For example: the fifth boss, a giant polar bear wielding a war hammer, swing his hammer at you in the first phase, throws stacks of ice cubes at you in the second, and ground-pounds a wall of icy spikes at you in the third. Hitting them three times triggers the next phase of attacks, and they all have three phases. They all move in the same basic pattern, executing a few attacks before moving into a vulnerable state where you have to bop them on the head or throw something at them. The game’s six bosses, which have no mid-fight checkpoints, are the absolute worst embodiment of this problem. …Retro Studios doesn’t quite nail the right balance here between difficult and frustrating. Each time you die, Tropical Freeze forces you to replay things you’ve already perfected, over and over again, just to get back to the challenge you can’t quite figure out. You inch a bit further, figure out the right timing for the next bit, and cycle back when you inevitably fail. They’re gauntlets filled out by tricky jumps and inconvenient enemy placement that you need to throw yourself at again and again. Levels like the late stage Jelly Jamboree, which is full of gelatin trampolines that you use for extra lift, are particularly bad. The space between the mid-level saves in Tropical Freeze is too great though, and there’s no consistent feeling of balance as a result. The Donkey Kong Country games of yesteryear did this really well, lining up three or four tricky jumping sections, with enemies laid out just so, and hidden items to acquire if you’re extra skillful, before reaching a checkpoint. The perfect level in a platformer places a set number of obstacles between you and a checkpoint. Tropical Freeze is hard as hell from the outset, and each victory feels earned.Īll too often though, you run into unnecessary, irritating barriers that drain the joy out of learning and playing through those challenges. Learning how to tweak Donkey’s momentum using the controls is supremely satisfying. Using all three together feels awkward at first.ĭonkey is too slow when he’s walking to clear even simple jumps it’s all too easy to fall into a bottomless pit, even in the early game, if you don’t combine a run or roll with your jump. You’ve got three different buttons for jumping, running/grabbing barrels or enemies, and rolling/ground-pounding. ![]() It’s acclimating to the staccato rhythm of the game’s platforming that takes time. The controls are at least flexible you can customize your button layout and leave motion controls turned off if you wish. Playing feels as good as looking, though it takes some getting used to. More impressive are the subtle quirks, such as the way Donkey Kong kicks his feet while swimming underwater and the way his fur ripples in the current. Cranky pogos around on his cane like a slower NES-era DuckTales Scrooge McDuck. Kongs Donkey, Diddy, Dixie, and Cranky all have personalities that shine through in the way their mechanical differences are represented.ĭixie spins her ponytail like a helicopter’s rotors to catch air and hover while Diddy does the same with his jetpack. Snowmads – those jerk penguins, walruses, owls, and other Nordic critters that have jacked the Kong clan’s land and fruit – glow with cartoon life, all ruffling feathers and surprised eyes. ‘Donkey Konga’ bongos could be coming to Nintendo Switch Nintendo may finally bring ‘The Legend of Zelda’ and ‘Donkey Kong’ to mobile There’s no sense of history repeating in the game’s six multi-stage worlds (plus a bunch of hidden, extra hard stages in each) every new location feels fresh. Exhaustive attention to detail in every little scene and level makes Tropical Freeze seductive to the eye. ![]() From the very first seconds of the game, when some badass animal Vikings show up to take over Kong Island, it’s clear that Retro has an imaginative vision for realizing a high-def Donkey Kong. It’s not a problem that is apparent on the surface. Like so many promising platformers that fail to find a wide audience, Retro Studios doesn’t quite nail the right balance here between difficult and frustrating. Years later, on the Nintendo Switch, Tropical Freeze falters for the same reasons: Its charm remains undeniable, but its grating challenges create rough edges that stand out compared to Nintendo’s best works. Tropical Freeze comes very close to achieving those lofty heights, but pacing problems keep it from masterpiece status. As part of the Wii U’s platformer-heavy library, surrounded by excellent games like Super Mario 3D World, Rayman Legends, New Super Mario Bros U, and Bit.Trip Runner 2, it needs to be exceptional to justify its place in this crowd. Ill-advised checkpoint placement makes the game frustrating rather than difficult.ĭonkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is old-school, often to a fault.
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