Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

When we tested Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze on Wii U in 2014, we gave it a 9/10 (for “Excellent”). Here is what we said about it:

“Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is a great platformer packed with tense sequences and challenging levels. The boss fights are the high point of the adventure, to which must be added difficult secrets and collectibles. The multi could be improved, but I found myself laughing every time my teammate and I got caught up in unforgettable challenges. But the pleasure of being rewarded each time made me go forward to beat a new obstacle, and run until the end of the game. "

The Switch version maintains this difficulty, but adds a fun, more accessible funky mode if you're not ready to tackle some of the daunting challenges of Tropical Freeze's more advanced levels.

Tropical Freeze looks great on Switch. The stunning motion animations are smooth no matter if you're in handheld mode or on TV. I found myself leaning a little too close to the screen during the most intense boss battles, in order to better follow everything that was happening on the screen, but on laptop Donkey Kong is excellent. I wouldn't recommend certain levels in this setup in public, especially if, like me, you're unable to stifle frustrated sighs even in the company of complete strangers.

The much more accessible Funky mode is the biggest change to the original formula, and it's welcome because it makes things easier without making you feel like a kid. The precision jumps and the stopwatch are still there. You can't make your way through levels or battles, you just have some extra luck to correct your mistakes. In this mode, you play Donkey Kong or Funky Kong, the coolest of all Kongs. With his chunky sunglasses, Hawaiian shorts, tank top and bandana, he's the coolest uncle who knows a lot about life, and a little bit about love. Thanks to its surfboard it allows you to avoid falling, Funky's jumps are also much more forgiving compared to Diddy's rocket or Dixie's ponytail-helicopter. This board also makes Funky immune to spike damage, and alters your perception of the original Wii U version levels. He also doesn't need the help of Diddy, Dixie or by Cranky. And if all that isn't enough to make the difficulty go away, Funky Mode gives you an extra heart with each level, and hearts to replenish your health appear more often.

The controls are demanding and the jumps easier to question, but I found it more difficult to play in Portable mode than with the Pro controller. I had some difficulty with the little buttons on the Joy-Con when it came to picking up barrels to stun enemies. Sometimes I even accidentally threw it because the pimples were too sensitive. Likewise, I struggled to beat the final boss with the Switch in Portable mode, as picking up barrels and stunning enemies are two essential things in this streak. Once I sat on my couch with the Pro controller ... I struggled, yes, but less than before.

The difficulty of Tropical Freeze is relentless, but it doesn't seem exaggerated, with one major exception. One of the last rocket-barrel levels is so frustrating that I don't consider it to be one of the worst levels in the game, but the worst level in the game. You have to move through tiny and deadly corridors using the most controls. clumsy ways of the game. I put it at the top of the pile of the most frustrating levels, alongside the submarine one from the original TMNT on NES. I really hated it, and if I needed to do the 100% Tropical Freeze, I sure wouldn't.

Boss fights are just as difficult, but by unfair. I never felt like I was dying because of a gameplay issue. I died because I just wasn't good enough. And I was especially on the last bosses. Fortunately, extra lives are easy to find. Funky sells them in their store for a low price, and there are plenty of other opportunities to pick up some along the way.

Is there anything wrong? Just for nothing. In fact, do the games mentioned all deserve a second chance? Undoubtedly. Who has already started, lived and finished Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze four years ago is morally obliged to start from scratch today? Not even by mistake. In short, to each what he wants and if millions of possible players / buyers in 2014 didn't even know about the latest adventure of the monkey with the tie ... then it makes sense that today Nintendo will come back to knock on their door: "Hi, you have five minutes to talk about the slap lord? ".

Today as yesterday Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze puts aside any desire for reworking and revolution of the matter, preferring to focus on the possibility of creating a particularly canonical but also extremely competent platform game. Its biggest limit may want to correspond to the most exciting aspect. No too much bouncing ideas, "only" a series of levels in which you run from left to right, jumping, climbing, eliminating enemies and chasing the many secrets hidden behind each palm, rock and waterfall from Retro Studios.

The result is that in the hands (this time literally) you find yourself a fun game and packed with all the trappings. A platform game born of Nintendo's infinite wisdom on the subject, now unapproachable for the competition when it comes to setting up such traditional and chiseled experiences to the millimeter. If at the time of Donkey Kong Country Returns it was surprising the familiarity with which Retro Studios had gone from Metroid Prime's first-person-adventure to the platforms of the old furry school of Donkey Kong, today it is no longer news. It remains only to be ascertained with a beautiful smile printed on the face: in terms of control system, level design and challenge rate, Tropical Freeze is a jewel. And if you want to go into more details, if what was said was not enough, here you can find the review of the game in Wii U version: everything said remains valid even today.

However much you go too far. Like when he pushes too much on the accelerator of precision to the frame of this or that jump, ending up transforming some (few) sequences from "I have to sweat a lot but I'm having fun" to "now I put Switch in the dishwasher and then we'll talk about it". Or, again, like when he can't break away from the usual standard level formula, then the ride on the mine carts, then the boss and so on. Nothing that wasn't already cleared up at the time of the original release on Wii U, is clear.

On Switch, the game discovers a cleaner and more convincing graphic design, as long as you play games connected to the TV. In this case, the native Full HD resolution (at 1080 points) makes perfectly due to the great work of the artists of Retro. If you add to all the softness of 60 frames per second, it is not complex to understand how you can still be enraptured by the colors, details, expressiveness and elegance of the world, of the characters and their movements. When Donkey and his clique find themselves in the middle of a savannah slapped by the wind and burnt by the fire, it is difficult not to trigger applause or half reverence.

In portable mode you must necessarily limit yourself to 720 points on the Switch panel, more than enough for what remains a show, even on the move. Accompanied above all by the usual, suggestive, soundtrack signed by David Wise. That will not touch the top of what has been done in the monkey world, but still offers an excellent performance.

The overview of the news and changes made to this version for Switch ends by reporting the presence of Funky Kong as a playable character for the less experienced (it is not invincible, but you get closer) and the possibility of playing in two simply using the Joy- With included: an extra comfort to face each level with a friend.

If for other labels a similar result could be said to be excellent, for Nintendo and Retro Studios being able to distil a similar concentration of challenge and elegance is almost normal administration. Which does not remove a nail from the quality of the game, but it is also true that it was desirable already in 2014 to expect some more flicker.

MODUS OPERANDI
After completing the original game on Wii U, I tried the Switch version thanks to a code obtained from Nintendo. I played Donkey and the others both in portable mode and remaining connected to the TV, both with the Pro Controller and with the Joy-Con, facing the first three worlds.