Review for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Game for Nintendo Switch and Wii U, the video game was released on 13/02/2014 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 04/05/2018
After many years in which the Donkey Kong saga, so beloved on Super Nintendo, Game Boy, and Nintendo 64, had retired, Nintendo had the brilliant idea to bring it back into vogue. On Wii (and later as a port on 3DS) Donkey Kong Country Returns was released, perhaps an experiment to see how much the ape's two-dimensional platformer was expected by players. Apparently, the longtime players have cheered to the point that the big N has decided to continue on this path also on the new Wii U, with Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze.
It's cold here in the tropics
After defeating the Kremlings, and kicking the Tikis off the island, the Kong family appears to be at peace and cheerful, enjoying their banana treasure. However, this peace does not seem destined to last, as a new threat sets sail across the waves of the Tropics. Sailing ships appear in the ocean: Vikings, or rather the Nevking, creatures of different species such as penguins, seals, walruses and so on, come to this island from the frozen lands, ready to turn everything upside down. Too bad for them that to land and freeze everything with their cannon, they chose Donkey Kong's birthday, not allowing him to blow out his candle. Donkey Kong and family are known to be not exactly the most patient monkeys in this world. Beware, Snowshoes! The gorillas are coming!
Four against all
The gameplay of the title, as a basis, does not dissociate itself in the least from the previous chapters of the series. It returns as a two-dimensional platformer, where the buttons allow us to jump, make a somersault attack, run, or slam the fists on the ground to move or open crates. In the role of the protagonist we will have to go through the various levels using these very simple commands. Defeating enemies by jumping on their heads or with an attack is undoubtedly the simplest part of the title, as thanks to a truly exceptional level design what will put us in difficulty will be above all the environmental obstacles such as platforms suspended in the void, spikes and so on. Street. During our raids we will be able to find different extras and power ups: the simple one hundred bananas that you will collect will guarantee a life (also obtainable by finding the red balloons), the letters of the KONG writing, which will unlock a secret level if collected all in each stage, the pieces of the puzzle to get preparatory sketches to admire, and finally coins to spend in the shop. The latter is in fact one of the novelties of this title, compared to the version for Wii: in fact, Donkey's cousin, Funky Kong, is back with his plane on the map of every world, only this time he will not accompany us from a world to another. other but has opened a business. In exchange for tokens, he will provide us with various objects, such as lives, balloons so as not to die falling off a precipice, those to have extra air underwater, extra hearts, the Pagal parrot (or Squawks) that will help us find pieces of hidden puzzles, and gashapon from which to unlock figures of all the characters in the game. Among the things to buy we will also find three barrels to get the help of different characters, and this is the most interesting novelty of this title. Let's see why.
In Donkey Kong Country Returns, DK was accompanied by the faithful Diddy Kong, who in addition to giving him two extra hearts, could be carried on his shoulder to use his jetpack and glide slowly during the jumps. Alternatively, a second player could join the game and use Diddy himself, not allowing him to use his gliding ability unless he shouldered him. In Tropical Freeze the concept is the same, but the difference is that the characters to accompany Donkey can be three. The second can be freely chosen by the next player, while in case you play alone, you will find around the crates with the words DK, DX and CK, depending on whether you will find Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, or for the first time inside. playable in the series, the old Cranky Kong. Each of these characters, taken individually or even on Donkey's shoulders to give him their powers, is equipped with different abilities, each of them very useful, in its own way. Diddy Kong as usual is able to land more smoothly, Dixie Kong will use his hair like a helicopter to take off for an instant, in the exact same way as Yoshi does in Super Mario, while the old Cranky, as well as Scrooge de 'Scrooge in Duck Tales, is able to perform a Pogo Jump with his stick, rising to good heights making himself invulnerable to any “thorny” pitfall.
From the old games, aquatic levels are finally returning, and in particular an entire world has been dedicated to this category of levels. However, we will have to pay close attention to the level of oxygen left, and try to rise to the surface to breathe or find air bubbles on the seabed, in order not to risk losing lives due to suffocation. In addition to this, the animal companions also naturally return, such as the faithful Rambi, the rhino capable of breaking everything in front of him. The stages are incredibly well structured, with a level design that has absolutely nothing to envy to any previous chapter of the saga. The environments are well made, the obstacles are always different and original, and despite playing a lot, there is no risk of getting bored. Even the new enemies, the Snowings are perfectly integrated into their context and category of animals, and also as a design they are very reminiscent of the Kremlings, which never hurts to maintain a certain continuity in the saga. The bosses are fantastic, well structured and with a lot of different attack patterns. For a Nintendo title, however, the difficulty is quite high, and if this can risk frustrating newbies (who can still have the help of the various items to buy from Funky Kong), it will instead make fans jump for joy.
Hair in the wind
Graphically, the title has undoubtedly been improved compared to its previous chapter: the HD view allows a vision of really excellent workmanship and quality, as Nintendo presented our apes at the announcement of the game, in their shiny and brown hair. Unfortunately, the good level of quality stops there, because in terms of texture or modeling, much, much more could be done. Wii U is a machine that technically should be on par with PS3 and Xbox 360, so a graphics sector of this level is not enough, even if it is very colorful and very pleasant. The animations are fluid, fun and absolutely in line with the movements of the previous chapters, even the two-dimensional ones. The audio sector is truly exceptional and deserves full marks: the music is all beautiful, very inspired, varied, there are so many different ones to the point of never repeating themselves, winking even at the nostalgic, with several returns and remixes of old traces. Longevity is also good, not only to finish the game by completing all the worlds, but also to find all the collectibles, challenge the stages in time attacks or in hard mode, or the various letters to form the word "KONG" in each level and unlock a secret one, in addition to the others already present and unlockable by finding only the right exit in certain sections.
In conclusion
Although graphically we could have done more, Tropical Freeze turns out to be a work of enormous quality from start to finish. Fun both alone and in two players, new compared to the old games but without changing them too much. The level design is fantastic, the stages are all different from each other, and it is practically impossible to find two similar situations. With this Donkey Kong title, the developers have focused on erasing the monotony and amaze those who play continuously, thanks to original and fun situations. Once again Nintendo has hit the mark by churning out a title that Wii U owners cannot fail to have, but on the other hand you know, on platformers the big N has always reigned supreme.
► Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is a Platform-type game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for Nintendo Switch and Wii U, the video game was released on 13/02/2014 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 04/05/2018
