"My Name is Diddy Kong...and I am a Jaguar!"

Diddy Kong Racing is probably one of the most mixed-reviewed games of all time. Some people praise it for its great multiplayer, while others down it for its clunky controls and boring single player mode. As with each game I review on this site, I'm going to give Diddy Kong Racing my fair and honest opinion.

Anybody playing single player will feel like that they're racing the same track repeatedly. The person that would try multiplayer would find some fun in rubbing it into your friend's face as you once again rolled over the finish line for first place. Or, feel sheer anger, but entertainment, as your friend's rocket smacked into the back of your car. No matter what mini-game you play on multiplayer, I guarantee you'll have fun. I wish I could say the same about single player, I really do.

Of course the first couple of races are easier then turning on your 64, but the game gets steadily harder as your controller flies through your window in aggravation. The boss races (yes, boss races) are the hardest parts of the game (as they should be), but the genie races are simple. With each golden balloon you collect and the farther you progress, your challengers will get harder, of course. As you can tell from reading the paragraph prior to this sentence, the game's difficulty level is pretty basic as to other videogames.

As this is a racing game, there isn't much you can do with your character. There are three different vehicles: cars, planes and hovercrafts. The cars are the best to use on the regular pathways, the planes are used to fly when you're above some environmental hazard and the hovercraft is best used when you need to travel on water quickly. The worst vehicle out of those three is the one that you are forced to use the most: the car. The car's turning system is stuff of nightmare and if you run into a wall, you might as well restart the race because after that, you can never really get the car back on track.

To progress through the game, you must collect golden balloons. These balloons are used to open large doors or small doors. The large doors lead to a set of smaller doors that you need a certain amount of golden balloons in order to race in. By racing in the smaller doors you'll be able to win golden balloons. By winning the race in all the smaller doors inside the large door area, you'll be able to race a boss.

If you've already played the game, you'll notice a little red clock guy that walks around. By talking to him, he'll give you the option to start a timed race in one of the tracks that you have already raced in and won. Also, after beating some bosses they'll offer extra missions for you to do in the race tracks. These are good ways to get the trophies and more golden balloons.

Scattered throughout the race tracks are items that you can use to your advantage against your friends or the computer's AI. These items are hidden in balloons and are distinguished by color. For example, running into a red balloon will give you a rocket to shoot, but running into a blue balloon will give you a nitro-boost to get ahead of the competition.

Do you have more than two Nintendo 64 controllers? That's good, because you're going to need them in order to enjoy multiplayer to its fullest. There are various multiplayer games that will allow you and your friends to duke it out. You can do a regular race, shoot each other to death, steal eggs (seriously) and even see who can collect the most bananas. Some of these games seem odd, but I dare you to just try to unplug that controller.

An evil racing pig is threatening to destroy the world. So, a magical genie enlists the help of Diddy Kong and his friends to collect all the golden balloons and stop the pig's plans.

The graphics aren't anything to really be excited about. It is the Nintendo 64 after-all. The environments all look pretty much the same, which is a major setback to a game that could have easily garnered a higher score if it had improved itself in the background department.

None of the characters really have speaking parts. Usually, they just make odd noises that are accompanied by subtitles. This is how most games from Nintendo (and Rare) seem to be, so you can't expect terrific voice-acting. All the sounds from the cars, the planes and the hovercrafts blend nicely together, so there are no point deductions here.

In my opinion, this game goes on forever. Most gamers won't play this game for its mediocre single player mode, but rather to play with their friends on multiplayer mode. It'll take a long time for you to get really bored of the game, even if you don't usually play racing titles!

Whether you like racing titles or not, Diddy Kong Racing is a must-buy…unless you want to play it for its single-player mode. All-in-all it's a racing title that can convert gamers that usually stick to adventure or RPG titles.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/07/06