This is the game that convinced me to buy a Switch 2. I actually got the console at launch with Mario Kart World but the announcement of this game is what made me want one. It was clear from the original videos that this was made by the team that made Super Mario Odyssey, which was just fantastic.
This is, I think, only the second 3D platformer for Donkey Kong after Rare’s Donkey Kong 64 on the Nintendo 64. My memories of that game are that it was pretty frustrating and boring. This is anything but. Donkey Kong can smash through terrain; almost the entirety of the levels are built from destructible materials, and so you can find your own way of getting where you need to. This gives it a different feel from any other platformer I’ve played before. It must have been hard to design levels that guide a player who can smash through almost anything. Much like Mario Odyssey each level is absolutely rammed full of secrets and rewards.
In the story Donkey Kong is up against the head of a mining corporation who is trying to get to the core of the planet and become all powerful. Each level is another layer of the planet towards the core, strangely with their own sky and appearing as if it was outside. Once you get to the core, however, King K. Rool from the Donkey Kong Country games returns as the big boss, which took me by surprise. I think he has only ever appeared in those games, I assumed that since he was created by Rare in the UK he wasn’t viewed as a “real” Donkey Kong character in Nintendo of Japan.
Your partner through the game is a young Pauline, the woman DK kidnapped in the original 1981 arcade game. She has a magical singing voice in the underground levels of this game, but is shy about performing in front of people. It’s an interesting idea for the story, since it both leads into the excellent section of the New Donk City level of Super Mario Odyssey where an adult Pauline performs on top of a skyscraper, as well as raising questions about what leads up to Donkey Kong kidnapping her in the original arcade game. Perhaps I’m just overthinking it, but I enjoyed the duo’s relationship anyway.
Throughout this game Pauline learns several songs that can transform DK into other animals such as a zebra that can run extremely fast and an ostrich that can fly and drop eggs on enemies. The one I particularly enjoyed is an elephant that can hoover up the level terrain through its trunk.
The game is excellent. Of course it is really, everything by this team is. I’m not sure it quite lives up to Super Mario Odyssey, or Super Mario Galaxy even but I’m glad that they create such unique games every time.