Cleared: Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat

On December 16th Nintendo's bongo drums got a new purpose and that purpose was to make Donkey Kong jump, slap and swing around 20 levels collecting bananas and building combos, trying for the coveted high score based on time and bananas collected.

Called one of the most addictive and biggest surprises at this years E3, I went out on a limb and picked up Jungle Beat and the bongos ($5 extra) and went to town. The gimmick going on in this game is that you don't use a controller to move your monkey but a set of plastic (sturdy) bongos. Hit left to move left and hit right to move right. Bongo faster to run and slap both to jump. Clapping is picked up by the microphone and makes you reach out to swing and the "shock wave" that results from your clap pulls in near by bananas and has other effects.

Like I said, you get some 20 levels each split up into 3 parts. The first being strictly platforming, the next being some race by bird, by water or another platformer and the last being a boss fight. Some boss fights are set up with a behind the back perspective boxing type dealy relying on timing and pattern memorization to win and others require you to jump around throwing bombs or just attacking with your gorilla fists.

Each section takes from 1 minute to 3 minutes to complete giving you only about 5 minutes of play per level. In my opinion, tacking another 20 (more challenging) levels on the current 20 would have made this game a must have, but since there's not that much content, a rental or two would be enough for this 5-6 hour game.


Since content is limited, the focus shifts to replayability which is here in spades. Scoring 300, 500, 800 and 1200 banana's will get you bronze, silver, gold and platinum metals. In order to score a platinum metal you have to learn to link your movements. Each new move will score you a mutiplier multiplying the bananas you pick up during the combo and the combo will end once you touch the ground. So the name of the game is constant movement and momentum. Once you got that down, you start looking on ways to pad your combo by doing extra movements in between vine swings and spiking enemies. That is where you'll find the real challenge; tucked away for those who want to exploit it.

The presentation is excellent and the character models boast some of the best fur mapping I've ever seen in a game. Environments are varied to your standard snow level, water level, jungle level, lava level, ect. And the real stand out feature is the fresh camera angles the designers imposed. A lot of close ups of enemies and Donkey Kongs expressions and movements that have frankly made him a much more appealing character than in the past. The boss character models are very creative, making you smirk with every encounter. One thing to note is you won't find the Donkey Kong family (Diddy, Trixy, Grandpa Kong, Candy Kong, and that surfing Kong guy; Funky Kong?) which I think was a good move. But you will find recurring music, remixed from previous titles.



The game had a lot of great ideas, tons of style, great combo system and of course the bongos! But where I felt it came up short was in the actual content. Seeing the "The End" screen after only about 6 hours of game play left me feeling I just beat Jungle Beat: Part A. Where's the rest of it?

pros:

The addition of the bongos as the main source of play was genius! (and only an extra $5!) It gave a fresh and satisfying feeling to the game.

Combo system can get very deep for those who look for it, bumping up the replayability considerably.

Character models, colour palette and environments look excellent.

Really dug the camera angles and presentation.


Cons:

With each of the 20 levels lasting only about 5 minutes, there's not much game here.

Seems to be a one trick pony with only 4 variations of game play. (floating/racing, riding, platforming, boss fighting) If the game was extended it would feel like it was repeating itself more than it all ready did.

The bongos were great but they didn't respond as nicely as I'd have liked when the game called for some fancy left, right, jump, throw work.

(Originally written December 22nd, 2004 but recently pulled out of the archives and finished up.)