NSO Retro: Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

For my next retro adventure I jumped into Donkey Kong Country (1994) a game I’d never played before and therefore, like Super Mario Brothers, a game I had zero nostalgia for. But whereas I felt I ‘appreciated’ Super Mario rather than truly enjoyed it, I’m pleased to say I really did enjoy Donkey Kong Country a lot.

You play as both Donkey and Diddy Kong on a quest to get back your stolen bananas. Both Donkey and Diddy play a little differently and you can tag them in and out as you please. They also serve as a ‘safety net’ of sorts because although you can only take a single hit as either one, you won’t fail as long as you have the other in reserve. And on each level you’ll find barrels that will respawn the other.

You also get welcome checkpoints on each level so you don’t have to start from scratch if you do lose both Donkey and Diddy, as well as save points on the world map. Hell, they even give you a fast travel system. As you can guess, I appreciated these features a lot because for me, they encouraged me to play the game the way it was originally intended as opposed to SMB where I frequently abused the NSO restore point feature.

Donkey Kong Country, unlike SMB, doesn’t have quite the same time / score attack vibe to it, but you can play it that way if you wish. Levels are more sprawling with multiple paths to traverse, hidden areas to discover and lots of bananas to collect. It’s amazing how much is packed into each level and how much you’ll miss on your first time through.

There are also multiple ways to give yourself more lives (continues) by collecting said bananas, popping hidden balloons or collecting the four KONG pieces scattered throughout each level. There are 40 levels in all split across a variety of environment types and the game does a great job of introducing new mechanics and little gameplay gimmicks as you progress so there’s always something new to see.

Like SMB, it does have a bit of ‘bullshit’ here and there, but certainly not to same degree and thanks to the Donkey / Diddy dynamic and the checkpoint barrels, you don’t feel like the game is deliberately f**king you over just to waste your time.

Visually, it can be a little hard to read at times on a modern screen, but the graphics do have their charm and the little animations for the characters and enemies are all really good. There are boss fights in the game, some of which do repeat with a slightly more difficult version. They’re all fine, but nothing very exciting.

It’s in the individual levels where DKC really shines, with a lot to discover and explore and I had a really good time working my way through them all. Overall, DKC was a really nice surprise. It’s a game that still holds up well today and is well worth checking out.

Now Playing: Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

In my Steam Summer Sale: Damage Report post I described Bomb Rush Cyberfunk as ‘like someone got bored waiting for Sega to make a new Jet Set Radio so they decided to do it themselves’. Because that’s exactly what BRC is – a shameless JSR clone. And that’s kind of a shame, because as I also said in my Sale post – ‘I don’t just want off-brand JSR. I hope this game has some good ideas of its own.’

Unfortunately, BRC is essentially just an ‘off-brand’ JSR and doesn’t really offer much beyond that. I don’t take issue with a developer taking ‘inspiration’ from another game. I don’t mind them paying ‘homage’ to something they like. But BRC isn’t just ‘inspired’ by or paying ‘homage’ to JSR – it’s a blatant rip-off. It’s a really good rip-off, but the real problem BRC has is that it lacks a strong identity of its own.

As much as I enjoyed my time with BRC I only really enjoyed it because it . . . reminded me of JSR. It’s not as good as JSR – let’s just get that fact out of the way now. Playing BRC is like playing a worse version of JSR. It’s still good. It’s still fun. But I couldn’t ever shake the feeling that I could just go and play a better version of BRC called . . . JSR.

Like I said, it’s a shame because BRC could have forged its own style and identity and built its own ‘brand’ that made it stand apart with its own original and unique vibe. Something that would make me excited to see more games in a possible BRC series. But it doesn’t, so I’m not.

That’s why I’m so on the fence with regard to praising the game. How can I praise BRC for its visuals, animation style, structure and progression when it’s all entirely stolen from – sorry, ‘inspired’ by – another game? Yes, I’m aware lots of games borrow ideas, styles and systems, but not to this degree. BRC is JSR one for one. Even the story scenes in the way characters speak, to the way they’re directed and animated are identical.

The character designs look like JSR rejects. Even the level design is eerily familiar. The addition of alternatives to skates in the form of skateboards and bikes is nice, but they all handle identically in terms of how they play. Music, such an important part of JSR, is pretty weak. There’s a small selection of tracks that you can only expand by discovering more tracks hidden throughout the world.

The problem is, until you do find those hidden tracks you’re going to be stuck with a very small selection that repeats so often you’ll soon get sick of it. Some of the tracks drag on for way too long, are too repetitive and at one point I got so tired of it I told the game to ‘shut the f**k up’ and just shut off the music entirely.

I then put the JSR soundtrack on in the background and had a much better time of it. Because to this day, I still listen to the JSR soundtrack. I still remember the levels and the characters and the style all these years later. I can’t say the same will be true of BRC because the game lacks any identity of its own.

The police system in BRC is more annoying than in JSR. It triggers and escalates far too early and quickly for one, and some of the police systems feel designed to just frustrate you – such as the turrets that shoot out chains to grab you and drag you back – even passing through solid scenery. Who the f*k thought that would be fun?

