Donkey Kong Country - SNES
^Ironic. The game is at least aware that it's no major challenge.
An innovative reworking of Donkey Kong's role in the gaming world, this wowed gamers back in the day with it's "next gen" graphics & presentation. Another game which I was originally excited for, I remember being initially blown away, loving it to bits for a day or two, then swapping it within a week.
I really, really don't like this game. That doesn't make it bad per say, I just find it almost insultingly shallow and a real fucking drag to play. It never gets out of second gear, and is one of those games which relies way more on memorization than reflexes, which just doesn't tickle my tail. Everything feels so ridiculously "one-step".
One of the main causes of said "one-step" complaint is the the lack of space on screen to maneuver, and how "cramped" it all is due to the big sprites. See when you play say Super Mario World, there's very often several things going off at once - e.g. as you jump over a baddie, you hit a box which releases a mushroom, and in the distance there are platforms moving, and an enemy firing a projectile, all in the same moment. However, in DKC it's pretty much "see enemy, kill it. See jump, make jump. See swing, make swing. See another barrel, aim for barrel" etc. There's no depth of action for you to be keeping an eye on in the distance.
Now it's not like this all the time, but on the whole I felt that I was usually dealing with only one or two things at a time, and it felt incredibly constrictive, child-like and basic. You're essentially playing a run of set pieces, and there's a notable lack of analogue chaoticness which occurs in other platform games. Also, again mostly because of the large sprite setup, it's also another game from that era where you'll take many a hits from things you run into off screen with no chance of avoiding them, and occasionally fall to your doom dropping to places you expect there to be a ledge. It's not a hard game, but skanky deaths are always tiresome.
Its also a very gimmicky game too. In some instances this keeps things fresh, with sections & levels made up of novelties such as launching you out of barrels, swimming underwater, travelling on mine carts etc. But it's not always done that well either. For example, the first mine cart level comes at you from nowhere, and not only do you have to get used to the new style of gameplay, but the level itself is again very dependent on memorizing it's route & obstacles, and thus creates a jarring difficulty spike which feels out of place. In fact the more you play, the more the whole game begins to feel like a gimmick in general. Blasting out of barrels is fun for a while, but it gets well old long before you finish the game.
One of the games strongest points though is the amount of secrets it contains, and how cleverly "hidden" some of them are. Some are hidden in plain sight but you'll miss them at first, then wonder how you ever did. The problem is however that most secrets often only reward you with extra lives, instead of something which changes the dynamics of the game or offers a new area to explore etc. and you'll have more than plenty of lives to see you through anyway. So it wasn't long before the neat little bonus games became more of a pointless chore than fun. These get even more annoying when on completion they transport you back to significantly earlier in the stage, meaning you have to replay a section which you've already just played not a few minutes ago.
A few puzzle elements start to drop into the game more as it progresses though, and whilst nothing outstanding, it does help vary the challenge and keeps things interesting. Also, on the whole the game's clearly had an absolute ton of effort & polish applied to it, as every aesthetic aspect of the game has been refined to a tee. In particular a few of the tunes are incredibly atmospheric, and very worthy of praise. A definite highlight, and my own personal favourite feature of the game.
DCK is ridiculous simplistic by the numbers romp, which stimulates in very rudimentary ways, and which relies hugely on trial & error. I see it very much as a kids game. I personally fucking hate it coz I'm a big sweaty man with chest hair and throbbing love spuds. So much of the game - such as it's bonus games - don't serve any real purpose, so I've more than had my fill of this to never return to it again. But, despite my significant disliking of it, I also can't deny that there's also been a lot of time & effort put into it, and that there is some stuff to enjoy and very simple fun to be had too.
Overall though my pulse was always set to normal, and my excitement levels never got above "Sunday afternoon". It's like holding hands with a girl for someone who's used to 6-way reverse gang bangs on cocaine.
, yeah I'll give both a blast, thanks for suggesting. Need to catchup on some of these half played games first though. Got around 6 I'm halfway through.
