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Donkey Kong Country Returns |OT| Retro Studios Has Done It Again!
- Thread starter Tricky I Shadow
- Start date
D
Deleted member 8095
Unconfirmed Member
Quick question, I may go pick this up today, how long is the game?
redbarchetta
Banned
MyFaceIsOnFire said:
If you rush through, 7-8 hours. But there is so much more to do, such as find secret items and unlock further levels, that it can easily be doubled, if not more.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
First impressions:
+ Best graphics I've personally seen in a 2.5d platformer. Insane detail and animation in the ambient environment, and for those who didn't know, Retro pulls a Metroid Prime here by constructing custom, one of a kind level scenery for each stage all the way through. In terms of art direction and consistent quality, it smashes the dial and hits a 15. Oh yeah, and so far a rock solid 60fps. In Co-op.
+ It's not easy at all. First minecart level is a preview of oldschool pain to come. That, and unlike New Super Mario Bros, the "optional" collectables like K-O-N-G, coins, and puzzle pieces are not 95% braindead obvious and easy to collect.
+ About the gameplay though, holy shit: I can't believe how good the level design is. The stages flow like liquid at times, brilliant channeling of the player into what they need to be doing, but then they're built for time trials later so the layout has to be on point. Constant interesting mechanics and gadgets to interact with in the first 3 worlds so far. Reaches that Mario quality where every stage of every world does something new and different. Also, the control feels flawless once you realize DK actually moves like a gorilla and has weight. He slides when changing direction suddenly. But the actual quality of the physical interaction feels superior to Rare's SNES games IMHO.
+ Great, great remixes of the classic tunes. I don't know yet if a lack of wholly new tunes will be good or bad (are there new stage themes later on? We'll see shortly.) But the remixes are A+ quality.
- Waggle - I'm putting waggle here only because I do agree there's no reason not to have CC support in this game. Unlike New SMB or even Wario Land Shake It, tilt isn't used that I can see. However, I am playing it in horizontal wiimote mode as a test. The critical thing is that the shake moves aren't primary play mechanics; you don't rely on them. A shake to roll while holding left/right actually feels kind of natural is the thing; the sensitivity seems about the same as spin in Mario Galaxy - the thing is, you must realize in Galaxy it's easy to snap the wiimote in one hand, so the shake /seems/ easier to do there. A snap with two hands isn't quite as instant or thoughtless, so it feels chunkier. Sensitivity is spot-on though with no control lag.
So basically, aside from the blatant omission of CC support, so far it is the second coming of DKC. Retro turns in an incredible job and also shows they can design platformers like goddamn God-tier pros. Seriously, again the level layouts are fan-tas-tic.
+ Best graphics I've personally seen in a 2.5d platformer. Insane detail and animation in the ambient environment, and for those who didn't know, Retro pulls a Metroid Prime here by constructing custom, one of a kind level scenery for each stage all the way through. In terms of art direction and consistent quality, it smashes the dial and hits a 15. Oh yeah, and so far a rock solid 60fps. In Co-op.
+ It's not easy at all. First minecart level is a preview of oldschool pain to come. That, and unlike New Super Mario Bros, the "optional" collectables like K-O-N-G, coins, and puzzle pieces are not 95% braindead obvious and easy to collect.
+ About the gameplay though, holy shit: I can't believe how good the level design is. The stages flow like liquid at times, brilliant channeling of the player into what they need to be doing, but then they're built for time trials later so the layout has to be on point. Constant interesting mechanics and gadgets to interact with in the first 3 worlds so far. Reaches that Mario quality where every stage of every world does something new and different. Also, the control feels flawless once you realize DK actually moves like a gorilla and has weight. He slides when changing direction suddenly. But the actual quality of the physical interaction feels superior to Rare's SNES games IMHO.
+ Great, great remixes of the classic tunes. I don't know yet if a lack of wholly new tunes will be good or bad (are there new stage themes later on? We'll see shortly.) But the remixes are A+ quality.
- Waggle - I'm putting waggle here only because I do agree there's no reason not to have CC support in this game. Unlike New SMB or even Wario Land Shake It, tilt isn't used that I can see. However, I am playing it in horizontal wiimote mode as a test. The critical thing is that the shake moves aren't primary play mechanics; you don't rely on them. A shake to roll while holding left/right actually feels kind of natural is the thing; the sensitivity seems about the same as spin in Mario Galaxy - the thing is, you must realize in Galaxy it's easy to snap the wiimote in one hand, so the shake /seems/ easier to do there. A snap with two hands isn't quite as instant or thoughtless, so it feels chunkier. Sensitivity is spot-on though with no control lag.
