---
---
|
|
Updates:
Saturdays
Updates:
Whenever
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Donkey Kong Country 3
-
1996 Rare - Nintendo - SNES
Storyline
Well... If you've played the previous two Donkey Kong Country games you won't find the storyline of this game very complicated. Donkey, Diddy, and Dixie have been celebrating the victory over King K. Rool for months (don't ask me why... not much else to do, I guess). But one day when Dixie wakes up she finds Diddy's and Donkey's beds empty. All she could find was a note from Diddy that said that he was out on an adventure with Donkey, and that they'd be back tomorrow. But the next morning when Dixie woke up Diddy and Donkey still weren't back. So she got worried, and swam over to a nearby island. This is where the game beginns.
The first person you meet is Wrinkly Kong, she tells Dixie that the boys just passed by her hut, and that they might've gone to Funky's boat-shop-thingie. So you don't have much choice but to go there, and there you'll meet Funky Kong (the funkiest ape around). The boys aren't there, but another Kong is--Kiddy Kong. Funky asks Dixie to bring him along, and so she does because she's an obedient little monkey slut.
So the main storyline is simple, you're in search for Donkey and Diddy. You can probably figure out all by yourself that they're kidnapped, so I won't reveal a big secret by telling you that. Along the way Dixie and Kiddy gets lots of other missions that are somehow connected to the search itself, they meet lots of enemies, and they find out that there seems to be a new bad guy on the island, named Kaos. And it all kind of revolves around that, with the occasional side story involving a family of bears.
Gameplay
The controls in this game are pretty much perfect. As long as you haven't worn out your SNES-controller that is, in which case it's time to upgrade to Virtual Console.
Like in the previous two installments of the series, you have access to both playable characters even in single player mode. Whenever you want you can switch between the two of them, but if one of them gets hit he/she will run away, and the only way to get him/her back is to jump on a DK barrel. If you only have one monkey/ape you can only do the general platformer-moves: walk, run, jump, climb, swim, attack, and carry stuff around. But when you have both of them with you you can combine them in different ways. Dixie can lift up Kiddy and throw him at stuff. Due to his weight he can make holes in the ground and crack floorboards in half (which can unlock various secrets). Kiddy can of course also grab on to Dixie and throw her away. This move is useful to reach places out of jumping range, such as roofs and ledges.
A cool thing, that's been used in all of the Donkey Kong Country games, is the variation you get from different animals in the game. In your adventure you will come across barrels with animal-symbols on them. If you crush one of these barrels you will ride on or be transformed into the animal on the label ("No, stupid, a completely different animal than the one shown on the label"). The animals are as follows: Ellie the elephant, Enguarde the swordfish, Squawks the parrot, Squitter the spider, and Parry Parallell the bird-thingie. You have perfect control over all of the animals, and they all have different abilities that can come in handy in the game.
Graphics
The pre-rendered 2D graphics in this game are awesome. Rare has used the same ACM technique as they used in games such as Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2 and Killer Instinct. Thanks to that the 2D-graphics gets a nice 3D touch without the disgusting things that can so often accompany 3D games. The colors are clear and bright and all of the animations are well made.
Every enemy has a unique appearance, except for a few of the typical recolours, so it brings a good diversity to the levels of the game. The landscapes that the game takes part in are also different from one another which lends itself quite well to a variety of level designs. You get to bash Kremlings everywhere, from the sandy beaches in the south to the snowy mountains in the north.
The backgrounds are, as everything else, also extremely well drawn. In the snowy levels for an example you can see big mountains in the background as snowflakes fall across the screen. It's really beautiful. The bosses are also very original in appearance, and extremely well animated.
Sound
Not much to complain about here. Good music that suits the levels well and good sound effects. Nothing extraordinary, though.
Replayability
I've "finished" this game twice (only 100% once), and I've started numerous new files that I've never finished. So I can say without any doubt that this game is very replayable. There are tons of stuff to find which gives you about 15-30 hours of gameplay the first time you play it (depending on how good you are). And then when you play the game again you've forgotten about most of the stuff, so it's still fun. Plus you can play with a friend, where one of you controls Dixie and the other Kiddy. Yay for that!
A cool thing that makes it even better are the circus tents around the world. When I used to play this game with Kim we spent hours playing games against Cranky Kong in the tents. It's an awesome time waste.
Originality
On the surface, this game is a lot like any other platformer. But even though it builds on the same foundation as a lot of other games, it goes beyond that thanks to its amazing controls and level design. Repeated concepts taken to a new level, basically, so it gets a good grade for that.
Overall
One of the best platformers ever made. Great controls, great graphics, good sound, and there is a lot of content. It's right up there with Super Mario World, in my opinion.
Ratings
Storyline: 6/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 7/10
Replayability: 9/10
Originality: 8/10
Overall: 9/10
Screenshots
//Benny
|
|
|
|
|
|
Staff Comments of Awesomeness
|
|
|
|
-
August 4, 2011 - 07:25 BST - Nate
It's time to end this somewhat hiatus and start writing video game reviews for no one again. Funny that after all of these months of college and unemployment I start wasting time with video games and shitty reviews once I finally get a job.
Also, maybe I'll start reviewing games that have been released within the past six months for once thanks to my new disposable (heavy emphasis on this word) income. Maybe.
June 12, 2010 - 15:30 GMT - Benny
I got an urge to collect crap for my chao in Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. I had quite a lot of fun until I realised that I already had a chao with 99 in all stats. That took a bit of the fun away but I have another 16 chao I can level up. But now I'm in a mood to play Zelda instead.May 31, 2010 - 15:53 GMT - Benny
I'm quite glad I went through with this The Green Shell idea. Combined with Hair, I've managed to build up a little backlog of updates that could last me at least a week. Although I have a feeling I'll put out a few of them at a time, which means I'll run out sooner. But yeah, while it's not necessarily easy to come up with shitty ideas for it, I have been looking around at a lot of random video game stuff over the last 12 hours and it's quite fun. I also need to play some more Star Ocean; I've got reptile aliens to kill and annoying girls to ignore! My hatred for Welch has gone down a lot since I got Lymle into my party. That annoying fuck pisses me off, 'kay.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
