 |
|
 |
| |
Slush's Donkey Kong 64 Review
Okay, let's get this review machine rolling with going over the game's graphics. NO, the graphics may not be a generation ahead like Donkey Kong Country's was, but c'mon...maybe only Jesus himself (as with all religious jokes I have to say: NO OFFENSE) could make such a dramatic leap in visuals on the N64 like DKC did for the SNES (no, I'm not comparing DKC to Jesus either...oh, nevermind). However, I believe with all my heart that DK64 has the best graphics avaliable for the system as of January 28th, 2000 (the date I type this). The reason for that is a little something called Dynamic Lighting. It makes the game gorgeous, it really does. The shadows, the shimmering, the flickering...must be seen to be believed. Plus, none of the characters look as blocky as the cast of Banjo-Kazooie did (and that looked nowhere as blocky as Super Mario 64 did). The Expansion Pak was a wise move by Rare as it increased visuals and the size of the levels.
9.9
GREAT SOUND. I'm not going to bore you by going over all the "effects" (hopping and bopping noises) and I'll jump right into the main sound feature which is music. The music is a cross between all three DKC games for the SNES and Banjo-Kazooie. It results in a moody, tropical, environmental beat. The best places to scope out the variety are the levels of Jungle Japes, Angry Aztec, Frantic Factory, Gloomy Galleon, Fungi Forest, Crystal Caves, Creepy Cast....okay, so ALL THE LEVELS. My favorite tracks are Jungle Japes (mixes in the classic DKC jungle theme with jazzy revampedness [I'm well aware that's not a word]), Gloomy Galleon (brings to mind the darker DKC2 era of music), Fungi Forest (Banjo-Kazooie style of being cheery when it's time to be cheery, and being dangerous when it's time to be dangerous), Crystal Caves (brings an eerie pleasant feeling to your body), Creepy Castle (sounds literally like death: a depressing yet elegant and classy tune), the Troff 'n Scoff room (sounds mystical and it makes you know that it's the calm before the storm), and the DK Isles overworld theme (shifts from cheery to dangerous and yet keeps this unique African shoreline feeling). Music helps bring any game to life, but this music can resurrect the dead. It's that enjoyable.
10.0
Play control is always tougher in 3-D games than 2-D games. You have to move your character more and camera angles are always a problem. Yes, sometimes the camera is hard to control in DK64. Most N64 games like this have cameras that are hard to control, so it's no big deal. The freakin' Professor couldn't patch up the S.S. Minnow, so how do you expect Rare to invent a flawless camera system with the snap of a finger? Moving away from views and going straight to the character control, I would have to say it's a joy to move our simian pals in circles. Very responsive play control and unique moves for each character equals fun. And that's all I got to say about that (because SirSlush said so, blah blah blah).
9.4
Wha wha wha, this game is a Banjo-Kazooie clone. Super Mario 64 is better, yarg yarg yarg. Rayman 2 sucks, but I like bashing this game, so ziggle ziggle ziggle. And so on. This game IS original, despite what the pansy arse critics say. First let's focus on the storyline. This continues the events that occured at the end of DKC2 nicely. Crocodile Isle (the original, natural island) was destroyed, and you always knew K. Rool would love to destroy Donkey Kong Island as revenge. Rare knew this, and made it the storyline for the biggest DKU game ever. Chad and I both agree that Rare knew the storyline for DK64 since the SNES days and have been leading up to it (and even if we're wrong, we'll still believe it). Another interesting aspect that most people get wrong is that this isn't the same hoard of bananas that are stolen. This is DK's new GOLDEN BANANA HOARD, which you can still apparently peel and eat by the way. And the only reason the Golden Bananas were stolen and scattered was because the Kremlings needed a distraction (along with kidnapping four Kongs) to have time to get the Blast-o-Matic working again. I also think this was an intelligent way of getting K. Rool back into power as king (read our DK64 Story So Far if you don't know what I'm talking about) and perhaps the whole reason for the K. Rool/KAOS king switch to begin with was to make K. Rool harder edged and more determined. Okay, now for the game mechanics. True, the collecting aspect in a 3-D action game may not be new, but the five characters having to work together and backtrack etc. thing is. The replay value is extended greatly thanks to this, and makes the game a hell of a lot more fun.
9.7
Maybe I rated this game too high because I just love the DKU. I mean, Star Trek fans usually defend any crap Paramount pulls out for their franchise. But this game isn't crap. It was well worth the lllooonnnggg wait. Everything just seemed to scream fun or incredible or WOW! Little details (like copies of the Monkey Book of Science by M. Nuts scattered around, portraits of Kaptain K. Rool in various locations, the Kremling pirate emblem on the carpet and bedsheets of the sunken ship in Gloomy Galleon, etc.) that either only very alert gamers or hardcore DKUers will notice just adds to the flavor. I think you have to be a huge DKU fan to really get many of the fine aspects of this game, and maybe that's why I enjoy it so much. We even finally got the return of Candy Kong, who is a living sexual joke machine. And notice how accurate things remain: the only animal buddy that can talk is Squawks and that's because he's a parrot...Rambi and Enguarde still can't speak and neither can newcomer Glower, when swimming slowly Diddy still does the dog paddle, and the temple building seen on map screens in Vine Valley is still there and finally used as the lobby building for Angry Aztec. Rare, if I was wearing my hat I would take it off to you guys. You didn't dissapoint this DK fan. One can only imagine what you'll have up your sleaves for the next game starring Donkey Kong on the next home console system...
10.0
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
