Honestly, I was more than a little disappointed with DK64. Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo was a revolutionary game, and DK64 is not. It doesn't bring anything incredibly new to the platform genre--it just takes old concepts and sticks in the Kong family. The plot isn't very deep either. K. Rool stole your banana horde and wants to blast your island into little pieces, and it's up to you to get back those bananas and save Kong Isle. This is a plot? Banjo-Kazooie had a much deeper plot in comparison. Aside from that, DK64 is probably the best example of "too much stuff" on the market.
By "too much stuff," I mean all of the crap you have to collect in this game. In every world, each of the five Kongs must collect five Golden Bananas, 100 colored bananas, and Coins to pay for new moves. Plus there are Banana Medals, Boss Keys, Battle Crowns, Banana Faires, and other objects. You constantly have to switch between each Kong to get all of this stuff, and this gets pretty old when all you want to do is clear the world and move onto the next level. Character switching is good in moderation, but when it becomes the only way to play through the game and complete tasks, it can really piss you off.
DK64 isn't a bad game--it's just average. It has incredible graphics like Banjo-Kazooie, and some nice sound effects too (Donkey Kong's pained moan when he gets shot out of a cannon is perfect!). The cinema scenes are pretty funny, except for that rap song during the opening (ugh!). The game just needs some more plot and a lot less collecting.
So if you were expecting a revolutionary game like Donkey Kong Country, you'll be sadly disappointed with DK64. The game doesn't introduce anything new to the platform world, but it is a lot of fun if you like bananas!
Midnight's Grade: C+
Written February 2001
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