Pachink!

I have a love/hate relationship with the Donkey Kong Country series after playing and eventually beating Donkey Kong Country for the SNES.  I hate its simplistic difficulty, I hate how it makes me feel accountable for each death, I hate how it's absolutely unforgiving and will make you go back to start time and time again.  However, I love its masterful platforming, amazing graphics, and I even love the difficulty at times.  It was nice to see that even in a time where games like New Super Mario Bros. have almost non-existent difficulty, Donkey Kong Country Returns is able to make players grit their teeth and grunt after a death.

Before playing Donkey Kong Country Returns, I heard that it wasn't a tag-team system like in the games on the SNES.  I was a bit disheartened by this, but whenever Diddy was on my back with that incredibly vital jetpack, I had no quarrels with Retro Studios.  The game gives you a bit more leeway when Diddy is around, giving you the endurance to survive 4 hits before death rather than two like in the older titles, but I think that was more of a design choice rather than a difficulty pad.  Actions aren't quite as swift, hitboxes aren't as clear, and the game's pace is just a little less breakneck, so I think adding the two extra hits was necessary.  It makes getting those DK barrels that much more essential.

I'm only in Section 2 of the game so far, so I expect the game's difficulty to gradually become insane, but I'm really impressed at how the early stages really set the tone that the player will have to get better as the go through the game.  That sense of accountability is still there, and the game isn't hesitant to send you back to the beginning of the level should you miss the one checkpoint in the whole level.  Boss fights are on par with DKC's, and are even a bit harder.  Level design is simply incredible, with secrets and collectibles littered throughout the entire map.  There are often multiple paths to take in each level, and finding secret places in all of them is as rewarding as ever.

The one complaint I have with this game is the same complaint I have with nearly every Wii game.  A Wii game should not use motion controls simply because they are there.  While banging on the ground by using the Wiimote and Nunchuk like drumsticks is a good idea on paper, but even after an hour of doing it, I was looking for an option to map it to a button.  Perhaps the worst offense of this is how rolling is executed by shaking the Wiimote while running, which is MUCH too imprecise in a game that often demands perfection.  I just feel like Retro Studios really dropped the ball in that aspect, but it doesn't ruin the game by any means.