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Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (GC)

• Developer:
• Publisher: Nintendo
• Genre:
• Official Website: http://www.donkeykong.com
• Score: 5 of 5: Purchase

For those of you who don't know already, I am a huge Donkey Kong fan. Huge. I mean, the biggest there is out there. So, with that being said, I was really excited when I heard about Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat. I must admit that I was a little disappointed when I heard that the game play would involve the bongos from Donkey Konga, but nonetheless it was going to be the first true Donkey Kong game on the GameCube. Perhaps my hopes were set too high, but I didn't feel that this newest installment in the beloved Donkey Kong series lived up to its potential.

To sum up the game for you real fast here: you play as Donkey Kong and you are on a mission to collect bananas, or beats. You climb up flowers, get tossed by monkeys, and swing on vines to maneuver your way through various levels. Once you beat two areas in the level, your beats get tallied up. They then become your "hit points" for fighting the boss. Once you do that, the number of beats with which you are left gets thrown into a hollow tree to determine the crest you receive. The more beats you have, the better the crest in the form of bronze, silver, and gold. You need crests to unlock higher levels.

Donkey Kong, how I love thee, let me count the ways... your large chest, your ability to rock at the bongos, the Neanderthal stare... There are so many things that I loved and enjoyed about all the previous Donkey Kong games. The story was amusing, the levels were fun, and the pace was moderately slow. So, I think it's only fair to start out with the things that I didn't like about Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat. The biggest bone I have to pick with DKJB is that you went through the levels so quickly that you didn't get to enjoy them. The pace was so fast that you didn't even get to notice half the stuff in the level, not to mention how impressive the graphics were. The pace of the game also sets up for another mild disappointment; it only takes a few hours to beat the game. The game also got a bit monotonous at times, as there was not much difference from one level to the next. There wasn't much of a story, so the game came off as shallow. Each kingdom consists of two levels and a boss. Even the bosses repeat themselves. As far as the actual game play goes, it was a tad irritating that trying to play without the bongos was a task in and of its self. To move, you had to tap the button over and over again, as if you were playing with the bongos. Controlling Kong with the bongos became frustrating at times too. Let's face it, in a world where the slightest toggle on the analog stick can make or break a sneaky move in some games, a style of play where you beat on bongos to move about was a concept hard for me to embrace. Cone almost lost an arm out of my frustration.

Now with all that ugliness out of the way, let me get to the things that I liked. I liked that it was a fun, upbeat, simple game to play-one that didn't involve me sitting down for hours at a time to beat just one level. The game got progressively more challenging. It wasn't a walk in the park the whole way through. It was fun to get to play a non-music game with the bongos. This made DKJB stand out as something new to try. Not that I needed another reason to be a bongo-beating fiend, but nonetheless, bongos equal fun. Even though you could call the game "shallow," it is still a game that I feel like I want to go back and play again. I think that its uniqueness played a lot into this factor. If it were a shallow game with crappy content, then who would want to go and play it again? "Not I," says Dots. The graphics were stunning. You can't really appreciate them unless you are watching someone else play due to the speed of the game. I also liked the fact that they incorporated the music from earlier Donkey Kong games. It made me want to bust out the SNES and play a round or two. I also liked the bosses. They were fun with clever names like in Donkey Kong for the SNES. Oh, my favorite part was when you ride the killer whale. That's right, a killer whale. It didn't last long, but I liked it. It is also fun to beat the crap out of huge baddies using the bongos. I think I just like to hit things.

All in all, I would give Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat an overall positive review. If you liked Donkey Konga for its bongos, then you should definitely give this newest Donkey Kong edition a go around. The thing that I think speaks best for the game is the fact that even though it was a shallow game, I still like it and want to go back and play it again. I want to go back and get the gold crest on each level. So for all you people with a GameCube out there, give it a try. I think you'll enjoy yourself. If you don't and want to complain, e-mail me at pickle@snackbar-games.com ...

May 5, 2005 | 0 comments
Lauren Rasco