Donkey kong 64
Review by : Sxe_sk8
Format : N64
Type : 3d-platformer
Players : 1 - 4
Tackling Donkey Kong 64 would be like playing with Anna Nicole Smith, there’s so much there, you don’t know what to do with it. Calling DK64 "big" is the understatement of the year, the adventure found within is mastodonic – but here we return to the question that has haunted men since the days of Caesar: Does bigger always mean better? In the case of Rare latest outing, the answer is a resounding “no.”
Many have compared Donkey Kong 64 to Rare’s last true 3-D platformer, Banjo-Kazooie. It’s not a difficult leap in logic, however the surprise here is that without a doubt, Banjo is a much better game. The quest is large, but the objectives are manageable. You actually get the sensation of progress, rather than running around in circles doing the same thing, except with a different character – a trademark gimmick that adds longevity to a game. Unfortunately, it doesn’t add fun. I hope it’s a trick that Rare considers dropping, pronto.
Kong’s ultimate goal is to retrieve his golden bananas, stolen by the unscrupulous King K. Rool. The croc monarch and his Kremling minions have overrun Donkey’s paradise, stealing away his friends, too. It's up to DK to free his pals and join forces, so they can take back what’s rightfully theirs: Their land, and their bananas. And believe me, there is no shortage of potassium in DK64. There are 200 regular bananas for each character to be found. That’s a grand of peels, and after finding only half of those, you’ll start to lose patience. Problem is, you can’t get into the later levels without finding all of these bananas… and you should now begin understanding the critical fault with this game: there’s so much repetition that your head gets numb faster than your thumb can.
An entertaining cast of characters would go a long way towards bolstering interest, but unfortunately, despite the presence of five apes, we don’t even get this slight concession. Donkey and Diddy are just as cool as ever, but the additional members don’t add much to the mixture. Dare I say that too many Kongs spoil the soup? The other apes aren’t characters so much as cookie cut-outs with a single unique ability to set them apart. Chunky lifts heavy objects. Tiny shrinks. Lanky, well, lanks... and you have to use this ability to get to blocked off or out-of-reach areas. So effectively, they’re not even characters; they’re just tools. Game characters live or die by their personalities, like Mario and Link; if these new Kongs never appeared in another game, I doubt they'd be missed.
Some people offer Disneyland a back-handed compliment by saying there is too much to do in a day. However, Disneyland offers enough variety to justify that second trip, just to see all the little things like the Enchanted Tiki Room and the County Bear Playhouse – the attractions that fall in the shadow of exciting headliners like Splash and Space Mountain. DK64 has its own fair share of gems, but the shadow they languish under comes from a mountain of monotony. The inclusion of the original Donkey Kong game is great, as is the single-platform multi-player game (a slick take on Smash Bros.). Unfortunately, the rest of the game is comprised of finding stuff. A lot of stuff. In addition to hunting down bananas and comrades, you must find pieces of a blueprint, musical instruments that open doors or cause events, and weapon power-ups. I just hope that those who do have the Herculean patience to finish the game will think the pay-off justifies the time invested. I, on the other hand, did not.
When you see Donkey Kong 64 on the shelves next week, you’ll quickly notice the price hike. The extra scratch covers the Expansion Pak, included with every banana yellow cart. The extra 4MB goes a long way in DK64, literally. Instead of bumping the resolution too high, Rare used the digital goose to push the walls back on worlds, making them bigger than life. I almost wish they had gone for the resolution fix. The worlds are almost too big. Not only is it easy to lose your bearings, but it’s annoying to see something you need in order to complete an objective, only to realize you need to backtrack across the entire level to get it with a new character.
The graphics are definitely Rare. Lush and organic, the levels come to life in brilliant color. True, textures get recycled plenty, but Rare milks the graphics processor for all it’s worth. The character animations are very smooth, and you’ll crack a smile when you see Donkey’s bubble butt wiggle when he walks. The audio is a good mish-mash of musical styles, although I must say right up front that the opening rap is about as inventive as a Will Smith album.
Perhaps the most disappointing thing about DK64 is that it truly offers nothing new. We already explored this territory with Banjo-Kazooie a year ago, except the bear did it with more efficiency and panache. Super Mario 64 invented the 3-D platforming genre, and Banjo took it a step further by installing a solid story line and offering up sights we’ve never seen in a game before. DK64 spins its wheels by regurgitating the same play mechanics. Any game this highly-touted should bring something new to the table. Perhaps we’ll have to wait until the next generation of hardware before we see the next step in the evolution of the 3-D platformer.
Donkey Kong 64 is the video game equivalent of “Eyes Wide Shut.” You waited over two years for it, and what you ended up with was a big bloated project with not enough brilliant moments to justify the numbness you felt in your keister after sitting through the whole thing. And like the misguided Tom Cruise sex farce (although unintentional), because of the pedigree and previous efforts, you feel like you are “supposed” to like it. Sorry, though, this time out, I ain’t buying into it. Rare, like Stanley Kubrick, is a certified treasure, but you can’t help wondering when the magic is going to run out. After witnessing the grinding Jet Force Gemini, and now the equally laborious DK64, I’m hoping the next title from the Řber-developer will restore some faith in the house that rightfully earned its Midas touch rep.
Had this game been made by any other developer, it would have earned a higher grade. However, Rare has skewed the grading curve through its previous enormously entertaining efforts. Donkey Kong 64 fails to live up to the Rare name, and because of that its score suffers.
Sound :
7.5/10
Gameplay :
9.5/10
Difficulty :
5/10
Graphics :
9.5/10
10/10
Overall :
Review by : Sxe_sk8