Late in the SNES reign, when the PSX and Saturn were barely rolling off the assembly line, Nintendo put out a lot of great games like Harvest Moon and Kirby Super Star. Among one of the titles that falls into this distinguished category is Donkey Kong Country. Wanting to achieve a new level of graphic intensity, programmers at Rare fooled with different chips and programs to produce the first of the best graphic games of their lines:Donkey Kong Country the first.
Gameplay-If you are new to the series or an old time DK player, this game is quite different from the days of jumping barrels as Mario to rescue the princess. Rare instead decided to opt for a game based on exploration and solid platforming. If you played Super metroid, the exploration concept remains the same. You explore DK island looking for the lost banana hoard taken by the Kremlins. You can control either DK or Diddy to explore all of the different places. Using each mokey at different places is key to the game, as each has different abilities. DK is slower, jumps lower and is more powerful than diddy. Diddy can roll and jump and manuevers quickly to enable you to find places among the trees. Hidden areas are abound, and every wall can hold a secret. The overall progress of the game is pretty linear if you don't go for the secrets. However, the gameplay helps this game truly shine.
GFX and Sound-Since the programmers at Rare placed a heavy graphic emphasis on this game, it is expected for graphics on this game to be good. Rare took it a step further and beyond by giving a stunning display of psuedo 3-D enviroments and colors. Everything you see is displayed in great detail, from colors to shading. Texture mapping was done well, and plants look like plants, and DK fur looks like DK fur. The sound is dubbed flawlessly and noises are clear and pleasing to hear. Music is perfectly suited for the DK universe, as jungle drum type tunes are abound in the game. This is probaly the best area to write home about.
Funfactor-Rare succeeded at making another department worthy of the SNES title. This game is tons of fun and its challenging too. Finding secrets requires strategy and some thinking as well as a little bit of teamwork. The game is not too short, leaving you wanting for more, nor too long, leaving you tired of the game, but in between-enough to satisfy your appetite. Trying to find everything in the game is challenging as well as fun.
Replay-Since this game can be played solo, or with another partner, it can be played again a couple of times before it wears out, but not consectuively of course. Getting 100% is a little extra incentive to keep on playing also. The overall value here is moderate to high, depending on your taste.
Overall-For one of the last games made for the system, nintendo wanted to go out with a bang. Obviously, they did what they aimed for. Rare presents a well-done effort in a complete package that will entice gamers of all types. I strongly warrant a purchase if you haven't gotten it already.-Joel-
Score-9.5
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