In case you were wondering if there was ever going to be something more to do with your GameCube DK Bongos, the answer is an enthusiastic “YES!” Donkey Kong Jungle Beat has arrived and it is a pure-fun 2D action/platformer with a unique control system that adds up to an incredible gaming experience – for the short time it lasts. And while approximately $15 per hour of gameplay is a little steep (if you buy the package with game and bongos), I’m sure there are going to be many hardcore gaming fans snapping this one up for its unique nature alone. There really is nothing else quite like it.
As you’d expect, there is not much back-story to this game. Donkey Kong is out to prove he is the king of the jungle by maneuvering through all the various jungle kingdoms and then defeating their respective kings. That is about it. You were expecting Hemingway?
Of course what really sets Donkey Kong Jungle Beat apart from every other game is its control scheme, so let’s deal with that right up front. The player controls Donkey Kong by using the DK Bongos to move him left, right, make him jump and execute special actions. The right or left bongo is struck to move Donkey Kong in the desired direction. The faster the bongo is struck the faster DK moves. Both bongos are struck together for a jump. A clap is used for special actions. Special actions can include stunning an enemy, grabbing a bunch of bananas within the range of the clap’s sound wave, signaling a waiting monkey to launch you to a higher level, or dodging an attack. The clap action is very context sensitive. The strange thing is how the odd control scheme becomes so intuitive so quickly. The wizards at Nintendo have executed the control so well it is almost transparent to the gameplay.
The game is divided into kingdoms. Each of the main kingdoms consists of two stages and then a boss fight at the end. The player starts with only four kingdoms showing. Playing through those four will reveal four more and it continues like that. Earning crests playing the kingdoms open the later individual kingdoms. So while the player might see four kingdom slots at a time, all he knows about them is the number of crests he must earn to open them for play.
Crests are earned by collecting beats. Just coming out of the other end of a kingdom alive will earn the player a bronze crest. Silver, gold and platinum crests are awarded if the level is completed with a set number of beats. So it is possible to earn up to four crests per kingdom.
Beats are both a measure of success and the health of the player. They are awarded for just about everything, but collecting bananas is the most common way players will collect beats. Bananas may just be lying on the ground or hanging in the air in a level, or they may appear after an enemy is defeated. A single banana may be simply run over and collected for a single beat point. On the other hand, many bananas may be collected as a group using the clap grab for even more beat points. Executing combos by jumping and swinging through the level without your feet touching the ground further boosts the worth of collected bananas.
As expected, any damage to Donkey Kong causes him to lose beats. If the player’s beats ever reach zero the game is over and the level must be tackled again from the beginning. While it is possible, and likely, for the player to lose a few beats within the two stages of a kingdom, the main place that tends to suck up your beats is the boss battles that take place as Donkey Kong takes on that realm’s king. In classic boss style, each of the kings will have a weakness that the player must discover and exploit to bring them down. There are only a handful of basic types of bosses in the game but each time they are encountered there is a slightly different challenge to defeating them, so it remains fairly fun.
Graphically Donkey Kong Jungle Beat again proves that Japan’s close proximity to mainland Asia provides their game designers with a plentiful source of some of the most potent hallucinogens on the planet. We’re not talking Katamari Damacy weird here, but it is pretty strange. The game is quite beautiful and well detailed, but some of those enemies are from a bad trip: fire-breathing fuzzy pigs, ninja monkeys, pineapple-bomb-spewing mechanical elephants. I’m sorry, but where I come from you don’t see those when you are not medicated. The worlds that make up the kingdoms are varied and look magnificent. They run the gamut from lush jungle to frozen wastelands and burning volcanic regions, and even some underwater areas.
In the audio department the game is just as good. The music is a bit generic and forgettable, but the sound effects nicely compliment the game and add wonderfully to its enjoyment. There is no voice acting. We are dealing with animals here. Talking animals may have been a little too weird.
The only real problem with Donkey Kong Jungle Beat is the length of the game. If played continuously, it is probably only a three to four hour experience. (I recommend several breaks during play or your arms will feel like limp noodles at the end. I sadly speak from first-hand knowledge.) Of course to play Jungle Beat for four straight hours you’d probably have to be a musician touring with a Safaris revival band playing “Wipeout” on the drums all night. But if you could play it that long, the game can be way short. And sadly, once the player has opened all the kingdoms, there is not much incentive to play again – killing the replay value. Some will want to go for the higher crests just to see how many beats they can collect in a level, but they will be in the minority.
The uniqueness of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat’s controls and the flawless way they have been integrated into the game make it a must-play for serious gamers who want to experience gameplay in all its infinite diversity. Sadly it just misses true greatness because its benefit to cost ratio just does not balance. At half its price I’d give it the big five sharks without hesitation. But given the high price of admission and how short the ride is, I’ve got to dock it half a shark.
