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It's difficult to think of any Donkey Kong platformer without throwing the word "Country" in there somewhere. Donkey Kong's roots may lie in the arcades, but his first true home console game (excluding the infamous Donkey Kong Jr. Math) came in the form of Donkey Kong Country in 1994. Often considered to be one of the Super Nintendo's greatest games, it spawned two sequels in the two years following its release, with Rare later reviving the platforming series with Donkey Kong 64 in 1999.
After that, the series became somewhat lost, with Donkey Kong relying on three Donkey Konga music games and the unsuccessful Donkey Kong Jet Race to get by on the home console front. Barring some respite in the form of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat for GameCube, later re-released for Wii, the last true Donkey Kong platformer for a home console launched in 1996: fourteen years later, the most popular gorilla in the world returns, fittingly, with Donkey Kong Country Returns.
Developed by Retro Studios of Metroid Prime fame, Donkey Kong Country Returns stays true to its roots in many ways, from the simple story to the long levels and from the intense boss battles to the grumblings of dear old Cranky Kong. Even the music, whilst very much brought into the 21st century, is familiar: from the minute you jump in that mine cart, you'll no doubt find yourself back in 1994.
Donkey Kong's proudest collection, naturally, is his banana hoard, and this is once again the crux of the matter in hand: a group of strange musical monsters calling themselves the Tiki Tak Tribe have hypnotised the animals of Donkey Kong Island into stealing every last banana from Donkey Kong's treasured hoard. It's up to Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong to travel across the island, not only retrieving DK's beloved bananas, but also ridding the place of the troublesome Tikis on the way.
Much like many other Nintendo platformers, the game's storyline is kept very much behind the scenes. Of course, it provides reason for Retro Studios to show off the eight different settings Donkey Kong Island provides its residents and potential holidaymakers, as well as a well-timed boss battle at the end of each world, but otherwise the story is seldom mentioned. With a platformer such as this, this is massively important, as it means fewer interruptions for players and the revamped world map essentially eradicates the "I don't know what to do next" factor present in many story-heavy games.
The controls and character statuses in Donkey Kong Country Returns are also kept very basic and easy to understand. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong both have two hearts, allowing players two hits when using Donkey Kong and four if Diddy Kong's around as well. Naturally, taking two hits will cause Diddy Kong to disappear until the player next finds a DK barrel. Unlike in the original Donkey Kong Country game, players can't opt for either Kong to 'lead' as such, since Diddy Kong will always hold onto DK's back, allowing him use of the little one's jetpack to hover in the air for short periods of time.
The game is controlled with the Wii Remote held either on its side or in conjunction with the Nunchuk. Neither configuration is any better or worse than the other, but personal preference will no doubt have a lot to do with which you choose: anyone used to using the Wii Remote on its own in other games, such as New Super Mario Bros. Wii or Wario Land: The Shake Dimension will certainly be more comfortable using it the same way for Donkey Kong Country Returns. Donkey Kong's movements stay true to the original games as well, as he can jump, bounce on enemies, roll around, swing on vines and so on: new moves are also present, such as thumping the ground, clinging onto walls and ceilings and even blowing on certain items, such as flowers and wind turbines.
When playing the game, it's clear from the off just how much details has been put into every level: players are thrown straight into the action as soon as the opening FMV is over and each level is of considerable length with no time limit to rush the player along, giving you that little extra incentive to spend some more time looking around. That doesn't mean Retro have gone for quantity over quality, though, as each part of every single level is amazingly designed, with hidden crevices in the most difficult places to find. Many levels also make use of the fantastically-detailed backdrops by shooting DK and Diddy Kong off into the distance to continue moving forward.
