Game Debate #105: Donkey Kong Country Returns

[Reed Rothchild | 9,510]

[RH | 4,895]

This is a tough vote. I have it on the Switch... intended to play it.  Got through 3 levels and enjoyed the experience but never went back to it.  It feels like old school DKC to me, though not 100% perfect, but good enough.  I just never managed to get back to it.

I give it a 6 and a shrug.

[Sumez | 2,933]

Tropical Freeze was much better than I'd ever dared expect, so I need to get around to playing this one eventually.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,510]

3 hours ago, RH said:

This is a tough vote. I have it on the Switch... intended to play it.  Got through 3 levels and enjoyed the experience but never went back to it.  It feels like old school DKC to me, though not 100% perfect, but good enough.  I just never managed to get back to it.

I give it a 6 and a shrug.

That would be Tropical Freeze, the followup

[AstralSoul | 502]

Probably my least favorite of the DKC games but still excellent. I'm a huge fan of the series and my excitement for this when it came out was immeasurable. Still it's absolutely a fantastic platformer for anyone. 9/10

[Skorp | 383]

Surprising but true, I have yet to play it! I want to though.

[MagusSmurf | 577]

Good game that I enjoyed and I’m giving it a 7/10 on that basis but it’s worse than all three of the original trilogy. Only really played through it once though and my memories are a little dim.

The aesthetics were generally a miss for me. The 3D graphics were bright and shiny in a way I didn’t like and that just didn’t feel true to the style of the old games. The tikis are also a poor replacement for the kremlings.

The Wii waggle moves really suck and were a very 2010 thing to put in a game. I guess I could play the 3DS version or emulate or something to get around that but meh.

It also felt like the game was specifically inspired by DKC1 but not the other games despite that the consensus for at least 20 years has been that at least DKC2 is better. The way bonus stages are so de-emphasized (taken to an extreme here), the lack of Dixie, the lack of animal buddies (I could actually see why they might have thought only having Rambi was wise if DKC1 alone was the template and didn’t have a use for Engarde if they weren’t making water levels), the absence of some of the weirder crap like in the later games. This just didn’t feel quite like the DKC I grew up with. Maybe I’d cut it more slack for seeming to draw mostly just from DKC1 if the gameplay had been at least almost as good as that game but it wasn’t.

Why wasn’t it? Hard to say on any detailed level, it’s been like a decade, I just remembering not liking it nearly as much. I have seen criticism from others of the general flow of the action and overly hard boss fights but while I do remember dying a fair amount on some of the latter I don’t actually recall whether those were my problems with it.

Despite how much this game was praised in 2010, I’ve kinda noticed how hard Tropical Freeze seems to have one-upped up it among fans. Will definitely give that a shot if I ever get a console that can play it.

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

Easy 8/10, I would say it's on the same tier as the original 3 DKC games. Still haven't played Tropical Freeze, but am definitely planning to sometime soon.

[Gloves | 11,761]

Never played it. 

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,055]

have to give it 5/10. Would be 8 or 9 if it wasn’t for the motion controls. God I hate the stupid blowing dandelions tol

[mbd39 | 2,017]

Never played it. I've never owned a Wii.  I'm pretty sure I would love it.

 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,510]

43 minutes ago, LeatherRebel5150 said:

have to give it 5/10. Would be 8 or 9 if it wasn’t for the motion controls. God I hate the stupid blowing dandelions tol

3DS version?

[JamesRobot | 5,786]

Never played it but have a mild interest.

[Webhead123 | 675]

The first two DKC games on SNES are some of my favorite games of all time. As such, it tends to set a pretty high expectation for any sequels. To that end, I think DKC Returns mostly lives up to the experience, even if it stumbles just a tad in places. I think most of it is due to the forced gimmicks of being on the Wii and having to endure motion control. But I think it says something that the game manages to make it worth tolerating those annoyances. Not quite the classic experience of the originals but still a great game with a lot of charm and challenge.

7/10

Edited June 11, 2022 by Webhead123

[CMR | 519]

It's a great game.  I recommend it, especially if you liked Tropical Freeze. 8/10

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,055]

6 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

3DS version?

Wii version 

[OptOut | 8,881]

Yeah not bad, I played the 3DS version! I have a little trouble with the control scheme for this game and Tropical Freeze though, like grabbing you have to press a button, like a shoulder button or something? I figure the grab should just be automatic like it was in the original, when you run into a barrel holding the run button he just picks it up, in this it just feels a little more awkward. Always throws me off a little.

Anyway, to me the first games are like 9's and 10's, this and tropical freeze are more like 7's... Actually I never finished tropical freeze tbh. Eh, they're good!

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

I'm kind of surprised that I never played the Wii version. It looks like it might be worth a try.

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,011]

On 6/11/2022 at 1:58 PM, Reed Rothchild said:

3DS version?

BUT ITS A HANDHELD!

[twiztor | 848]

i'm a fan of Donkey Kong, so DKC2 and 3 both fell a little flat for me. this game was a return to form, and i enjoyed it quite a bit. seems contrary to the majority, but i liked it better than Tropical Freeze as well.

DKC: 9

DKC 2/3: 7

DKCR: 8

DKC TF: 7

[TDIRunner | 2,726]

This is coming from someone who loved the original DKC, but felt that parts 2 and 3 were a bit dull.  

I played DKCR and enjoyed it, but never got around to completely finishing it.  I want to say I was around 80% of the way done, but I don't remember for sure.  I loved the fact that the game was back to a 2D sidescrolling game, but I wasn't crazy about the new enemies or the waggle controls.  I'm not sure why I didn't finish it, but obviously I didn't consider it to the be masterpiece that the original was.  I never got a chance to play Tropical Freeze, but I want to someday.