The Monkey With The Tie Returns in a Big Way... The Donkey Kong Country Returns Review

The Donkey Kong Country games were the games I started with in my childhood, so they were the ones I most remember when I first started gaming seriously in the mid 1990s. From the breakthrough graphics that seem ahead of its time, the platforming, the collect-a-thons, and the challenge, they were the platformers in the later years of the Super Nintendo. Since those times, Donkey Kong has been through a lot with the "disappointing to some" N64 game and numerous spinoffs like the Konga games and Jungle Beat being the closest to being a return to form for the big ape with the red tie. It seemed like the classic DKC formula was dead and forever remembered in our memories till Nintendo decided to bring it back big since they have been on a roll with their iconic franchises. Even though the original developers of the trilogy Rare had moved on to Microsoft, the franchise is in good hands again with Metroid Prime developer Retro Studios. Donkey Kong Country Returns is what fans have been waiting for years as it is well, a return to the good times of the franchise. That means also a return to form for Donkey Kong to platforming greatness, which indeed is the case as Retro did an amazing job recapturing the glory days of those days to the Wii.

The premise of DKC Returns is simple, which is bring back the classic formula Rare made with the original trilogy and spice things here and there with the Retro touch. A rebooted franchise means a new story, right? Well, sort of as it is a different take of the original Donkey Kong Country as new enemies, known as the Tiki Tribe, steal Donkey Kong's hoard of bananas and of course its up to him and his pal Diddy to get them back. For those expecting some reference to all of the original games, you're not going to get it as Retro solely focused on the first game as the main influence. Donkey Kong's signature moves are still intact here in this new game, but with a Wii twist by shaking Wiimote to handslap, roll, and blow while crouching, a new move added to his disposal. Sure, you can still jump on enemies to kill them, but now you can time the press the jump button to get more height after jumping on an enemy Mario style. The control options consist of the Wiimote sideways and the Wiimote/Nunchuk combo, but I prefer the Wiimote sideways personally for the definitive old-school experience and I felt I'm doing things more precisely jumping and waggling than the Nunchuk. Also changed this time around for Returns is how Diddy is being used. Instead of being another playable character, he is pretty much being a true sidekick hanging on Donkey Kong as his primary purpose is his rocket jetpack as he can make Donkey Kong hover for a limited time. Diddy proves to very useful on that alone especially in the later and tougher levels. The exception to Diddy though is in two-player co-op when he does is fully playable, but the co-op requires more teamwork than what intended to be as both players have to in sync together flowing through a level. It is still fun though having another player join the fray as most cooperative games go.

The classic DKC formula remains mostly the same in Returns with different twists. Collecting bananas is pretty self-explanatory especially getting a 100 of them gets an extra life, banana coins from the later games are in, which allows to shop for stuff in Cranky's house from extra lives, Squawks the parrot, a stage key unlocking another path in the world map, and temporary invincibility with banana juice. The KONG letters make a return as they more of a purpose this time around than the original games as they also matter in completing the game 100% The collect-a-thon doesn't stop there as there are also puzzle pieces to collect in the numerous levels to unlock bonus art in the gallery. Squawks can be useful here as he will go crazy when a puzzle piece is nearby as these can easily be hidden or be found in bonus rooms reminiscent of the original game. The collecting aspect is not that bad in Returns, but at least its not as overblown like in Donkey Kong 64.

