Whenever I'm feeling really down, of all the games, its always Tropical Freeze that manages to really win me over again and again. Its hard to describe how this overjoyed and often cringy vibe of that game can enlighten even the rainiest of days. That wouldn't help if the leveldesigns would not hold some of the best platforming segments of all time to a point, where DKTF seeres itself from the franchise, becoming this firework of creativity where every single level becomes a pure showcase of new gameplay concepts. Most of the time it then becomes a thing to not just follow the common structure of a DK (or Mario) game where they introduce a mechanic, master over the course of the level until you reach the end, but instead then suddenly elevate you into a completely different setting where you still have to show off your skill in often supercrazy environments (most commonly pointed out at this point is that wind instrument-level that, when you think you're about to touch the goal suddenly throws you into an instrument to be blown around for a bit until you finally made it).
I believe there are just way to little games like TF, games that just laugh at attempts to be stylish and mature and have that weird Funky Kong character that basically looks like a completely deranged uncle who's stuck in the 1990ies and who you'd better keep off your kids as the most "cool" approach of the game. Instead the game just celebrates its goofy humor, slapstick animation work (that still feels absolutely gorgeous at times) and finally supersuccessful character designs. I point this out because the enemy-designs in the first DKC Returns game were rightfully critizised and now every enemy character feels like they really took their time to create something special. Like that tribe of owls in world 2 could star in its won franchise, its really fantastic concept work.
Also something that might always be mentioned anyways but can't be pointed out often enough: They got David Wise back to do the soundtrack and while I was a bit underwhelmed in DKC Returns by his work as there I was basically just digging the actual rearrangements of the SNES-tracks, this time its just an absolutely objectively amazingly (3 adverbs? that must be a grammar fail, right?) composed score. Its really fascinating how all departments here try to deliver some over the top experience. Usually you'd try to pull some back to not overshadow the other. You wouldn't want the soundtrack to be such a tentpole element when the rest couldn't follow. But in that case, they just threw everything into the mix and every aspect just manages to shine individually. This manages to even outshine most Mario games.
The only aspect that still don't perfectly work for me, which sadly also happens to be among the most important things of the game are its controls. Just like Little Big Planet, games have always looked for reasons, why their characters don't steer like a Mario does. Meaning they implemented something to make it a bit more challenging, because the character happens to be a sack or an ape and has a different momentum and weight. But for me as a player, thats not a handicap, its just annoying and its the reason why I'll still be more likely to pick up a Mario game as I don't need this extra layer of handicapped control that would hold me from enjoying the game's world. In DKTF, the game's main character Donkey Kong just controls heavy and slow and the game's concept leans onto having second characters on your back, helping you through their own skills like floating. But there I see a weakness in gamedesign as it really becomes an annoying disadvantage to lose your buddy and be forced to play the game with whats supposed the star of the show. But sadly, playing with DK on his own is never really that fun as his whole control-scheme is limited and feels frustratingly constrained to feel the joy, that platforming should originally provide.
On the bright side, DKC Returns' controls with their infamous implementation of motion-control inputs for crucial actions, was way, way worse than this and compared to some of the best platformers out there, it still works quite fine after some getting used to it.
Still, it stings a bit to know, that this aspect might be the only thing, really keeping this game from absolutely timeless perfection that barely any game reaches in its genre. Like F-Zero GX among future racers, this game just plays among the industry's brightest stars.
As I nearly bet even the latest of the superchallenging special levels in this game, I still won't take the control issue into account as its more a matter of training a bit and in the end, the game gives you so much back for getting used to that, it doesn't really matter anymore.
Also I should mention the coop-mode that's a bit lost and pointless. The game is clearly not designed for coop, its sorta bad at managing the screenspace with two characters, the level-elements often just work for one player and so on. I'm not sure why they really had to implement that as I absolutely love a good coop game still believe they should have saved the effort for something else. Designing the whole game with 2 players in mind from scratch would also have ended up in a way more casual and streamlined game so going for 1 player is absolutely fine. Maybe just having some cappy-sort of 2nd character to collect some straying bananas so your kid has something to do while you're doig the actual work would have been a better fit.
