Remember when you bought those GameCube bongo controllers just for the game Donkey Konga and thought "What a waste! All this money on bongos for one game!". Little did you know the bongos would later return, in a game called Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. Except the bongos aren't for making music anymore. In this game, you use the bongos to control Donkey Kong through the Fruit Kingdom, collecting bananas and battle baddies. The bananas count as both your life, like rings in a Sonic game, and your points, like coins in a Mario game.

Gameplay:

What you have to do in Donkey Kong Jungle Beat is simple: Collect as many bananas as possible and dodge obstacles, kill enemies, and make it to the end of the level. After you complete each world (there are three levels in a world), your banana total will be calculated and you will receive either a bronze, silver, or gold medal (Medals are used to unlock the next world). You then have to battle the boss of that world. The bosses start off easy, but get more and more difficult towards the end. The bosses include: an elephant that shoots things out of it's nose, other Kongs that challenge you to a boxing match (of sorts), a bird that attacks you with sharp feathers, and more. Once you reach the end of the game, you will have to battle Ghastly King. Ghastly King was the ruler of the Fruit Kingdom - until he was overthrown by Donkey Kong.

Graphics:

The graphics in this game are done nicely. Everything is detailed, but not over done. There are a lot of little things, such as the split screen stare down before the boss battles, that really add to this game's charm. Exactly what you would expect from Nintendo.

Sound:

The sound in the game is fantastic. There are a lot of over exaggerated sound effects, but they fit the mood of the game. All the sound effects are clear and fit in with whatever they represent. They are placed appropriately and sound good. There is a lot of music in the game, which I guess is expected with the word "beat" in the title. The music is really catchy and is different for each location. Overall, the sound is really good.

Addictiveness:

This game is pretty addictive, but won't cause you to miss your chores because your too busy playing. It will keep your attention and you will probably want to play again. It is a lot of fun, and all of the bongo banging will make your mom think your are doing something productive instead of playing more video games. How likely am I to play this game again? Pretty likely. There is just something about this game that a lot of other games lack. (Other than the bongos, obviously.)

Story:

There really isn't much of a story. You are trying to collect a lot of bananas. Don't really know if that's considered a story.

Depth:

There is a pretty good amount of stuff to do in this game. There are a bunch of worlds to play. You can always go back to previous levels and try to collect more bananas or finish it in less time. Yeah, that's pretty much it. Now that I think about it, there isn't that much to do in this game. *Changes Depth rating from 8 to 7*

Difficulty:

I think this game is pretty hard. A lot of people will disagree, but this is my review and I can say what I want . Some of the levels can be very challenging. The bosses do repeat, but they get a lot harder than their previous appearance. I still haven't beaten the game and I have had it for several years for my GameCube (I am on the last world). There are a lot of difficult parts, especially since your controller is a bongo. The bongo controller is difficult to get used to. You hit the right side to move right, and the left side to move left. Sounds simple right? Wrong. You have to hit it over and over again. Hitting it once barely moves him at all. Trust me, your arms will hurt after you play this. There are also more complicated controls. Hit both the left and the right bongo to jump, which can get very annoying since you will move if you hit one a tiny bit before the other. I can not count how many times I lost because he moved instead of jumping. Clapping, or making any kind of noise, will cause Donkey Kong to clap, which does a variety of things in the game, such as grabbing vines. Not only will your arms hurt, but your palms will hurt too from all the clapping. This game is a workout!

So that's my review. I hope you enjoyed it and it helped you out. You may have noticed that I wrote this review a little differently then my previous reviews. I decided that, for this game, a "Gameplay" category was important. Any feedback, positive or negative, is greatly appreciated.

Impressive review. I agree, the game gets really hard. I love your introduction too.