The Donkey Kong Country games have also known for its level design. The levels were filled with variety and challenge, but a fair challenge at best. Retro is no stranger to level design with their work on the Metroid Prime games and their knowledge has been applied in Returns exceptionally well. All the levels have that DKC flair of bottomless pits, obstacles that can ruin things, and so on. That challenge also applies here to being one of the toughest games of the series, but still a fair challenge that will push your platforming skills to the limit at any time. Even the non-platforming stages, the signature mine cart levels and the new rocket levels where Donkey Kong rides a rocket barrel to transverse through some areas as one hit equals one loss of a life. The Super Guide that is in in the recent Mario games is also here if you lose numerous lives in a certain level where a Silver Donkey Kong comes in and beats the level for you without anything you collected. Of course, there are also the boss fights as well, which are solid for the series as expected as most of them are not easy to defeat, but have a certain pattern it takes to take them out to move on. The lack of water levels seems surprising, but that is a minor nitpick and also the animal buddies other than Rambi the Rhino being useful in some of the levels where he can just go nuts running through spikes and thrashing anything in his way with his horn. The level design is top notch from beginning to end with some difficult levels to pass through to beat the game, but Retro has done a splendid job of keeping faithful to the series' roots as well as put their special touch to these levels that can't be done in the Super Nintendo.

Graphically, Donkey Kong Country Returns is one of the best looking games of the Wii's lifespan. There are lots to soak in every level as even the little details look amazing for the system. As with the level design, the variety is truly remarkable from the signature jungle, the tidal waves of the beach world, the cliff stages, the factory, and culminating at the volcano. The characters look great in action maintaining their signature animations we known for years. With the new enemies though, their design feels mixed as at times they just feel soulless and makes you want the Kremlings to come back because I feel this franchise should maintain something similar with the Mario franchise of having the signature enemy/rival throughout its history. As for the sound, the signature tunes are remixed and remastered for the current generation from the overworld map that is remixed for all eight worlds, the jungle BGM, the factory BGM from the first game, the mine cart music, and more. Personally, I like these remixed tunes as they did the originals justice. The other sound effects are also great as for once you're actually feel like Donkey Kong with its gorilla voice, thumping around at every jump, and so on.

Despite being one of the toughest yet fair in terms of challenging games of the year, Donkey Kong Country Returns is a fantastic return for the monkey we have been waiting for. Retro Studios has done it again bringing back an iconic Nintendo character from its glory days to modernizing for the new Wii audience. Even with its modern approach technically, it is still old-school 2D platforming at its finest just with more to be messed around with the power of the Wii. It also feels like a reminder to my childhood of how these games influenced my start of my gaming hobby. With the outstanding level design, perfect replay value for completionists getting all the KONG letters, puzzle pieces, getting gold medals in the time attack mode, and beat the bonus temple levels, and being purely faithful to such a successful franchise to the Super Nintendo, Donkey Kong Country Returns is another home run for Nintendo and Retro Studios and one of the best games of the year. Any Nintendo and platforming fan should not miss out on this amazing game.

Score = 9.5/10

Pros:

• Amazing level design, which is expected for the franchise
• Retro has done a great job faithfully bringing back another iconic Nintendo character
• Old-school 2D platforming at its finest and also challenging, but not impossibly difficult
• One of the best looking Wii games ever
• The remixed and remastered tunes sound great and did the originals justice

Cons:

• Some might be put down by the challenge especially in the later levels
• Lack of water levels and only one animal buddy playable (Rambi) is a little disappointing, but pretty minor compared to what was in the game
• I didn't have that much of a problem with the controls, especially the waggle ones, but I can see why people would have a tough time at first.

Pac-Man Fever in 2010 & It Is Still Arcade Perfection... The Pac-Man Championship Edition DX Review

Pac-Man needs no introduction for what it has done to video games. It is still a timeless classic today eating pellets, not running into ghosts, and then eating them once you ate the power pellet. It took a long while after numerous spinoffs, but the classic formula was modernized with 2007's release of the original Pac-Man Championship Edition on Xbox Live Arcade. A new competitive focus with time limits, shifting mazes, new ways to score even more points, and more opportunities to eat ghosts. It re-energized the franchise in my eyes and I was addicted all over again going for the highest score I can put up on the leaderboards. It also made route memorization more crucial in order to get those high scores in which you can not stop for nothing as if you're some robot. With the success of the original Pac-Man CE, Namco Bandai decided to take things to 11 with Championship Edition DX. If you thought having Pac-Man fever back in the day was amazing, you will have that same reaction in 2010 because it is as addicting perhaps even more with the inclusion of more mazes and ways to score even higher. Even in 2010, Pac-Man still manages to achieve arcade perfection.