Anyways, this, too, can't really change anything about a 5 star experience. This is absolutely a must play for every Jump'n Run enthusiast and beyond that a showcase of wonderful design choices and a lot of heart put seemingly effortless into an amazingly clean composed package.
Addendum: recently my USB-stick on my WiiU, holding 64 GB of game data (on the WiiU, thats quite a lot) died. DKTF was one of the reasons, why I wasn't so sad about it. I got a new stick and was actually glad my TF save got killed, forcing me to start the game completely fresh once again.
I believe there are just way to little games like TF, games that just laugh at attempts to be stylish and mature and have that weird Funky Kong character that basically looks like a completely deranged uncle who's stuck in the 1990ies and who you'd better keep off your kids as the most "cool" approach of the game. Instead the game just celebrates its goofy humor, slapstick animation work (that still feels absolutely gorgeous at times) and finally supersuccessful character designs. I point this out because the enemy-designs in the first DKC Returns game were rightfully critizised and now every enemy character feels like they really took their time to create something special. Like that tribe of owls in world 2 could star in its won franchise, its really fantastic concept work.
Also something that might always be mentioned anyways but can't be pointed out often enough: They got David Wise back to do the soundtrack and while I was a bit underwhelmed in DKC Returns by his work as there I was basically just digging the actual rearrangements of the SNES-tracks, this time its just an absolutely objectively amazingly (3 adverbs? that must be a grammar fail, right?) composed score. Its really fascinating how all departments here try to deliver some over the top experience. Usually you'd try to pull some back to not overshadow the other. You wouldn't want the soundtrack to be such a tentpole element when the rest couldn't follow. But in that case, they just threw everything into the mix and every aspect just manages to shine individually. This manages to even outshine most Mario games.
The only aspect that still don't perfectly work for me, which sadly also happens to be among the most important things of the game are its controls. Just like Little Big Planet, games have always looked for reasons, why their characters don't steer like a Mario does. Meaning they implemented something to make it a bit more challenging, because the character happens to be a sack or an ape and has a different momentum and weight. But for me as a player, thats not a handicap, its just annoying and its the reason why I'll still be more likely to pick up a Mario game as I don't need this extra layer of handicapped control that would hold me from enjoying the game's world. In DKTF, the game's main character Donkey Kong just controls heavy and slow and the game's concept leans onto having second characters on your back, helping you through their own skills like floating. But there I see a weakness in gamedesign as it really becomes an annoying disadvantage to lose your buddy and be forced to play the game with whats supposed the star of the show. But sadly, playing with DK on his own is never really that fun as his whole control-scheme is limited and feels frustratingly constrained to feel the joy, that platforming should originally provide.
On the bright side, DKC Returns' controls with their infamous implementation of motion-control inputs for crucial actions, was way, way worse than this and compared to some of the best platformers out there, it still works quite fine after some getting used to it.
Still, it stings a bit to know, that this aspect might be the only thing, really keeping this game from absolutely timeless perfection that barely any game reaches in its genre. Like F-Zero GX among future racers, this game just plays among the industry's brightest stars.
As I nearly bet even the latest of the superchallenging special levels in this game, I still won't take the control issue into account as its more a matter of training a bit and in the end, the game gives you so much back for getting used to that, it doesn't really matter anymore.
Also I should mention the coop-mode that's a bit lost and pointless. The game is clearly not designed for coop, its sorta bad at managing the screenspace with two characters, the level-elements often just work for one player and so on. I'm not sure why they really had to implement that as I absolutely love a good coop game still believe they should have saved the effort for something else. Designing the whole game with 2 players in mind from scratch would also have ended up in a way more casual and streamlined game so going for 1 player is absolutely fine. Maybe just having some cappy-sort of 2nd character to collect some straying bananas so your kid has something to do while you're doig the actual work would have been a better fit.
Anyways, this, too, can't really change anything about a 5 star experience. This is absolutely a must play for every Jump'n Run enthusiast and beyond that a showcase of wonderful design choices and a lot of heart put seemingly effortless into an amazingly clean composed package.
Addendum: recently my USB-stick on my WiiU, holding 64 GB of game data (on the WiiU, thats quite a lot) died. DKTF was one of the reasons, why I wasn't so sad about it. I got a new stick and was actually glad my TF save got killed, forcing me to start the game completely fresh once again.