Donkey Kong 64

The most anticipated game of the year is finally here, Donkey Kong 64. Ok, this isn't gonna be a full review just yet, while I just picked up the game, and haven't had a lot of time to play it. So this is going to be more like a first impressions sort of thing.

The first thing that you'll notice about the game, beside the really weak rapping intro, is this game is huge. There's just so many places to go, and things to collect in the game. Right now my game time is 2:16 and I'm only 3% complete. At that pace its going to take about 80 hours to complete.

The graphics in the game are also really good, and do remind you of Banjo-Kazooie. The Ram Expansion pak adds to it to produce just more of everything. The control is also good, with the standard platformer controls. The camera doesn't seem to cooperate as much, even though you can still control it with the C-buttons, it likes to wander around more on its own. The characters and enemies are all stunning with nice animations for both. Each character offers a different style of gameplay and moves that add to the overall feel of the game. While Donkey Kong is bigger and stronger, he's not as fast as say Diddy Kong. As you go through the game, you unlock the character and then use them to reach previously unreachable paths. Each character also has a special weapon for them to use. All this adds in to one great game. Donkey Kong also contains a four-player battle mode, while it's nothing spectacular, it's still there and adds to the replay value of the game, and it's still better then nothing at all.

Overall, Donkey Kong 64 is one of the best platformers out right now, and people looking for a long, great game will have to look no farther. Of what I played, DK is spectacular, and I hope to get some playing time in here over the holiday break, so check back for the full review coming soon. Meanwhile go get Donkey Kong 64.

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