The core formula from the last game is still intact with this DX release with the competitive drive to score as much points as possible within a certain time limit (five or ten minutes). If achieving scores in the hundred thousands was crazy enough, think again because high scores can rack up to the millions range because of the new changes and customizable options in place. Eating fruits in the changing mazes still works the same way, but there are more ghosts on screen. In the original Pac-Man CE, you were given more offensive opportunities to eat ghosts with more power pellets, but it was still a game of avoiding them while gaining that high score. This time around with DX, those offensive opportunities have increased tenfold with the amount of ghosts you can eat in a given stretch. There will ghosts just standing there, but you just get their attention by just going on your route and they'll just follow you like a train to no end not really posing a threat unless you get trapped. After getting a ghost train of 30 ghosts and then eating a power pellet, you will witness one of the greatest and satisfying moments of gaming this year eating that ghost train racking up points like crazy for that limited time. However, that is one way of having success in the game as it is still about route memorization and survival. The other main addition to DX makes things easier with bombs. These bombs are pretty much your get out of jail free card putting all the ghosts back to the their middle spot while avoiding a loss of a life. Like the last game, getting the game over is pretty much impossible once you're just on a zone, but getting hit by the ghosts still ruins your momentum and kills time. The new additions are amazing and makes Pac-Man more about getting that high score than just survive.

There are a few new mazes to choose from to get high scores and state your claim on the leaderboards which Namco improved upon from the last game. It would be nice to have friends leaderboards visible while playing, but I guess it would clutter up the screen ever more, which is okay. The Championship II course will get the most play, while other mazes are still pretty good for variety purposes like Highway, Spiral, and Junction. Even the original Championship course is still in this game and flows the same way with not as many opportunities to eat a lot of ghosts as the newer mazes give you. Speaking of variety, that is the case with the change of graphical styles and music. You can change how Pac-Man looks from old-school to modern with eyes and such along with the colors of the background. Even the music tracks can be changed before starting a game as all of them sound great being all trance-like as if you're in some rave going crazy dancing, but instead you're playing Pac-Man. Like the original, DX looks amazing and runs very smoothly which is expected especially when get things get frantic and crazy like eating a ghost train as an example. The sound effects also sound intact to what fans have loved for years, but the eating ghosts effect sounds so good when eating a lot of them.

I considered Pac-Man Championship Edition modernized arcade perfection at that time of its release with how addicting it was. I can say the same thing with this new DX version being perfection especially with the improvements and addition that change the game dramatically. The drive for higher scores is what keeps me going and will give the game basically infinite replay value especially if you're competing with friends or you're just willing to be at the top of the leaderboard. That was the case with me being the top player in the PSN version for its first week and then more people bought the game and figured out ways to score even higher, but it gives me motivation to level up my Pac-Man skills. Who of thought Namco can top themselves after the success of the original CE as I never expected they would till they announced this game. I have Pac-Man fever all over again and I'm not ashamed to say it in 2010 with how awesome Championship Edition DX is.

Score = 10/10

Pros:

• Modernized arcade perfection... what else is there to say
• Best downloadable game of the year for me
• You'll have Pac-Man fever because you'll be addicted to get high scores
• The new additions make the game better and crazier

Mega Music Roundup for 12/29/10 (Minaj, BEP, Daft Punk, & more)

Back on the blogging grind this week and another roundup of music with five artists that cover the lows and highs of the 1-10 scale...

