Graphics

If there's one thing that rings true of most Gamecube games produced by Nintendo, it's that years later, their titles still look good. This game, being a part of Nintendo's New Play Control! line, is of no exception. I'd even go so far as to say that NPC! Jungle Beat's graphics are much better than the majority of Wii titles out there. In a way, it's a bit sad that a Gamecube game has graphics that can stand up to other Wii titles, yet it's also a testament to the Gamecube era in itself. As far as the graphics in the game go, they're definitely above-average. Ripples of wind, water, and snow look just fine, and the game itself is, for the most part, easy on the eyes.

9

Sound

To its credit, the game has a very immersive soundtrack. Throughout the levels, you'll get this feeling of atmosphere that the game benefits from. Yet, and this is probably just me, I don't think that the songs are memorable compared to previous songs in, say, the DKC series. Besides the remix of "Jungle Hijinx" in the game (which seems to be absolutely mandatory in every non-Rare developed Donkey Kong adventure title), very few of them stand out. This isn't to say that the soundtrack is bad (especially since some good choice songs made their way into Super Smash Bros. Brawl); I believe that they're great in the context of the game and only in the context of the game. Take that as you will.

7

Play Control

Since this is the part that Nintendo's advertising on the box to the point of adding it to the original title, you'd expect the controls to be nothing short of perfect, right? Well, yes and no. "New Play Control!" is essentially Nintendo's way of saying: "Did you enjoy the controls from the Gamecube version of this game? Well, that's too bad, because they're unavailable." To their credit, the Wii controls are very straightforward; you use A to jump, wall jump, and collect bananas in midair, the Control Stick to move around, and the motion controls to either clap, swing from various objects, or beat the crap out of bad guys and bosses with the help of the Nunchuk. With the exception of the latter use of motion control (which could be quite painful if you don't take breaks), the controls work just fine. At the end of the day, the biggest flaw with the "New Play Control!" series is that they only offer the new Wii control scheme. While I can't speak as someone who played Jungle Beat on the Gamecube, I could only imagine that it would've been nice to have the original Gamecube and damned DK Bongo controllers for those that got used to their control schemes.

8

Originality

Without going into a rant, Jungle Beat was definitely meant to be an original game, and as a DKC fan, it shows. With the exceptions of the newly implemented DK Coins and the Barrel Cannons, everything seems to go out of its way to be different. The animals that assist you are the DKC Animal Buddies in drug-trippy clothing, DK no longer jumps to kill the baddies and instead opts to punch them to death to get high combos, and originally, there was no story. With the updated version, the latter has changed to DKC Lite: DK got his bananas stolen, so now he has a reason to take everyone down. For better or for worse, NPC! Jungle Beat is quite high in the Originality department.

7

Final Word

NPC! Jungle Beat is one of the few DKU games that will always have a divided fanbase. Personally speaking, it took quite a bit of willpower to accept the Wii version, and I ultimately ended up seeing it as a decent game thanks to the controls, the few DKC items, the story, the rather fun Combo system, and its low price. As a fan of Rare's Donkey Kong, the inherent problem it'll always have are the lack of DKC characters and locales. I may end up inversely saying this in a future review, but getting this game showed me that NPC! JB is not a terrible game. However, it's not a very good Donkey Kong game in terms of representation, continuity, and whatnot. As mentioned earlier, there were quite a few factors that ultimately swayed me into purchasing it. If these factors apply to you, I recommend it, especially with its price tag. However, if these factors don't apply to you, I wouldn't blame you if you decided to completely ignore the fact that it exists.

5

Overall Score: 6/10