"Lacks verve"

Sequels are of course expected to add on to the gameplay of previous titles, but it's a risky move to alter the game mechanics altogether. Nintendo did this with Super Mario World 2 (aka Yoshi's Island) and it worked a treat; their Yoshi was a bright, cheerful counterpoint to Mario's adventures. Donkey Kong Country 3 attempts something of that sort. It tries to retain the platforming style of DKC2 while adding items like collectable banana birds and bears with whom you can barter and trade. It's the link between the freewheeling, surreal DKC2 and the placid, leisurely jaunt of Donkey Kong 64.

But the result is disappointing. DKC3 dilutes the essence of platforming perfection that lent its predecessors so much appeal. The Donkey Kong Country series had always been pretty to look at, but its genius lay in its simple, clinically perfect controls, and the wide variety of levels which let you hone and showcase your skills. The rest was icing on the cake.

In DKC3, there's too much emphasis placed on appearance, and too little on the actual platforming. Granted, the graphics are technically brilliant; the world map of lush islands and inviting lagoons is as good as the SNES ever saw. Yet the levels lack the verve and the dark realism of DKC3's predecessors. Sharp textures look great, but not if they're overly foregrounded, cramping the player and restricting the Kongs' movement. The pre-rendered backgrounds, pretty as they are, seem cut-out and abrupt against the busy foregrounds.

DKC2 may not have had such crisp sprites or lucid waters, but it had more atmosphere; remember the Hive levels and the oozing honey that veiled everything and brought the wasps to life, busy, sticky and threatening? It was that atmosphere which provided half the gameplay--the controls gave us the other half. For all the computer-rendered texturing of the caves, water and mountains in DKC3, the levels don't gel or spring to life as before. The sparse ice levels in DKC2 made us feel the gelid touch of the water when we dived in. The effect is largely lost here.

All this makes the levels seem more confined. There's more emphasis on ropes and vertical platforms and avoiding stationary enemies, than cartwheeling and jumping freely. We're introduced to Kiddy Kong, a cheerful rotund toddler who can throw our other hero(ine) Dixie from his shoulders with gusto, as well as skip across the water. Yet Kiddy has a fatal flaw: he's positively plodding compared with Diddy from DKC2, and he jumps with all the speed of a tectonic plate. Dixie, while nimble and a handy aerialist, is no speedster either, and so this game is noticeably slowed down. Pair that with levels that are more obstacle-course like than the hyper-real stages of DKC1/2 and we get a traditional platforming feel, friendly and comfortable with obliging controls, but without the panache, the spirit, the adventure that made Donkey Kong Country 2 the pinnacle of SNES platforming.

And the music...no. There are maybe two, two and a half good tracks; the rest inspires no emotion, and is neither relaxed nor menacing. It just goes nowhere and has no intent, too much of the time. I don't know what the hell happened here.

Am I being too harsh in comparing this game to its predecessors? Perhaps. On its own merits it is a good platformer, with supremely creative levels and, as always, easy, pinpoint movement. But a series of this calibre demands a high standard, and DKC3 does fall short. Where are the menacing Zingers? They've been replaced by mechanical green and red wasps that remind me of ride-on lawnmowers. Indeed all the enemies seem out of place due to their garish colouring. The bilge rats and porcupines that seemed at home in castles and waters of DKC2 are turned into annoying pests that are quite plainly obstacles and nothing more. The animal buddies are pleasant as always, and Ellie the Elephant is a capable substitute for Rambi (what she lacks in aggression she makes up for with her prehensile trunk), but there's just not enough freedom to use her aside from a few cameos where she inhales water or barrels. Otherwise brilliant levels like low-gravity romps through sewers or sawmill jaunts that bear classic platform jumps and timing, are marred by a need to tote barrels here and there, to gain DK coins by--get this!--smashing a little weasel creature with a metal barrel.

And then there's the necessity of buying items like wrenches and mirrors from bear friends around the place, trading them for banana-birds. What the hell is this? It's unnecessary and detracts from the game. The island-hopping world map is lovely, setting the stage for some great platforming; but the bears get in the way. Why isn't Wrinkly giving me advice? What the hell is Cranky doing, playing in a sideshow? You call these petty concerns, but all this means less action, fewer witty quotes from your helping cousins and a lot more meandering around collecting stuff.

It's no coincidence that where DKC3 gets it right is in the fast-paced levels. The ones where you ascend tree trunks as a giant saw cuts through them almost as fast as you can jump. The ones where you're set free to run, cartwheel, ski, glide, swim as you like without feeling cramped and stifled, where enemies are part of the environment instead of looking plainly out of place. This is the platforming tradition that Rare established. It tried, with the noblest intents I'm sure, to amend this, to go to a brighter land and a more leisurely pace. It has done that, but sacrificed significant terms of the platforming equation that made the DKC series so esteemed.

DKC3 will forever shrink under its predecessors' shadow.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/26/05