No joke, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze was one of my top 3 games I saw at E3 in 2013. Inventive level design, brilliant HD visuals — I’m expecting great thing from this game. How are you finding it so far?
I’m one of those weird people who things Donkey Kong Country Returns is one of the most inventive platformers ever made. Retro Studios is just so inventive, and seem dead set on showing players something new on every single damn level it creates.
I wonder if they can keep it up for a sequel. I haven’t had much chance to play yet, but I believe it can. Mainly because, according to Retro, Donkey Kong Country Returns got a sequel because the team had so many left over ideas from the first game. The last time Nintendo did that? Super Mario Galaxy 2. We all know how that turned out.
(Protip: it turned out awesome)
So I’m keen to finally get some quality time with Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. How are you all finding it so far?
Comments
15 responses to “Community Review: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze”
Love it. Always loved the DKC games though.
The Lion King level (you’d know it when you see it) left me utterly stunned.
Keen to get back to it, it plays better if you go go go go level after level life after life.
Game is great but not easy by any stretch. It is however, reasonably forgiving of you making mistakes, checkpoints are spaced well, usually after tricky sections, lives are plentiful and when you do finally make it through a rough spot you feel pretty awesome about it.
Level design is some of the best I have seen with some really cool ideas played with. The soundtrack is great with a side of nostalgia due to them bringing back the original composer and the game looks beautiful.
Have they got that stupid heart sytem again? I liked the old school health system.
Was the “No Joke” a joke?
Or was the inventive “Inventive” comment just sarcasm?
http://i.imgur.com/5Tz5bRm.jpg
Levels look amazing so far (Into the second world).
I think my biggest appreciation is the ability to be able to roll without having to shake a remote anymore (If using the Wii U gamepad mind you… if only it applied to the Wiimotes aswell), as that made it difficult at times to get precise movements in DKCR. I’m a fan of the difficulty, especially when aiming to collect all 9 puzzle pieces in each level and KONG letters.
Although so far I do wish they would stop throwing 1-up balloons after checkpoints, but before difficult sections of a level. Risks of Game Over’s were part of the difficulty of the old DK games on SNES, as you would lose any checkpoint progress you had made. Generally having around 50 lives so far, isn’t putting me in much jeopardy yet.
No frame rate drops noticed yet, except during loading screens, which i suppose who cares?
Overall though, loving the game, Dixie Kong is the best companion, plus the ability to choose to play only on the TV or the Gamepad. Thankfully someone has adopted this way of thinking.
I usually just keep the TV turned off if i’m playing on Gamepad.
Yeah sure, but mainly for the other way around, saving power whilst playing on the TV (but still using the Gamepad as a controller), plus i can get distracted at times from having the Gamepad on while playing on the TV.
Ohhh yeah. That makes sense. Never thought of that!
I’ve only ever played pikmin 3 on screen. Every other Wii u game I went solely with the gamepad. (While the girlfriend watches or uses the TV for something else).
Can anyone confirm if the Pro Controller enables you to roll by just pressing Y and no motion control shaking (like the Gamepad)? Also if the Classic Controller from the Wii is usable at all?
I can confirm this. Been playing the game throughout the day. I don’t think the pro controller has any sort of gyro capabilities to be honest.
I might buy this tonight. I have no other games to play since waiting for Titanfall.
Loving it. Levels are large and beautifully designed. You will die (a lot) if u attempt to complete anything with any kind of pace but if you slow things down it’s not too bad. There are some levels I’ll die a dozen times and others not at all. I’m currently playing world 5 and I’m really enjoying the entire experience.
If you haven’t yet got a Wii U I suggest nows the time to check it out.
Furthermore I can confirm that the feature where the gamepad screen does not activate whilst playing on the TV does indeed boost the battery life of the gamepad significantly.
I’m liking DKC:TF for the most part. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t tedious and kind of missed the feel of a proper platformer though. It disguises tedium for trial and error and punishes you for going with your instinct and trying to clear levels at a reasonably fast pace.
I’ve been playing Strider and that’s a game where you learn from mistakes and dying. You have to learn to dodge everything, use the right weapons and not get hit.
DKC:TF just throws curveballs out of left field. What happens is the game will throw you a curveball at some point, you don’t cotton on to what’s happening, you die, you start over and eventually get past it after a few tries only to get thrown another curveball. Rinse and repeat. It gets really tedious really quick. It’s not even trial and error. It’s just… Tedium…
I understand there are alot of nostalgic people who would see this and say “oh you’re a scrub pussy, get good, fucking casual babby scum go back to iPad etc.”, but I just can’t agree that a mechanic like that makes a game challenging or fun. I just see it as tedium and at times plain cheap.
Probably the most important thing I’ve noticed about DKC:TF is it feels like there’s a real disconnect between it and other platformers. You tend to play most sidescrolling platformers and try to clear stages quickly because it adds to the fun of it all and gives it some exhilaration. DKC:TF will punish you if you try and play faster than a snail’s pace. It’s frustrating because it goes against every instinct you have when it comes to playing sidescrolling platformers and it gives the player almost no freedom in how they want to play it.
Brb gonna grab my flame suit.