So basically, aside from the blatant omission of CC support, so far it is the second coming of DKC. Retro turns in an incredible job and also shows they can design platformers like goddamn God-tier pros. Seriously, again the level layouts are fan-tas-tic.
D
Deleted member 8095
Unconfirmed Member
redbarchetta said:
7-8 hours works for me. I'll pick it up. F it.
About to finsish the first world. I'm a huge, huge fan of platformers and this one definitely has the chance to end up as one of my all-time favorites. How refreshing, too, because I was disappointed with both NSMB DS and Wii. The feel of moving Donky Kong through the level is amazing. I don't mind the waggle controls, even though I'd prefer those actions to be activated by a button press. The game is also flat-out GORGEOUS.
Community Forum
Member
Was there ever an explanation of WHY there is no classic controller support?
I just finished the first world and god damn do I agree with this. I was worried that nonstop Metroid Prime had worn them down but this game proves otherwise. Brilliant so far and it honestly shames NSMBW when it comes to polish and presentation.Kaijima said:
The only downside I can see is that the waggle is just as annoying here as it is in nearly everything else. Short of Nintendo being a jackass, I can't see why they didn't bother including CC support with the ground pound mapped to another button (and if there's tilt stuff later, that could still be mapped to shoulder buttons).
I'd love to see what Retro could do with their own IP!
redbarchetta
Banned
hatchx said:
I literally just got the gold =) Only took me about 10 minutes too.
I'll upload a video soon!
I'm really, really loving this game. One of the BEST platformers in ages. On world 3 now with my own save file. Best friend and my fiance have each really enjoyed it. We've just been passing the controller around on a group file. Haven't tried co-op yet. Only 100%'d one level so far, and that's not for lack of exploration. Man, I have no idea where some of these pieces are at! I've yet to try Squawks though... he'll definitely be necessary to find some of these pieces.
darkpaladinmfc
Member
Is there any pointing with the Wiimote, or just waggle?
redbarchetta
Banned
darkpaladinmfc said:
Only waggle..
Darn. Here I was right about to go out the door to buy the game and then something had to happen. I smelled a gas leak coming from the garage. It will probably take all day for the gas company to come out now.
I need my Dunkey Kong!
By the way, how are the boss battles in the game ? Some look pretty creative and change up their attack strategy after getting hit a few times.
I need my Dunkey Kong!
By the way, how are the boss battles in the game ? Some look pretty creative and change up their attack strategy after getting hit a few times.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
Just got this. The banana case hardly looks like a banana.
Just got up to world 6. So many levels have kicked my ass hard so far :lol Even some of the KONG letters are incredibly tricky
And 100%ing everything without a guide seems like it could be downright impossible (although I haven't used Squawks in a level yet, perhaps he makes finding the puzzle pieces easy enough to forgo outside help)
This game is just brilliant, I absolutely love it
And 100%ing everything without a guide seems like it could be downright impossible (although I haven't used Squawks in a level yet, perhaps he makes finding the puzzle pieces easy enough to forgo outside help)
This game is just brilliant, I absolutely love it
forknknife
Banned
LevityNYC said:
I agree with those decisions, actually
redbarchetta
Banned
Zzoram said:
If anything, DK would be the helper...what it boils down to is Diddy is slightly better. Being as this game isn't competitive at all (even less so than New Super Mario Bros Wii), it hasn't been a factor at all in my play-throughs. Instead, it seems like their less experienced player should get Diddy, while the more experience Donkey.
forknknife
Banned
LevityNYC said:
Keyword here for me would be BONUS. But, yeah, I still don't have the game so maybe I'll be annoyed by it too when I do, I'll let you know.
Why would you do that?
Member
But they're bonus rooms. If you can re-enter the bonus rooms, you'll just get infinite bonuses. Also, I can't think of too many games where you can re-enter bonus areas multiple times per level.LevityNYC said:
To be fair, I haven't played DKC:R yet but I'm basing my post on old DKC games.
Zzoram said:
Its annoying that there is a bonus stage 5 seconds from the end of the level and you mistime a jump and you fail the bonus stage. Rather than going back and trying again, you need to find the nearest pit and jump in and restart at the midway point.
Same goes for bonus stages right at the start of the level. You beat the bonus stages and then you die right before the midway point. You need to restart the level and then get the bonus stage, and then you need to beat the level again.
Its just annoying.
Incitemaybe
Member
Wow, really digging the feeling of weight Donkey Kong has.
redbarchetta
Banned
Proven said:
Nope, mine was a bit faster =) I'll link to it as soon as it's finished uploading, in about 20 minutes it seems.