Donkey Konga – Review

I have been waiting on this game for months and months, not only because I’m an ardent fan of musical games on all formats but also because I fancy myself as a bit of a drummer and since Taiko Drum master isn’t out here, bongos is the closest I’ll get…. For the moment.
Anyone who enjoys Nintendo games should find plenty in Donkey Konga, a game where you play bongos along to various songs (31 in all) and where the aim of the game is to show off your fast moves and progress onto harder levels. The fun thing about Donkey Konga is that it is a game which will appeal to every member of your family, even my mum was interested and she ‘doesn’t get video games’.

When you first start playing Donkey Konga you’ll realize how easy it is to pick up and play. There are tons of variations on how you can play your game as well. There are the basic solo street performance levels where you can play as monkey (easy), chimp (intermediate) and gorilla (advanced). The gorilla level has to be bought in the DK Store which is the place you go to spend all your lovely gold coins which you earn for hitting the bongos in the right place. You can also buy many other wonderful things in the DK Store such as various drumsets to add a little diversity to your sound and some cool mini games. There are other levels to this game also including multiplayer and continuous play where you need to clear as many songs as you possibly can all at one time. How do you clear the songs I hear you ask? Well, no surprises here really. It’s very much the same formula as all of these beat type games. The circles scroll from left to right, being either red, yellow, sparkly or pink. Red is the right bongo, yellow is the left bongo, sparkle is a clap and pink is both bongos together. The closer you get your bongo slap to the centre of the target then the better your score and the more coins. Easy right? At first you get a little confused but as you play the game more you’ll find it easier and your natural bongo playing rhythm kicks in. The DK Bongos are pretty cool and respond well to your touch. I actually had to turn down the sensitivity of the clap sensor a little because every time I accidentally tapped the bongo during play it would count it as a clap, not good when you’re trying to rack up golden coins.

The graphics are pretty standard stuff with Donkey Kong sitting in the top left corner and matching your moves on screen. Very amusing to see him bashing away on the bongos when you’re performing one of the many crazy multiple slaps. The rest of the screen is filled with bright cheery characters that you’ll never even notice when you’re playing because you’re focusing so hard on the moving circles. The characters are borrowed from the mini games, which are banana juggling, whack a mole and vine climbing. They’re all ok but there’s nothing groundbreaking here, still it will keep you occupied for a while and adds a little variety to the gameplay.

The songs in this version of Donkey Konga are varied and good fun, there’s something there to appeal to everyone. It ranges from songs such as September, All The Small Things, Don’t Stop me Now, Oye Come Va, The Locomotion, Louis Louis and other such wide ranging songs to a ton of Nintendo remixes (Mario Theme Tune, DK Rap, The Legend Of Zelda Theme). The songs are good and I enjoyed most of them. There are a few on there I’ve never heard of but I didn’t think it was worth complaining about. The US release has many of the same songs also and since the Japanese have already been treated to a second outing of Donkey Konga, it seems we’re going to be getting another bounty of songs sometime in the future.

The female gamer aspect of this really doesn’t come into play so to speak. This game is for ANYone, it defies age, race, gender, sexuality etc because it truly is a completely wide appealing game. It is fun and most addictive, particularly in multiplayer mode. If you can find some friends with their own bongos all the better! I’d recommend this game to anyone looking for some party fun or even someone who wants to feel they really can play a musical instrument even though they can’t. It’s great fun, will have you laughing and will no doubt have others watching you laughing too. The good thing is they’ll want to join in so you can have your revenge giggling away at them trying gorilla mode on ‘September’.

Review by Tracy