Donkey Kong? Countries? Returning!? TELL ME MORE

Well, once again, I know it's kinda late on my part, but quite frankly, I have just GOT to post this review, because *spoiler alert!* ***I COULDN'T POSSIBLY RECOMMEND THIS GAME ENOUGH***** Ok, you can look back now.

I'm sure that you've all heard of a classic game called Donkey Kong Country. This game featured incredible, pre-rendered graphics, an amazing soundtrack, and some of the best gameplay ever conceived. Naturally, two sequels were made, but neither could quite live up to the glory of the original game and, quite frankly, the third one just sucked. The series was left alone for quite some time after that. Until, of course, Retro Studios set out to create the best game in the series: Donkey Kong Country Returns!

There's really not much to say about this game, other than IT'S FREAKING AMAZING. The gameplay has been refreshed slightl,y and there are tons of new gimmicks in each level that really just hook you. Diddy offers help with his jet pack and two extra hearts now, meaning that you can't switch between the two like in the previous games, but I'm perfectly fine with that, seeing as how whenever I got the chance I would switch to good ol DK. Quite frankly, it really doesn't make a difference at all in the gameplay.

The game looks simply amazing. They really pushed the Wii to its limits for this game, and I'm glad, because the cartoonish graphics look at times even more amazing than some PS3 and Xbox 360 games I've seen. It really just is an amazing thing to look at, and the stylized and simply breathtaking Silhouette levels are a great thing to see in action.

The mutliplayer in this game consists strictly of Drop-in drop-out co-op local gameplay. Having trouble with a particularly nasty level? Call in a friend and have him help you out. Of course, there's just one thing in the local multiplayer that will make some despise it and other love it, and that's the fact that you all take lives from the same life pool. Sure, frustrating maybe at first, but I actually quite like the fact that working together is greatly encouraged, instead of like in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, where I found myself wanting to kick all my friends in the 'nads after about 30 minutes of playing with them. And, once you get far enough into the game, finding banana coins and buying more balloons from good 'ol Cranky Kong (who's as funny as ever in this game) isn't much of a problem, no matter how hard the level is.

Overall, I couldn't recommend DKC Returns any more, and while it's not perfect, it sure gets pretty damn close, and this game is definitely worthy of the score I'm giving it, which is:

98/100 BANANAS