First off is the highly anticipated debut album from rising rapper Nicki Minaj with Pink Friday. With Young Money on your side (Birdman, Lil' Wayne, Drake, Jay Sean), you can't go wrong with the buzz Minaj has brought to the hip-hop game. From her numerous cameo appearances with other high-profile rappers, her rep increased at a rapid rate and high expectations were set for her solo album to deliver. Unfortunately, those expectations were arguably set too high as the album is something totally different. Her crazy personality still applies to the album, but those expected lots of her rapping skills to show up on her own, be prepared for disappointment on that end. There are like two or three hip-hop/rap heavy tracks in the whole album and pretty much my favorites as well from "Roman's Revenge" featuring Eminem, which is rapping Nicki at her finest to "Moment of Life" featuring Drake. The rest of the album feels very poppy from a mainstream standpoint with lots of singing by Nicki herself to a point it feels like a repeat of the Drake album since both those albums feel very similar. Then again, it shows the case that Nicki is indeed a diverse performer besides a rapper like her label mate, but it still feels like an identity crisis who she really wants to be established as. The current singles, "Your Love" and "Right Through Me," and "Check It Out" with Will.I.Am (more on him later) are examples of her truly going the poppy route to appeal to as many fans as possible. Those expecting the majority of her album to be hip-hop, you're not to get it on her own album, but rather in other rappers' albums from Kanye's "Monster," and so on. Despite that, Pink Friday is still a solid debut album for Nicki Minaj, but something different from what I expected it to be.

Next up is Ne-Yo with his newest album, Libra Scale. This album actually came out silently for me because of all the delays as it would be came out earlier in the fall. I think the delay did hurt the album considering all the singles and videos pretty much came out before the thing even came out. The videos Ne-Yo went for this album are continuous actually being one whole big story of him of course getting a girl. "Beautiful Monster" is the only song in Libra Scale that feels like he is trying out different stuff putting out a clubby joint as your lead single distancing away from his traditional R&B style we know him of. Other than that, it is still your typical Ne-Yo album of the similar songs we are accustomed with. After listening to it, it makes me wonder if his peak has passed already after Because of You and Year of the Gentlemen since those are still pretty good R&B albums today. Libra Scale feels like one step back for Ne-Yo, but you're in a need of a new R&B fix, it is still fine.

Ke$ha has been one of the breakout artists of the year in the mainstream pop scene whether or not you like her. She decided to take a similar approach that Lady Gaga did last year with The Fame Monster and release an EP, called Cannibal, of more songs along with packaging it with the Animal album. Unlike Gaga's EP effort, Ke$ha's new EP will probably not put a big punch into the radio stations as Gaga's Fame Monster did since that EP was an instant classic with all of the songs being potential singles. Then again, Gaga and Ke$ha still feel like two different artists with their distinct styles. There are standouts though from Cannibal that are worth playtime on the radio and the clubs with the title track, "Blow," and the lead single, "We R Who We R." In a nutshell, its more catchy pop by Ke$ha that will annoy haters of mainstream music.

Speaking of mainstream pop, I'm already calling this one my most disappointing album of the year which is The Beginning by The Black Eyed Peas. Remember when BEP was a hip-hop group that put out dope music? I can't completely blame the inclusion of Fergie being the downfall of the group in terms of leaving what they're good at and going on the poppy approach as Elephunk was still a good album, but by Monkey Business, you start to see signs of their change in direction of their sound from that chill hip-hop days of "Joints & Jam" to songs like "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling" from The E.N.D. album, which pretty much cements their position in the mainstream music world. While I can tolerate what was in their last album, the one I just mentioned, The Beginning feels like a rush job or basically a repeat of The E.N.D. That's probably what they want at the end of the day even though I feel like this album should of came out a year later. Now we get more dumb mindless songs like the "The Time (Dirty Bit)" which is a disgraceful cover of that "Time of My Life" song. In other words, what a way to ruin a timeless classic by adding crazy electro beats to it to make it dumb. I do have my limits with catchy mainstream pop as some can do it right not being serious about it and others can do it totally wrong as the Black Eyed Peas are sadly in the latter camp for me now. It is still crazy that group went a complete 180 degrees in terms of putting out quality music. Sorry Will.I.Am, Apl.de.ap, Taboo, and Fergie... you guys need to go back on the drawing board and reboot yourselves again with new ideas because I am pretty much had enough with your style of clubby crap. (End "rant")

