The rhythm genre gets a new contender in Donkey Konga from Nintendo and Namco and the results are fairly spectacular. Fans of any type of rhythm game are going to want to pick it up and take the new DK Bongos for a spin. And while the first offering for this new controller might be a bit limited, it clearly shows the potential for the interface.
Even story-happy Nintendo realized that this game didn’t need much setup. Donkey and Diddy Kong find bongos on the beach and start practicing with thoughts of fame, fortune and all the bananas they can eat. Enough said.
Donkey Konga is bought as a package that includes both the Donkey Konga game and the DK Bongos controller. In reality, the controller seems to be the majority of the package value. Nintendo press materials indicate that, when available, extra sets of DK Bongos will sell for $29.99. The controller is a well-built piece of hardware that is also rather cool looking. In consists of a right and left drum, microphone and start button. The drums are topped by a soft vinyl material that gives nicely and is quite responsive to even lighter taps. The microphone is very sensitive and will respond to the recommended clap, a tap on the body of the drum or even a sharp voice command.
The Donkey Konga play interface is childishly simple. A series of notes denoted by symbols on rolling barrels move across the screen toward a beat point. As the note reaches the beat point the player must take the action indicated by the type of note it is: half yellow circle for a left-bongo hit, half red circle for a right-bongo hit, whole pink for a both-bongo hit, and a blue starburst for a handclap. There are also roll notes, which appear as a note with a bar stretching behind it to indicate the player should rapidly strike the bongo or clap for the duration of the bar. It sounds really simple, and it is … in theory. In practice, the rhythmically challenged need not apply. In order to clear a song the player must execute the bongo action fairly precisely for the majority of the notes. Only hits calculated to be “great” or “OK” are counted. Badly timed or outright misses get the player nothing.
With only one DK Bongos controller, the majority of the beginning drummer’s time is going to be spent in the Street Performance mode. Street Performance gives the player a chance to practice his drumming chops with 33 songs that range from kid standards like Bingo to modern pop, oldies rock, country, latin, variations on Nintendo game themes, and even a couple of classical selections. All the songs can be played at three difficulty levels. At the higher difficulty levels more notes must be played during the course of a song than in the lower difficulty levels. In an act of insanity, Namco included a Jam mode within the Street Performance mode that requires the player to memorize the notes in a song and play it with only blank barrels rolling across the screen. Guess some people have way too much time on their hands.
Other modes include Battle where two drummers compete to see who is best, Challenge that test the endurance of one or two drummers as they see how many songs they can clear in succession, and Jam Session where up to four drummers rock out just for the joy of the music. In addition there are three non-musical mini games that can be purchased for the coins earned in regular play.
It is apparent, even without a second DK Bongos controller, that the multiplayer modes are going to be a blast at parties. Just taking turns with one set of bongos is a lot of fun and good for many laughs.
The musical selections in Donkey Konga have a little something for everyone’s taste, but with only 33 total songs, there is not a lot for anyone. This ultimately is the weakest point in the game and once you’ve played through your favorites enough times, it begins to wear thin even before you’ve earned all the mini games and bongo sounds.
I can also see this as a “kid-maiming” game. A stuck-at-home parent who has been subjected to hearing Bingo played 53 times with Donkey Konga is probably going to snap and either open up a major artery on herself or the braining of the children is going to begin. At the very least the non-house spouse is going to get punched dead in the face when he walks in the door at the end of the day, and will probably look very confused wondering what he did wrong when he comes to.
Despite its shortcomings in music selection, Donkey Konga is well worth picking up for the experience. I also think this game has to be considered much like the PS2 Eye Toy Play game that came with the Eye Toy camera. The primary goal of the package is to get a new type of controller into the hands of the consumer with a sampler of what it can do so players will be ready when more fully developed gaming experiences using the controller come along. When Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat! releases next year, we’ll see how good the DK Bongos really are ... or not.
© 2004 GameShark.com
