Game Week, Day 5 - Donkey Kong Country Returns

I love video games, I really do. Which is why I'm sad that Jimmy Fallon's game week ended with something of a fizzle, at least compared to the other great games this week. Because now I have to be mean. That's doubly painful given that I've been a Nintendo fan all my life, and it's really the company whose systems I cut my gaming "teeth" on as a child, the one with the fondest childhood memories.

Tonight's installment of game week is Donkey Kong Country Returns. Really? Nintendo, I remember DKC as being, basically, a re-skinned version of a Mario-style game. This comparison was most painfully obvious when DKC 64 came out, looking a lot like Mario 64 with simians.

You couldn't have brought a different game into the next generation of systems? Something like Pilotwings, maybe? Or Earthbound? How cool would that be? Even something quirky like A Boy and His Blob would be a blast in Wii-style, maybe in first person or third person over the shoulder, flipping him a jelly bean by waggling the Wiimote, and working through the game's trademark puzzles. You couldn't even give us a clever re-spelling of "country" with a "K" maybe?

No? Sticking with Donkey Kong Country? Okay, then. This week's project was about games that are on the way, not games that would be cool if they happened. So here goes.

DKC seems to be a visually stunning rehash of the series instalments, with a few twists and additions. There is definitely a focus on cooperative multiplayer in this one, teaming up to traverse parts of the various levels, or having Diddy ride piggy-back on Donkey to be carried around like a squawky, peanut-throwing Jansport backpack.

There are also a few new moves, perfected for Wii-motions. But all in all, this doesn't seem like a wildly innovative step for the franchise, like you'd expect from the next-gen systems. Super Mario Galaxy is an amazing example of how a company can take a series from its previous console and revolutionize it for the current generation. DKC Returns doesn't feel like it has that same wow factor, and the "new" stuff feels like what I would basically expect from one version of a game to the next on the SAME system - nothingly wildly different, just a few new twists....

There. I said it. I didn't want to, but I'm just being honest. I still love you, though, Nintendo. We straight?

Thanks folks for giving my late-night "project" a read! I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll bring more reviews like this to you in the future!