Donkey Kong Jungle Beat – Review
Nintendo must have thought “Ok, we have released a bongo controller and we have used one of our main characters, Donkey Kong, to promote the musical themed Nintendo game “Donkey Konga”. How can we make a new music themed game?” They took a look at the historical Donkey Kong games, which were platform games (run, jump) and the platform music game starring with Donkey Kong and came up with Donkey Kong Jungle Beat!
Donkey Kong is in trouble and needs to challenge many different enemies and end-bosses in sixteen different worlds. These worlds have their own theme such as wood, water, ice, fire and so on. But you’re not going to control Donkey Kong while he’s sight-seeing the worlds as some tourist. No, the main part of controlling is based on running, jumping and catching bananas. Especially the catching of bananas which is necessary to survive and whenever an enemy attacks Donkey is going to loose some bananas. When you run out of bananas, it’s unfortunately game over!
Controlling should be done with the bongos, which is a fun and easy to use controller. Hit on the left bongo drum whenever you want Donkey Kong to move to the left. To make him move to the right, hit the right bongo drum. And what happens if you hit both bongo drums at the same time? Donkey Kong jumps! And last but not least you can also clap your hands above the bongos to make a special move. This can result in several special moves such as avoiding enemies or grabbing a liana (vine) to swing through the screen. It sounds easy to control, but you need to get used to it. It won’t take long though before you understand how to play the game and handle it perfectly. There’s even a training level to make you feel comfortable with the controlling in the beginning.
While playing you’ll notice that it is all about running through and clearing the levels, defeating the enemies by jumping on them and to collect as many bananas as possible. But there’s more! You can earn even more extra bananas by making combos. By jumping, swinging and making cool air-jumps, you can make the combos. Just try to keep Donkey Kong’s feet off the ground. If you clear a level you’ll be rewarded with a respectable bronze, silver, gold or platinum Crest depending on the number of the gained bananas. These crests have a function as you can unlock extra features such as levels and mini-games.
Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat can be compared with the original Donkey Konga as it has to be controlled by the bongos and the fun element is again huge which results in the addiction that you don’t want to stop playing. It is even funnier to play a “platform” game with the bongos instead of the normal controller. But if you’re too optimistic and keep on playing, you’ll be disappointed that the game is rather short and within a couple of hours you can finish the game. But every gamer who’s totally into a certain game always states that the game is rather short. In total there are 32 levels and 16 end-bosses in 16 worlds to conquer. And maybe you want to unlock all features, and therefore want to achieve the golden or platinum crests. This is also an addictive part in the game which keeps you going.
Not only is it fun to play the game, it’s also a pleasure to look at and to listen to. The levels are styled differently and the end-bosses are newly designed, I’ve never seen them before. Lots of details are enclosed in the levels which are of course typical Nintendo style and color. The music is up to you, how you control the rhythms by hitting on the bongos. Of course there’s a background tune which is also varied. Sometimes a complete orchestra is playing (especially with the end-bosses) and sometimes you hear a simple tune. The only musical minus is perhaps the way Donkey Kong produces some sounds. That could have been done much better.
This time there is no real female point of view, except that I really loved to play the game Donkey Konga Jungle Beat. But the female gamer aspect doesn’t really matter as this can be played and enjoyed by very young to very old gamers (hi grandma!). It’s fun, it’s not too difficult and appealing to many gamers, no matter which age, race, gender, etc.
The end conclusion is that Donkey Kong Jungle Beat is a very suitable game for a varied audience. It’s a new musical masterpiece from Nintendo with a new way of using the bongos to control a game. Okay it’s a rather short game, but I assure you that the hours spent are full of fun and excitement. Also the replay value is quite ok, for the gamers who want to unlock all features by achieving golden and platinum Crests. The graphics and sound are well done and varied; different worlds, levels. If you have the original Donkey Konga game and the bongos already, I would give Donkey Kong Jungle Beat a chance for sure!
Review by Wencke
Thumb Bandits European Correspondent & manager of GGU.
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Jungle beat is one of those fad games, its superb fun for a few days, then you put it in your closet never to play it again.