Now with that out of the way, we finally can talk about something considered pure greatness from beginning to end. When I first heard about Daft Punk doing the soundtrack for Tron Legacy, I got pretty excited of the potential they can do with a movie-like score and boy did they took advantage of the opportunity. I never thought this duo that is known for being one of the best electronica artists in the game to forever change my mind about movie soundtracks as this is something truly epic. It almost feels like a match made in heaven between the movie with its robotic and futuristic atmosphere and Daft Punk themselves handling the score. Plus, who of ever thought that they would compose a soundtrack for such a high profile movie like Tron Legacy, which is out in theaters on December 17. There were teasers of what to expect by the mysterious men with the trailers that are out for the movie, but the whole soundtrack itself feels like its own experience and does the Tron-like feel exceptionally well. A lot of people expected this soundtrack to be treated as a new Daft Punk album, but it is pretty much not because it is indeed a orchestral score done Daft Punk style. From all the orchestral pieces that have the futuristic vibe blended in beautifully like "The Game Has Changed" to the Daft Punk-y tunes of "End of Line" and "Derezzed," you feel like you're in one hell of a ride and that ride just builds and builds to something amazing. I gotta hand it to them for bringing that atmosphere to life with their sounds as it is just something special even after the credits song rolls. Daft Punk's Tron Legacy soundtrack is something you can't miss as it is an experience worth remembering from beginning to end and among one of my favorite albums of the year.

That's it for now... I can't think of other albums in the next month I'm looking forward to now.

The Latest with Marvel vs. Capcom 3...

I actually had an opportunity to play Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds two weekends ago at SoCal Regionals, but I decided to watch the top 8 in Super Street Fighter IV, which was the good choice. I have been patient with the game, so I don't mind waiting till February to play the final version (February 15th is the current date according to Gamestop). Today in the meantime, two new characters were revealed to the roster...

Zero makes his second (or third if you technically count SNK vs. Capcom Chaos) versus game appearance in MvC3 and if his TvC iteration is any indication, expect pretty much the same for the most part from that game. We'll see though if Capcom nerfs his combo abilities that he had in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom because he was in the high in the tiers just because of that when you're in close to your opponent.

On the Marvel side, She Hulk makes her fighting game debut here and don't just ignore her assuming she will be a Hulk clone with his moveset. Turns out, she has her own moveset of sheninegans reminiscent of Rogue from the versus games and El Fuerte from the Street Fighter IV series. I would add a Run, Stop, Fierce joke with that, but I couldn't think of one right now with She Hulk. It would be crazy though if she has Fuerte-like mixups along with her grappling abilities, so she is truly an unique character to have in the game.

That's not all though since Gamestop also announced a Collector's Edition for the game which is 70 bucks. The important deal out of it besides the typical CE junk is a code for two DLC characters, which are Jill and Shuma-Gorath. Capcom has not officially said anything yet about how those two will be in it, but it seems like the plan on other part. Plus, it is only a matter of time when Capcom has to put extra fighters in as DLC in their games as it can be a good or bad thing to spin among fans and fighting game enthusiasts.

Capcom will continue to unleash more announcements in the coming weeks, so more with Marvel vs. Capcom 3 soon.

Didn't Realize There's a Winnie the Pooh Movie Coming Out...

Way to go, Disney...

L.A. Noire = Rockstar's Next Big Home Run??

L.A. Noire is out next year and shaping up to be Rockstar's next big home run after the critically successful Red Dead Redemption that came out earlier this year. Plus, you can't go wrong casting a dude from Mad Men as the protagonist for the game.

Music Roundup for 11/10/10 (Cee-Lo, RiRi, & Yeezy)

This music roundup is stacked with three pretty good albums, but one stands out as a pure masterpiece.

