12-16-2010, 11:56 PM
Not to leave a dark spot on this otherwise "perfectly-reviewed" game, but to be honest, I was a lot less than impressed with DKCR. And I apologize in advance for going into full-on ramble-rant mode.
I could barely tell what was going on. The Kongs blended too well with the background and there wasn't enough space dedicated to their actions. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that I was playing it on an older, 4:3 resolution, smaller-screen TV. I'm almost willing to bet that if I had a new, bigger, wide-screen TV that I wouldn't have such problems... and that bugs me to no end, but that's another argument for another thread.
The controls were way too gimmicky, too. Mapping a movement-based move like the standard somersault/cartwheel attack to a shake of the controller while you're still holding the movement buttons is just unintuitive if you ask me. Why not map it to 1? The original DKC put barrel grabbing, running, and cartwheeling on the same button... why can't DKCR? Ground pounding is fine on that. I've seen other games do that to good effect. Even that silly dandelion blowing technique works, pointless as it seems to me. Just... not the essential cartwheel. I've yet to try it with the Nunchuk (and I can't now that my former roommate has reclaimed her Wii), but it doesn't seem promising.
Gameplay itself... eh. If the flow wasn't broken so frequently with the constant need to stop and check/pound everything by shaking that blasted remote somewhere or another, I could speak better of it. I'd probably be able to speak better of it still if the previous two points weren't so glaring that I couldn't even play it past the first boss (and even then, I lost track of myself during said boss fight when I was playing with my brother).
I wanted to like DKCR, I really did... I loved the original trilogy and so many others have had so much good to say about it. I just can't enjoy a game I can't even play properly.
I could barely tell what was going on. The Kongs blended too well with the background and there wasn't enough space dedicated to their actions. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that I was playing it on an older, 4:3 resolution, smaller-screen TV. I'm almost willing to bet that if I had a new, bigger, wide-screen TV that I wouldn't have such problems... and that bugs me to no end, but that's another argument for another thread.
The controls were way too gimmicky, too. Mapping a movement-based move like the standard somersault/cartwheel attack to a shake of the controller while you're still holding the movement buttons is just unintuitive if you ask me. Why not map it to 1? The original DKC put barrel grabbing, running, and cartwheeling on the same button... why can't DKCR? Ground pounding is fine on that. I've seen other games do that to good effect. Even that silly dandelion blowing technique works, pointless as it seems to me. Just... not the essential cartwheel. I've yet to try it with the Nunchuk (and I can't now that my former roommate has reclaimed her Wii), but it doesn't seem promising.
Gameplay itself... eh. If the flow wasn't broken so frequently with the constant need to stop and check/pound everything by shaking that blasted remote somewhere or another, I could speak better of it. I'd probably be able to speak better of it still if the previous two points weren't so glaring that I couldn't even play it past the first boss (and even then, I lost track of myself during said boss fight when I was playing with my brother).
I wanted to like DKCR, I really did... I loved the original trilogy and so many others have had so much good to say about it. I just can't enjoy a game I can't even play properly.