DK: Jungle Climber Review - DS

6.5

Gameplay: 7
Graphics: 6
Audio: 5
Innovation: 7

Introduction

I still get a little misty-eyed when I think about the Donkey Kong Country series. Clearly I have issues and need to move on, but as a result of them, I’ve not played any Donkey Kong game since Donkey Kong 64 back when it was under Rare’s helm. After Rare’s departure from the Big-N all those years ago, I’ve grown increasingly insane on the utterly impossible prospect that somehow Rare would produce another Donkey Kong game for the GBA or the DS. Yet, here we are in 2007, with a copy of the latest DK outing for the DS dropped into my lap, DK: Jungle Climber. With a heavy exhalation of breath, I popped in the card and prepared to play my first DK game made without Rare. The result? Pleasantly surprised.

Gameplay

People still hoping for a Donkey Kong Country (DKC) flavoured DK outing should move on: it’s just not going to happen. DK: Jungle Climber combines platform gameplay with a small smidge of puzzle fun to create a rather odd, but enjoyable hybrid. What’s immediately noticeable about the game from the get-go is the presentation. The Japanese team behind Jungle Climber, Paon (I'm not even going to try to pronounce that correctly), have really focused on recapturing the look and feel of the original DKC games. For instance, the two main simians, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, are modelled after Rare’s original designs for the characters. A couple of the older Kongs have returned too: Cranky, Funky, Dixie, a spectral Wrinkly Kong (remember DK64, folks) and yes, King K Rool (that guy really needs to rethink his career) are all here in various support roles. The game also introduces an odd, banana-shaped alien called Xananab who assists you on your journey to defeat the scourge that is King K Rool.

In a nutshell, you play as Donkey Kong as you traverse across a variety of levels swinging on pegs scattered throughout. Using these pegs, you can launch yourself to other pegs and collect bananas on the way. Each level also contains the traditional K-O-N-G letters to collect, 1 DK coin (to unlock cheats) 1 oil barrel (to ride Funky’s airplane) and 6 banana coins. Your goal is to swing along the pegs, collect all the items, and as many bananas as you can on the way before reaching the end of the stage. Just like old times, eh?

While the flexibility of a game where you can swing on a large volume of pegs would’ve lent itself nicely to an extended control system, DK’s movements have, surprisingly, been stripped bare. You can move DK from left to right using the D-Pad, or the L and R buttons. Jumping is performed by tapping L and R at the same time. Tapping L or R when near a peg will result in DK stretching out his left or right hand (respectively) to grab the closest peg. A spin attack jump, which allows you to take out enemies and other obstacles is done with the ...