Donkey Kong 64

"An enjoyable game if you can get into it"

3 years after the Donkey Kong Country trilogy came to a close, Rareware finally released the first new Donkey Kong platform game for a Nintendo console. Instead of being like the past games in the series, this one is a Banjo-Kazooie style collect-tons-of-junk 3D platform game. Even with this drastic change, is Donkey Kong 64 any good?

Story
It starts innocently enough on DK Island (An island with a mountain shaped like Donkey Kong's head on it. I cracked up when I first saw it), when King K. Rule's Crocodile Island sailed in and aimed the Blast-O-Matic, which has the power to destroy the island! However, it's currently under maintenance, which keeps them from firing right away, so K. Rule scattered Donkey Kong's golden bananas across DK Island and Crocodile Island, plus he captured DK's friends to distract DK while K. Rule's underlings repair the Blast-O-Matic. Now DK must rescue his friends, get back his Golden Bananas, and then defeat K. Rule! It's decent, but could use a little improving.
Story: 6 out of 10

Graphics
It's not too bad; it's on the same level as Banjo-Kazooie, so it's not using the Expansion Pak for high-quality graphics, but for it's huge levels. It looks decent, but compared to other Expansion Pak compatible games, it's the weakest.
Graphics: 6 out of 10

Music \ Sound Effects
The soundtrack isn't too bad, but it's a little lacking. It's got the DK Rap (Which was funny the first time, but gets old quickly), plus a few remixes of songs from the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack and some really cool songs like the Hideout Helm theme, but it could be improved. The sound effects aren't anything really noteworthy, and the only voice acting is in the game's intro (After that, it's all text). Not too bad, but there's better out there
Music \ Sound Effects: 6 out of 10

Controls
In normal play, the controls are great, and aren't too tough to figure out if you've played a lot of Banjo-Kazooie before (It uses a button combination system for special moves, much like Banjo-Kazooie before it). It could be improved, but it works well enough already.
Controls: 9 out of 10

Gameplay (Single player)
It's your typical "collect random stuff" platform game, but it's even crazier than Banjo-Kazooie. Not only do you have a large amount of stuff to collect (Too many to name off), but you have to switch between 5 different characters to collect everything in the stage, which artificially increases the length of the game.

The challenges you complete to get the Golden Bananas (One of the most important things you have to collect) vary. While some of the challenges are not even in the slightest bit challenging (Just floating in front of the entrance to the first level), there are some that are quite fun (Like the mine cart rides and Chunky's battle against an army of toys, just to name a few). There's also some that are repetitive and boring (The sheer number of Golden Bananas involving Mini-Game Barrels), and there are a few that will drive you insane (Any mini-game barrel challenge requiring you to play Beaver Bother).

What's really bad about Donkey Kong 64 is how the potential of the levels is wasted; there's so much that could be done with the huge levels, but you'll be spending most of your time getting to another mini-game barrel placed somewhere in the stage rather than actually completing a challenge in the actual stage. It's got some flaws, but it's not too bad of a game if you like platform games where you collect tons of random junk.
Gameplay (Single player: 7 out of 10

Gameplay (Multiplayer)
In addition to the single player portion of the game, Donkey Kong 64 offers Multiplayer. There are 2 main modes of play; Monkey Slam and Battle Arena. In Battle Arena, you compete against your friends to get the highest score possible by fighting Kremlings and each other on a small platform suspended over a pit. The other mode, Monkey Slam, is the better of the two; in it, you and your friends compete against each other in a free-for-all battle in a large arena with many platforms and places to hide.

However, the multiplayer has some faults that drag it down. In Monkey Slam, when your opponent gets hit, they become temporarily invincible, which slows the pace down a lot compared to Icicle Pyramid and Darkwater Beach on Diddy Kong Racing. Also, Battle Arena gets old very fast. If they had taken the time to work on the multiplayer a little more, it could be great, but as it is, it's about average.
Gameplay (Multiplayer): 5 out of 10

Overall
Though the multiplayer isn't that great, the single player is fun if you're looking for a challenge and have the time and patience to finish it. The game does seem a little rushed; if they had a little more time to work on the game more, there would probably be far less challenges involving the mini-game barrel and a decent multiplayer mode to go with it.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/04/09

Game Release: Donkey Kong 64 (US, 10/31/99)