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Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (GC)

Status: Finished playing
I started playing this game on Sunday 9 September, 2007  //  I stopped playing this game on: Thursday 5 May, 2011
Current opinion of this game
A lot more fun than you would think. (play it with the congas...)

December 6, 2007 10:45:16 AM
Wow, my son and I keep on unlocking new things!
Just the other day we got a "platinum" medal that fell from the moon. We also unlocked a new kingdom. :-)


October 22, 2007 11:09:49 PM
My son and I have been playing this for a while now and we take turns. He does a level and I do a level. Usually, he'll play a level that I've already beaten. I try to encourage him to play those that are at his skill level, but he also enjoys playing the crazy harder ones (and then I have to step in to get him past a particularly complicated part).

In all, I've been really positively surprised by how this games works and plays. Beneath the surface, it is a "standard" platformer, right? Travel from A to B, pick up goodies along the way and so on... However, it has an insane amount of polish, but in terms of making complicated looking actions not that hard to execute (there is also some leniency) as well as providing a lot of layered depth in terms of the things you can do. My son is happy to get to the end of a level, I'm worried about getting to the end with enough bananas to unlock the next and I'm sure that other are worried about getting to the end with the maximum number of bananas together with the little flower thingies and who knows what else.

Essentially I feel that the combo system is the soul of the layered experience. Grabbing bananas in the air, not hitting the ground, and a few other "tricks" can really help you rack up an impressive banana count. The best part of it all? At the end of most (all?) levels, you are shown a short clip (made to look and sound like an old movie clip on a projector) that demonstrates a particular technique you might want to learn as well as WHERE in the level you just finished you can apply it. Brilliant.

For the record, I finished the game and we are now unlocking bonus levels. I have no idea how many there are.


 
kudos for original design to Rodrigo Barria