All those hidden crevices don't go unused, of course: Donkey Kong Country Returns offers items to collect in order to unlock some nice extras outside the main game. An image gallery and a music gallery are initially empty upon starting a new game, but by collecting puzzle pieces and completing the classic K-O-N-G letters in each level, more items in the gallery will eventually be unlocked. There are between five and nine puzzle pieces in each level and most, even those in the early stages of the game, are difficult to find. An extra gallery also exists for dioramas: these are incredibly difficult to unlock and no doubt hardcore players will strive to get them in their collection.
Retro Studios has also been very canny with the design of some select levels where shade would be greater in the foreground. The early sunset stages are a great indication of these, since the entire foreground is a silhouette just sat in front of a bright orange background and the only hint of colour is Donkey Kong's tie and Diddy Kong's red hat. This might be incredibly pretty to look at, but there's always a catch: items and enemies are incredibly difficult to notice, which means you'll have to be extra careful in these situations. Don't be surprised if you find yourself coming back to these stages several times in an attempt to find one well-placed KONG letter or puzzle piece.
Much like in the original Donkey Kong Country games, the various worlds of Donkey Kong Island move further into the island the more you progress in the game. Each world follows the same general guidelines: there are between five and eight normal levels in each world as well as a boss level and Cranky Kong's shop. Good old Cranky Kong will sell you items for special Banana Coins, which you can collect in any level, such as extra lives, additional hearts for one-time use, and he'll even lend you Squawks the Parrot to help you find those hard-to-get puzzle pieces. You can also buy a key from Cranky to allow you access to an extra level in each world, but naturally, this doesn't come cheap.
One of the game's greater selling points is the inclusion of a co-op mode for the first time in the main series. Whilst the first player takes control of Donkey Kong, a second can take control of Diddy Kong and his own special moves, such as the jetpack and his famous peanut gun. There's no competitive aspect involved at all, as both players will always work together to collect items, defeat enemies and get to the end of the level. If the two players drift too far apart, the game will automatically bring whoever's furthest behind back into view with no resulting penalty. Diddy Kong can also climb onto Donkey Kong's back at any time in order to get an easy ride through a difficult section.
When playing in co-op, the two heart meters are separate, meaning that, unlike in single-player mode, Diddy Kong doesn't necessarily have to lose his lives before Donkey Kong does. Either player can go first, but will always be brought back into gameplay in a bubble for the other player to pop. This costs a life every time, but thankfully, red balloons are far greater in number than they were in previous Donkey Kong Country games. Retro have made it incredibly easy to switch between the single-player and co-op modes as well, with the switch being available whenever you're on the world map via the game's main menu.
It should be clear by now that whilst Donkey Kong Country Returns does borrow quite significantly from its three main prequels, it manages to stay new and fresh-feeling throughout the entire game. The same can also be said of the game's soundtrack: no matter which world you're in, you're bound to hear some familiar music, whether it's Aquatic Ambience from the old underwater levels or Mine Cart Madness from every other mine cart level that ever existed in a Donkey Kong game. The soundtrack has a very tribal sound to it overall and manages to stay consistently enthralling throughout, with various different arrangements of both old and new tracks appearing whenever a change of scenery calls for it. It's particularly important that the soundtrack never gets tedious, as in some levels you'll find yourself dying quite a lot, and thankfully this is never the case.
Donkey Kong Country Returns feels more like a work of art than an actual video game. At a time when some developers throw out pieces of junk every few months, it's refreshing to play a game where you can tell exactly how much time and effort has gone into the development. Retro has stayed true to the original series - particularly in terms of difficulty, as this is certainly not a game for the faint-hearted - almost as much as possible. Try hunting out some of their crafty little cameos as well, such as the Metroid logo and the wandering Mr. Game & Watch later in the game.
It may have taken an exceedingly long time to happen, but Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong are back where they belong: in a proper platforming experience that often makes you want to throw your Wii Remote at the television. Retro Studios really are the team to bring an ailing series back from the dead, and if the next Donkey Kong platformer is anywhere near as fantastic as Donkey Kong Country Returns, we'll count ourselves incredibly lucky.
