Well, I'm finally writing a review again. It's been forever since I actually wrote a review for a game, so I decided to get back into things with one of my favorite games from the Donkey Kong Country series. DKC 2 was a marked improvement over the original in many ways, including stage design, level music, and of course boss battles. Now, without any more hyping of the game before we even get into the review, let's start off with the one thing that maybe wasn't as good as it's predecessor, the graphics.
Graphics:While I loved DKC2, I have to admit the graphics really never were hugely impressive compared to many other games on the Super Nintendo. They're nice to look at with no glitches I've seen, but I find that the original game had equal if not better graphics for some locations. This might be partially due to the pirate theme that this game tends to use, along with the levels that seem to take place in a location that repeats. Some levels, such as the mine shaft ones, seem like the exact same place except with different platforms and layouts. So some areas tend to feel a bit of the same from a graphical standpoint. This is not a huge problem though, as the colors are still nice and I never ran into anything that I really had any problem with when I played through the game. I give the graphics an 8. They're very good for the Super Nintendo, but I feel a repeat in areas might have hurt it, along with the fact I do think some games on the system did look better.
Sound:While the graphics in this game never proved hugely impressive to me, the sound actually was something I found myself always loving. The music in this game really always managed to make me enjoy a level no matter how irritating it would normally be, and in some places either fit the scene, or manage to make it much better then normal. A prime example of this is the level Bramble Blast, generally thought of to be one of the hardest levels in the game, with many players dying repeatedly in this area alone. While normally this might be an exercise in frustration, the calming music actually manages to keep the level a bit more calm. Other themes I enjoyed were the boss theme, and especially the final boss theme. Both of these fit the tone well and really fit the atmosphere for the final boss. Though there is some contrast, with the Benny Hill like music from Rattle Battle, which manages to make the level a bit comical during the whole thing. The sounds other then music are also nice, with each enemy making a satisfying noise when defeated, and each object making a sound when crashed or destroyed. While it's hard to really judge a game's sound effects, I'd say this one did pretty well with them all. I give the sound a 9, for having great music, and decent sounds throughout.
Addictiveness: As one of my favorite games on the SNES, I definitely find this game extremely addictive. Most of this comes to how easy it is to pick up and play. You have a jump button, a spin and run button, a button to switch characters, and a button to pick up your partner. With these few skills you go through the levels, collecting items or simply just running through the levels. While you can enjoy the game with just running through the levels, you can also collect all the DK coins and Tokens throughout the levels. Collecting these gives more incentive to play through the game, and more things to do if you want reason to come back into the game. If you prefer though, you can just run through the levels, enjoying the platforming and getting to the end. I give the addictiveness a 9. There's plenty of things to collect and plenty of reason to run back through.
Story:The story is mostly the same thing you see in a lot of early games, and seems to be more like Mario in some regards. The plot takes place after the events of the original Donkey Kong Country, with Diddy and Donkey Kong having beaten King K Rool on his ship and repelled the Kremling invasion of Donkey Kong's island. This doesn't last long though, as Donkey Kong is soon kidnapped by the Kremlings and brought to the Kremling's home island of Crocodile Isle as a captive. Diddy Kong gets his girlfriend Dixie Kong to come with him, and they both go to Crocodile Isle to rescue Donkey Kong. They start on King K Rool's ship, the Gangplank Galleon and go through the areas of the island until they finally reach Kaptain. K Rool's helicopter and defeat him. After this you can still beat the Lost World for a rematch, which ends with the complete destruction of Crocodile Isle. The story is not really that great, and is standard for many games of the time. I give it a 4. It's a bit interesting at least, with the hero from the last game being kidnapped, but there's not really anything to surprise you.
Depth: This game definitely had enough depth to keep me entertained for a while, even if there's not too much outside of the main path to do. Most of the depth comes from collecting Tokens and DK coins, which manage to add a bit of challenge into finding and collecting them. Some can be very hard to get, leading to some situations where you spend a while on one level trying to find that one thing you missed. While most of the depth comes from the levels though, there is also Swanky and his bonus games, which give a small amount of extra content in the trivia quizzes you can take from him. Other then this though, there's not a huge amount to do accept for beating most of the levels and collecting things, along with beating the Lost World if you feel like continuing to beat the rest of the game afterwards. I give the depth a 6, for having a decent amount to do for a while. It rapidly wears off though, leaving you with mostly just collection if you want to do something extra.
Difficulty: Depending on who you ask, this game is either very difficult, or not that hard at all. I found the game at a pretty decent difficulty curve throughout. The game starts off pretty easy, and heightens in challenge until the final levels do give some really tough situations. Though, there are some points where it seems the difficulty spikes. Levels like this are Animal Antics, a late game Lost World Level that proves to be the hardest level in the game in my opinion, with some parts that seem downright unfair. Other levels that I thought were far harder then those around them were Bramble Blast and Web Woods. These tended to be far more difficult then levels before and after them in my opinion, and gave a bit of a surprise when I took a while to beat them. I give the game's difficulty a 6. It tends to keep a steady pace of escalating difficulty during the whole game, with some parts that rapidly became harder then what was around it.
Wrapping up: I know what you're probably questioning now. I gave the game such low scores in some places, where did my high score for the game in total come from? Well, it mostly comes from how much I just enjoy the game, which is something the rating system here doesn't rate for. The platforming is truly enjoyable and the gameplay is something I can always come back to. I guess most of my enjoyment of it can be nostalgia, since I played it so much. But I still feel it's one of the best games on the SNES, with great music, graphics, really fun gameplay, and a decent amount of things to collect without really going overboard. I really enjoyed this game, and that's why I gave it a 9.4. It did have it's flaws, but overall I just found this as an improvement over the original Donkey Kong Country in many ways.
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