd party games like Pacman Collection, Crash Bandicoot, and Sonic Pinball Party. The only first party game I remember playing back then was Wario Ware Inc., which is a ton of fun. When I first saw my pseudo-cousin playing it he told me it was the “pick me nose game”, which is what I called it for years until I found out what it really was. He would bring it to our beach house every summer for me to play it. So yes, I started out small when I was young, but as I got older I started playing more of the ‘real’ GBA games. Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire are great games that I have played over and over again countless times, FireRed and LeafGreen are great remakes of the original games and fix a lot of the technical problems that were present in those game, and my absolute favorite GBA game, Pokémon Emerald, is a blast to play. Emerald isn’t a whole lot different from Ruby and Sapphire, but it does improve on the parts where Ruby and Sapphire fell short. Yes, I most definitely want a remake of the Hoenn games. I’m waiting, GameFreak. Kirby and the Amazing Mirror is really fun. It can get confusing at times but luckily there’s a map of the entire world the game has you playing through so no sweat. The Sonic Advance games are great fun and have in my opinion the greatest sense of speed in a 2D Sonic game. I would’ve preferred if the Adventure games, namely Adventure 2, played more like Advance where you would still be able to go fast with every character but each character would have different aspects while still being fast like Sonic. When I got Visualboyadvance on my computer and ipod, I was able to dive even deeper into the GBA’s library with the likes of Fire Emblem, Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, Kirby’s Nightmare in Dreamland, Zelda Minish Cap, Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, and some Pokémon ROM hacks like Ruby Destiny. On my ipod the games I downloaded that I hadn’t played before are Super Mario Advance 2 and Fire Emblem the Sacred Stones. There are still plenty of games I have yet to play such as Metroid Fusion, Mario Kart Super Circuit, and Golden Sun. So to summarize, the GBA has a great library full of licensed games, first and third party games, and ports of older games for the newer generations to play. I’ll go ahead and give this library a 10. It’s great for a portable gaming device to have so many games to play.

Features

The GBA is a relatively old handheld so it’s a bit shy on features, but it has some nevertheless. It has a button that you can use to make the screen dimmer, which I assume is just for saving on battery life, which it has plenty of already. The GBA has about 15 hours of battery life. That’s perfect for a long road trip! Now sadly it doesn’t have a port for headphones so if you wanna play your GBA in a place where there can’t be any noise, you’re gonna have to just turn the volume off. There’s also the Link Cable, which is mainly used for trading Pokémon. I don’t have one of my own. There was this peripheral that came with FireRed and LeafGreen that lets you trade and battle wirelessly, but again, I’ve never had one of these. I’ve used a link cable though. It gets the job done just nicely. The GBA also has backwards compatibility with original GameBoy and GameBoy Color games, effectively expanding the amount of games you can play on there further.  Before you ask, no, I have never used an E-reader. I don’t know if it’s very useful either. From what I’ve heard it’s just something with a little extra content for some games like Pokémon. If I ever get my hands on one then I might revisit this review and amend it with my opinion on it, but for now I have no interest in even getting one. You’re welcome to send me one if you want though. You can connect your GBA to a Gamecube to play game son it or transfer data to it or get data from it like Pokémon from XD, Colosseum, and Box Ruby and Sapphire. The GBA is pretty much exclusively made for playing games on, and gamers surely wouldn’t like if a gaming platform came out like that today. I guess I’d be fine with it if it meant it had a long battery life, but alas. I’m giving the features a 7. The small add-ons to it get along nicely, but there isn’t much else to it other than playing games, which isn’t really a bad thing.

Overall

So overall the GameBoy Advance is an awesome system. It’s jam packed with a huge variety of games to play, feels great to play, is easy to carry around, and has me coming back to play different games every time (or replaying old ones) despite me having it in my household for over 10 years. The GBA gets a score of  26/30 and an average of a 9/10.