With exclusives like Super Mario 3D World, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD, Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101, Lego City Undercover, and not to mention the still-coming-this-year Smash Bros. and Mario Kart 8 (just to name a few), you shouldn’t really need another reason to pick up a Wii U.
But as it happens, here’s a damned good one; Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.
To start, from the very second that I tapped on the Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze icon on the Wii U home screen, I had an ear-to-ear grin on my face. The game’s loading music immediately brought me back to my youth and my days (and days) of yelling at my Super Nintendo and Donkey Kong Country for killing me when I clearly shouldn’t have been killed.
I eventually played through all of Super Nintendo’s Donkey Kong titles (watching the animated series in-between), fell madly in love with Donkey Kong 64, and even Diddy Kong Racing during the next generation (though I’ll hold my ground at ‘it was no Mario Kart‘). I missed out on 2010’s Donkey Kong Country Returns, but now that I’ve played through Tropical Freeze, I’ll be trying to find a copy immediately.
Following the beautiful loading music, you’ll be greeted by the rest of the game’s fantastic audio (and then you may look it up and realize that original DKC composer David Wise has returned for the game). Then come the visuals, which will have you realizing within seconds that Tropical Freeze is quite possibly the best looking game on the Wii U today. Seriously. The gorgeous colours, backgrounds, levels, and characters are virtually without equal, and once they start moving, you may find yourself simply staring in awe at the wondrous 1080p visuals. DK and company (Diddy, Dixie, and Cranky will accompany you during the game, and a second player can even take control) have never, ever looked this good, and it’s almost tough to imagine them ever looking any better.
Playing through Tropical Freeze, even in its earlier levels, is a stark reminder of just how easy today’s games have become. I would bet that I died more playing Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze over this past week than I have in every game that I’ve played in the last five years… combined (aside from maybe Flappy Bird). Dying, of course, is frustrating by nature (especially, as I mentioned, since it rarely happens these days), but I was always willing to jump right back in and perfect that missed jump or get revenge on the enemy that killed me. Plus, the level design is so good that I don’t simply want to pass them, but actually experience them, and spending more time in a single stage isn’t a bad way to do that.
You won’t find me on here… But I can dream.
Then, of course, there’s the collectables, which will have you playing through the game multiple times because they’re so addicting and so impossible to find on your first time through. I still haven’t found nearly as many as I’d like to, and DKCTF has brought out the completionist in me far more than any other game in recent memory.
The title thankfully offers players a few different control types, including the Wii U Gamepad, Wii Remote + Nunchuk, and Wii U Pro Controller, and all options are precise, enjoyable, and easy to control. Tropical Freeze does support offscreen play (which I use all the time, and love), but sadly, using the Gamepad as your controller adds absolutely zero additions to the gameplay. That’s a missed opportunity right there, and for a first-party that’s trying (and not really succeeding) to sell consoles, it’s almost inexcusable.
Brings you back, doesn’t it?
Overall, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is quite possibly the best side-scrolling platformer that I’ve played in years. It’s far better than the excellent New Super Mario Bros. U and its expansion, and is my favourite Donkey Kong title of all-time. I hope that Retro Studios’ latest gets the recognition it deserves, as it deserves to sell some consoles, and that they soon get hard to work on a follow-up (maybe by the time it releases I’ll have found all of the collectables in this one). The game can be frustratingly difficult at times (it’ll make you go bananas, yeah I went there), but it’s likely that these frustrations lay with our expectations of a modern game’s difficulty; I’m no longer used to attempting the same stage ten or fifteen times, and that sometimes makes yell-at-the-TV mad, but when I think back to my childhood, what game didn’t force that many attempts?
Don’t own a Wii U yet? Buy one, and make Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze one of your first purchases. Aside from the game all but pretending that the Wii U’s main differentiator (the Gamepad) doesn’t exist, it’s probably the best platformer that we’ll see all year on any console.
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze scores a 4.5/5.