Donkey Kong Barrel Blast

"Fun if you can get past the awful control scheme"

I still remember even before the Gamecube was released, Donkey Kong Racing was announced as one of the most awaited launch titles. After the wonder Diddy Kong Racing had been on the N64, it was a huge disappointment when the project was dropped after Rare's departure. Nintendo later decided to work on their own Donkey Kong racing game, Donkey Kong Barrel Blast. Originally, this Gamecube game was utilizing the Bongos just like the previous Donkey Kong games had, since the characters were no longer riding animals only like in the first version, but barrels with bongos. The project was then moved to Wii for obvious reasons, but strangely, the Bongos were removed and replaced by the Wiimote and its partner, the Nunchuk.

We all miss the DK platformers, but franchises like this one can make good spin-offs sometimes, which Barrel Blast could have. Could have, because Barrel Blast doesn't feel like the result of a lot of work. For a game that has been in development since Gamecube, it sure doesn't show. Or perhaps the developers were too busy thinking of how to replaced the Bongos to work on expanding a Gamecube game into a Wii game. In the end, the easy conclusion to this seems to have been trying to reproduce the feeling of playing bongos with the Wii's controller by shaking it. Obviously, it really doesn't feel like tapping on a bongo. The best conclusion possible would have been keeping the Bongos and allowing play with the Wiimote as well, but for some reason this possibility was left out.

Perhaps Barrel Blast would have been a great game if it was played with the Bongos instead, or even better, if it could be played simply with the control stick like a normal racing game, but shaking the Wiimote to race? No thanks. Shake the Nunchuk and Wiimote alternatively to gain speed, shake the Nunchuk to go left, shake the Wiimote to go right, shake the Nunchuk and Wiimote upwards at the same time to jump, and press A and B to attack and use items, respectively. That's a lot of confusing shaking. I can't count how many times I tried to shake the Wiimote and Nunchuk to get my boost, but ended up having my character jump instead. Problem is, everytime you get hit or hit an obstacle on your way (which happens more often than you may think), speed is lost and you ought to start shaking the controller like mad again to get back some speed. Needless to say, it's extremely annoying and frustrating if your character jumps instead, and gets you outrun because of control issues like this one. Especially in a game where it's as easy to get from 8th position to 1st, as it is to go from 1st to 8th. Things like that take off a lot from the fun.

If it wasn't of the tiresome and unintuitive controls, Barrel Blast could actually be a decent racing game. It takes a lot from Mario Kart, with balloons that give you various power-ups to use on yourself or your opponents, but also adding DK elements, like the occasional (and short) opportunity to race on Rambi or Enguarde, barrels that can blast you into shortcuts, and of course, a lot of bananas to collect. Gathering bananas fills out a gauge that gives you a speed boost of a few seconds. It's a very short boost, but you can extend it by blasting through enemies and barrels on your way. It's the only time the game feels fast, because otherwise Barrel Blast really lacks any sense of speed. It's one of the slowest racing games I've played, and that, along with the controls, is what kills it down the road. The fact that you're not racing in the environments, but rather above them (and stuck between two ropes on each side of the tracks) has a lot to do with the dullness of the game, too. If the game had been faster and didn't rely so much on shaking your arms, it would certainly be much more fun.

Unfortunately, Barrel Blast is also plagued with a few other shortcomings. It only features five distinctive racing areas (jungle, beach, snow, lava and desert) with a few different tracks, and all cups can be finished within a couple hours. There are several characters to unlock, three difficulty levels and a challenge mode where you must clear objectives, but all in all, Barrel Blast doesn't hold enough content. More tracks would have helped the game a lot, but instead it offers monotony by forcing on the player the same races over and over. You'll recognize the DK universe with its characters and very few musical scores from past games, but with so little tracks it's hard to really feel it. There's nothing particularly original or inspired about the environments, or nothing that could tell it has anything to do with Donkey Kong. The last race even takes place in space, and I fail to see how this is related in anyway to Donkey Kong. Aside from the few DK tunes, no nostalgia here.

Donkey Kong Barrel Blast ultimately feels like a weak port from Gamecube to Wii. The game still looks like a Gamecube graphically, and the removal of the Bongos makes little sense, resulting in very poor Wiimote controls. It's hard to say whether or not Barrel Blast would have been more fun with the Bongos, but the game's racing speed is far too slow to really feel satisfying. The many other faults like the lack of variety in the tracks and the lack of anything else bring the game down to a point where it's beyond rescue anyways. It's possible to experience fun among all the shortcomings, but Barrel Blast is definitely not worth the full price tag.

Gameplay 5/10
Controls 3/10
Graphics 6/10
Music 7/10
Replay Value 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 10/22/07

Game Release: Donkey Kong Barrel Blast (US, 10/08/07)