First off is The Lady Killer by Cee-Lo Green. Cee-Lo has been in the game for quite a while and this album shows why he still can put out quality stuff especially with his style. His lead off single "F*** You" has propelled him back to the top of the mainstream world with how catchy it is, but the rest of the album itself is better than that song because it is still pure soul music at its finest from beginning to end. "Bright Lights, Bigger City" is a great starter after the intro setting the tone for what's to come and it goes on from there. Many people usually would sleep on something like this, but Cee-Lo always put out top notch material and The Lady Killer is just another example of what he is still capable of today. This is another high recommendation by me and up there with my favorite albums of the year.

Next up is Rihanna's newest with Loud. Surprisingly, I was looking forward to this album because I was disappointed with Rated R being too much of a departure for her. I only liked two songs from that album which are "So Hard" and "Rude Boy." The darker direction didn't work out for my tastes, but I know those were her times then and for Loud she can return to form, which is indeed the case. This is better than Rated R with better songs and a good balance of high tempo/slow tempo stuff. "S&M" is the third single from this album and pretty much its "Rude Boy" because they share some similarities. I can see that song as another hit from her when the radio stations play it more later on. "What's My Name?" featuring Drake is also another solid song and the current single as well, which makes sense to me since you can't go wrong with a Drizzy cameo these days. My hype for Loud came from "Only Girl (In the World)," which is still my favorite song from her in a while and I don't mind how much of a guilty pleasure it is since it makes you wanna go crazy sometimes. The album slows down at the end with "Skin," another good song and concludes with "Love The Way You Lie (Part II)" featuring Eminem. Putting out the sequel to one of the year's biggest hits is not bad of an idea after all as RiRi's version seems more personal as you hear it and one Eminem verse is good enough if anyone is tired of his angry voice in Part I. All in all, Rihanna's Loud sticks to what she's still good at as an artist making catchy and poppy hit songs rather than go on a darker direction.

I gotta save the best for the last, which is the long awaited and highly anticipated album by Kanye West with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Even though some people were disappointed by his last album, 808s & Heartbreak, which how auto-tuney it was for the majority of it and there was a lack of him rapping, I still liked it, but I know he listened to those concerns for his newest and this time there is a better balance of his rapping and auto-tune craziness. With this album, you can tell how much heart and soul Yeezy put into it as it shows with all of the songs from beginning to end. "Dark Fantasy" is too awesome of a song to start with and the greatest reminder of old-school Kanye with its production by RZA. The long intro of "Power" from the Runaway film didn't make it to the final album, which was a bummer even though it didn't hamper the song's quality which is still amazing. A lot of hype was for "All of the Lights" and it still lived to it even though I questioned the number of cameo appearances like the Fergie verse, but the vibe of that song reminded me of "The Good Life." Despite that, "All of the Lights" is another highlight of the album. The rap-heavy songs then kick in with "Monster" and "So Appalled," which both were revealed early on his Good Fridays releases. Both songs are great additions to the album because of that focus. The tone then changes again with "Devil in a New Dress," still an underrated song in the album and "Runaway," which is in fact nine minutes long. Some might complain that is too long for that song adding in the auto-tune section at the end, but the extra samples he added compensate for that. "Runaway" is still a special song just because of how crazy the lyrics are. I'm surprised how well "Hell of a Life" and "Blame Game" turned out at the end too even though the Chris Rock epilogue at the end of "Blame Game" is still surprising. As the album opened with a bang, it concludes with a bang as well with "Lost in the World," another personal favorite of mine. Mentioning all the songs in this album goes to show that there is no filler at all as Kanye has done it again. In addition, I could get a sense of personal connection with some songs, which is also crazy considering where I'm at now in life. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is truly a masterpiece from beginning to end and indeed one of all-time favorite albums now.

That's it for now. There's still some album releases I'm interested to listen and talk about, so till next time I guess.