Well, the cat just got the game today for $40
and it came out sunday
Master plays for the cat and enjoys it as she has played Donkey Kong Country 1-3 for the SNES
It's better than the cat expected
the cat thought it was just a 3-D spinoff of the Donkey Kong Country series
It wasn't, it paid homage to the original series but also improved upon it with things that they weren't able to do before.
As usual,
the story revolves around an evil force stealing Donkey Kong's bananas
He goes apesh!t and you're playing a very angry gorilla (gorilla =/= monkey)
You collect the same usual items
balloons for lives, coins to buy things at Cranky (elaborate later), and bananas 100 = 1 life, letters of Kong
but wait, puzzle pieces?
Master havent replayed the levels to look for them all yet but the cat can promise you
that you'll replay those levels to find all the secret puzzle pieces
that said, the cat has no idea what collecting all of them do since the cat havent replayed the levels
The controls (wiimote only) is the same as a NES controller
but u can shake it to do different things
for example
shaking along ground pounds, shaking with pressing the left or right will let you roll (just like you were used to) and down shake lets you blow air
the idea for the rolling was interesting as you shake, u feel like Donkey Kong rolling
Anyways, it's different
you get "2 hearts" where u can survive two hits, having diddy gets another 2, totalling to 4
Of course, if you fall/get crushed by a tower/drown it's instant death
AND THERE'S A LOT OF INSTANT DEATH SITUATIONS TO MAKE UP FOR THE HEARTS
progressively, the amount of these gain for each new level
that said, this game is "reasonably" hard for those who are used to 2-d platformers
MUCH more challenging than New super Mario Bros
(side rant)
the file size of the games are comparable too
New Super Mario was 700 MB while Donkey Kong Country Returns is 3.4 GB
(side rant over)
what about casuals?
well you can buy lives from Cranky, 1 for 3 coins, 3 for 7 coins, AND 7 FOR 15 COINS
also, there are items that you can use per level (only one item per level)
There's other good stuff in Cranky's shop
-Sqawk is a green parrot that's like a puzzle piece radar, he detects puzzle pieces and squawks. Costs 15 coins per lvl so use a FAQ or save ur coins
-Heart booster Add one heart max, why do you even need this? The instant death situations will still own you. costs 10 coins
-Banana Juice gives you 10 hearts at the beginning of the stage, but u cannot hold more than 2 after losing them. Again instant death will lolno and kill u. costs 20 coins per use
-Map Key Unlock the hidden stage for 20 coins, the cat recommends this because it allows more content, more fun, and more chance to collect coins
the level designs are challenging
like the cat said SO MANY INSTANT DEATHS
in fact, there was an instant death JUST after the checkpoint in this one stage (cant tell, no spoilers)
It is also easy to miss something and once you miss it
you can't go back without restarting the level
Very creative, never before were you able to go into the background.
and there are many secret spots with goods, most likely puzzle pieces.
The cat doesn't feel like typing anymore.
We just got past the first area.