Log Status
Completed
Playing
Backlog
Wishlist
Rating
Time Played
3h 0m
Days in Journal
1 day
Last played
June 19, 2024
Platforms Played
I thought this would be an major upgrade when compared to the first one, which I enjoyed but I had a lot of complaints to
But pretty much every single problem I had with "Donkey Kong Country" I had with this one
Just as the first game, this game is charming, with beautiful aesthetics and even more than the first game the style that Rare would employ in games such as "Banjoo-Kazooie" (1998) and "Conker's Bad Fur Day" (2000) are even more clear right now.
The game still employs the "Super Mario Bros. 3" (1988) and "Super Mario World" (1990) structure of presenting a concept per level, developing the concept through the level and then moving on to another concept, and the game can provide, just like the first one, a sufficient amount of variety in the concepts. Very rarely they repeat and even when it does repeat it is with some sort of twist. The game move toolkit is albeit simple, deep enough so you can have some freedom with it. The game move dynamics is also clearly based in Mario games, with it giving more attention to dynamism and chain movement than to precision.
I also find that the animals are much more interesting in the second game, with variety and how to use them when compared to the first game
But let's cover my shortcomings with the game
First is the synergy between the movement and the level design. Just like in the first game the level design is less optimized to you make a good usage of your moves, like in Mario games. But considering you have a ton of secrets through the levels, the movement justify itself. The problem is that the levels are designed with precision platform in mind. And hey, there's no problem with making precision platform games, "Celeste" (2018) and "Super Meat Boy" (2010) are good examples of this. But for the game be a interest precision platformer the game movement have to be built with this in mind. Just as I said in my review of "Super Mario Bros." (1985) and the review for the first "Donkey Kong Country", the loose and slippery movements that these games provide are complicated when the level design requires you precision platforming (this game is a little bit less aggressive with precision platforming when compared with the first one).
The game also have something I like to call old school Nintendo platformer bullshit: enemies flying in high speed in your screen like in the Kirby games and a design that punish you for trying to keep a constant chain of movements like in "Super Mario Bros. 3". The game teaches you that the most efficient way of playing it is either being super cautious and slow or to die until you memorized the whole level, neither seeming all that interesting. This combined with the fact that the game, just like in the "Super Mario Bros. 3" have just too much sections where you have to stop and wait something happen.
The game also, just like most Nintendo games, still have pretty poorly designed bosses. I didn't find none of the fights interesting and now they are way longer and sluggish than the first one. Most of them being structured around avoiding some hits, waiting till he open its weak point or some object that you can use to hit it being available and then just mechanically doing the action to kill it, for a few number of times.
The game also keeps, just like the first one, being very bad at displaying visual information. Is very confusing and hard to discern the background from the actual interactable level, most platform boxes are not exactly the same thing as its sprite and the I would often see myself jumping in things that are not actual platforms but the art of the background.
The frame keeps being not great. With it not revealing some necessary information often and making even worse the problem of moving objects within its frame.
Just like the first one this is a deeply flawed but enjoyable game. I just can't see the masterpiece that most people see in this game.
But pretty much every single problem I had with "Donkey Kong Country" I had with this one
Just as the first game, this game is charming, with beautiful aesthetics and even more than the first game the style that Rare would employ in games such as "Banjoo-Kazooie" (1998) and "Conker's Bad Fur Day" (2000) are even more clear right now.
The game still employs the "Super Mario Bros. 3" (1988) and "Super Mario World" (1990) structure of presenting a concept per level, developing the concept through the level and then moving on to another concept, and the game can provide, just like the first one, a sufficient amount of variety in the concepts. Very rarely they repeat and even when it does repeat it is with some sort of twist. The game move toolkit is albeit simple, deep enough so you can have some freedom with it. The game move dynamics is also clearly based in Mario games, with it giving more attention to dynamism and chain movement than to precision.
I also find that the animals are much more interesting in the second game, with variety and how to use them when compared to the first game
But let's cover my shortcomings with the game
First is the synergy between the movement and the level design. Just like in the first game the level design is less optimized to you make a good usage of your moves, like in Mario games. But considering you have a ton of secrets through the levels, the movement justify itself. The problem is that the levels are designed with precision platform in mind. And hey, there's no problem with making precision platform games, "Celeste" (2018) and "Super Meat Boy" (2010) are good examples of this. But for the game be a interest precision platformer the game movement have to be built with this in mind. Just as I said in my review of "Super Mario Bros." (1985) and the review for the first "Donkey Kong Country", the loose and slippery movements that these games provide are complicated when the level design requires you precision platforming (this game is a little bit less aggressive with precision platforming when compared with the first one).
The game also have something I like to call old school Nintendo platformer bullshit: enemies flying in high speed in your screen like in the Kirby games and a design that punish you for trying to keep a constant chain of movements like in "Super Mario Bros. 3". The game teaches you that the most efficient way of playing it is either being super cautious and slow or to die until you memorized the whole level, neither seeming all that interesting. This combined with the fact that the game, just like in the "Super Mario Bros. 3" have just too much sections where you have to stop and wait something happen.
The game also, just like most Nintendo games, still have pretty poorly designed bosses. I didn't find none of the fights interesting and now they are way longer and sluggish than the first one. Most of them being structured around avoiding some hits, waiting till he open its weak point or some object that you can use to hit it being available and then just mechanically doing the action to kill it, for a few number of times.
The game also keeps, just like the first one, being very bad at displaying visual information. Is very confusing and hard to discern the background from the actual interactable level, most platform boxes are not exactly the same thing as its sprite and the I would often see myself jumping in things that are not actual platforms but the art of the background.
The frame keeps being not great. With it not revealing some necessary information often and making even worse the problem of moving objects within its frame.
Just like the first one this is a deeply flawed but enjoyable game. I just can't see the masterpiece that most people see in this game.