Donkey Konga

"A good game marred by it's lack of decent unlockables"

Note: This review is for the US version

I don't feel much like an intro. Hopefully, everyone should know already what the game is about (hitting bongos according to the beat on the screen) so I'll just get to the review.

Graphics: 2/10

Obviously, the graphics are about the last thing you're going to be looking at with all those notes flying by, however, if you find yourself in the spectator position you're bound to find yourself getting bothered by the lack of effort put into the backgrounds. How little effort? Well, DK himself is well done, but Diddy and the others in the lower half of the screen are 2D sprites that look like they were ripped from the DKC SNES series. Lame. And there's not even an animated intro, just stills. Double lame. But as I've said, graphics don't really matter at all in this game, so just forget this section.

Song selection: 6/10

Number of songs I liked: 10
Number of songs I was apathetic towards: 10
Number of songs that I didn't want to play: 9

As you can see, it's pretty balanced on how I enjoyed the songs. Some songs are just awesomely fun to get into, while others are just meh. There is also enough songs to where you don't feel shortchanged, but additionally there's not enough to completely wow you.

Gameplay: 8/10

The only thing wrong with the controls is that your hands can get pretty sore pretty quickly. That is, unless you are forced to use a controller, in which case the controls just suck. There is a lack of being able to assign which buttons you wish to do which actions, which is just unacceptable. The few setups they have available are horrid and don't make sense. Of course, this will likely only matter for multiplayer (see below). I was bothered by the fact that there is no penalty for hitting a bongo when there's no notes, hitting both bongos for single hit notes, and missing rolls. It's too easy to just go ahead and cheat the system. But on the whole, the gameplay works great.

Multiplayer: 4/10

If you have some friends over and they want to try out Donkey Konga, do NOT do the multiplayer unless you have multiple bongos. The whole feel of the game is completely lost that way. Instead, just switch off for single player mode. It's tons more fun that way. Watching your friends screw up a nasty jumble of notes is always fun.

Fun Factor: 9/10

What can I say? When you first get this game, you'll have a blast. After awhile the appeal will lessen somewhat, but you'll still have fun if you just pick it up and play a few songs a year down the line.

Lasting appeal: 5/10

Ok, here's where I get to complain about the unlockables. Frankly, they just plain blow. Hard. 96% of the sounds sets are absolutely annoying and you'll find yourself switching back to the normal bongo sounds after one test run. The mini-games you'll play once, if that many times. The only "songs" you can unlock are just the hard versions of songs you already have. There's nothing new to listen to.

Additionally, the game uses a point buy system, which I HATE. I always prefer to unlock things by completing challenges, not by just messing around for a long time. Hard versions of songs should have been unlocked once the medium versions of them had been completed.

One thing that really irked me was there is absolutely no sense of reward to playing the Jam mode (in this mode, you have to memorize what to hit from normal mode, as there are no markings in Jam), which as impossiblely hard that is, really should give something back. You don't even get a little symbol saying that you've completed it (in the normal mode, you do)! Very, very unacceptable. You'll never touch the Jam mode.

However, despite its faults, it's still a fun game just to pick up and mess around with for awhile. So the replay value is still pretty high. Even if you are just playing for the heck of it.

Closing comments:

Is this game worth the price? If you were paying $50 just for the game I'd have to tell you to spend your money elsewhere. However, the game DOES come with a pair of bongos, and I'm such a sucker for pack-in deals.

WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T BUY THE GAME AND BONGOS SEPARATELY

Even if you want an extra pair of bongos for a friend, don't do it. You'll find yourself out an $20 if you do. If you really want some more bongos, go ahead and also buy Donkey Konga 2 with bongos or Donkey Kong Jungle Beat with bongos.

Buy it if the concept appeals to you. It's also a good pick for non-gamer type people to pick up on. Plus it's different, and different is good. Be sure to compare the song list between Donkey Konga 1 & 2 to see which appeals to you more before buying though. And if you're savvy enough to have the option of importing, check out the song lists for Europe and Japan as well (they're completely different).

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/16/06