There are some poor attempts at ‘boss’ fights that don’t really work – particularly the last fight which decides to make you grind lots of rails above a void and then sets the camera to a very unhelpful distant side view making it hard to judge the angle or distance of your jumps.

The trick system is fine, but I didn’t like it enough to waste my time going for high scores. Level design is also fine, but some levels are a little too big and open with too much empty space. I like the taxi guy who can fast travel you between locations because he actually felt like a proper homage to Crazy Taxi rather than just another rip-off.

The story is okay but the game lacks strong characters. Like I said, it’s like someone pulled them all from a pile of characters rejected from JSR. If you’ve not played JSR or JSR Future you might be wondering what the f**k I’m even talking about in this review and why it’s not really about BRC as much as it is why BRC isn’t as good as JSR.

But what else can I say? Maybe I’m being too harsh. I don’t believe the developers of BRC ripped off JSR in a cynical way – oh no, BRC is clearly a labour of love with a great deal of respect for JSR. The problem is, it copies JSR so closely, so precisely and so thoroughly that it results in BRC lacking its own identity and that’s a damn shame.

7/10

Gallery: Forbidden West (Part 3)

Now Playing: Shattered Space (DLC)

Shattered Space is the first but hopefully not the last content expansion for Starfield. The DLC begins with an excellent opening mission upon a mysterious space station which then leads to your arrival upon Var’uun’kai – homeworld of House Va’ruun.

House Va’ruun is a faction that you encounter (sort of) throughout the base game but one that isn’t explored to any great degree. It’s a religious cult as much as it is a faction, driven by a belief in a ‘Great Serpent’ – a celestial being that will one day consume the universe.

I say you ‘sort of’ encounter House Va’ruun in the base game because you kind of don’t – you mostly just fight against the Zealots – a rebel group that was cast out of House Va’ruun that wishes to continue a bloody crusade against the non-believers. You do, however, also meet Andreja, one of the Constellation companions, through whom you can learn a little more about the secretive House.

As someone who was interested in learning more about House Va’ruun, a DLC that focuses entirely upon that faction is a very welcome addition. Of course, if you’re someone who wasn’t very interested in House Va’ruun then you might not feel the same way.

You arrive on Var’uun’kai at the city of Dazra where a terrible event has occurred. More than half the city has been destroyed in some kind of failed experiment. That’s one of the interesting things about House Va’ruun – despite their strong religious beliefs, they’re also a very technologically advanced faction and they utilise that technology in an attempt to bring them closer to their God.

Only in this case, things didn’t exactly go to plan and most of the city has been lost, thousands are presumed dead and hostile ‘phantoms’ have begun to appear amidst the ruins. Your unexpected arrival may be seen as either the ‘Will of the Great Serpent’ or a fortunate coincidence but either way, the people of Dazra need your help.

Some, you’ll come to learn, are more devout than others. Some put all their stock in faith, but others are more, shall we say . . . practical. Not everyone likes the idea of an outsider helping Dazra despite the calamity, so in order to do so you need to join the kooky cult yourself by undertaking a ritual. You can take it seriously if you want, or just play along and see it as a means to an end.

I think the DLC does a great job of fleshing out House Va’ruun. They may all worship the Great Serpent but they’re not a monolith – House Va’ruun is made up of three Houses, but even these Houses are made up of various characters with conflicting views. As someone who really likes the universe of Starfield, I loved exploring Dazra and speaking to everyone, learning about them, their culture, history, customs and beliefs.

There’s a lot of optional dialogue that allows you to delve deeply into Va’ruun society – and there’s also some very interesting audio logs you can uncover towards the very end of the main quest that sheds yet more light on the origins of the faction. But it’s not all stale exposition – you’ll learn a lot more from the personal experiences shared by the people you help.

There’s eight main quests that should take about 6-8 hours to complete, depending upon your style of play. It’s comparable in length to the other faction quests within Starfield such as the UC Vanguard or the Crimson Fleet. It’s got some excellent quests and a very intense final quest that might just be the most action packed quest in the entire game – not to mention, the most challenging. I’m glad I upgraded all my weapons and equipment before starting this DLC!

Outside the main quest (through which you may also gain the opportunity to recruit two new crew characters) you also get eleven side quests. All of these are very good with the exception of one – you’re tasked with helping two scientists and although it’s interesting to speak with them and learn how they reconcile their scientific and religious beliefs, their actual quest is just a series of very dull fetch quests.

I get the intention – to get you out exploring around Dazra – but honestly, the game didn’t need it. Thankfully, the other ten side quests are all very good if not great. There’s a few in particular that should be regarded as among the best in the game. These aren’t typically single quests, but small quest chains, many of which have different possible outcomes based on what you do.

There’s one quest in particular in which I think a lot of people will miss out on one of its endings because it requires you to actually listen to dialogue and read notes / logs you find rather than just blindly follow the quest marker from A to B. There’s a whole part of it that doesn’t appear in your quest log, that isn’t marked, and it’s up to you to actually do the work and figure it out yourself.

It’s so easy to just mindlessly follow a marker, skipping all dialogue or not reading logs and this quest is a welcome change of pace. And whilst there is a lot of combat in the DLC, some of the best content has little to none – another welcome change.

The area immediately around Dazra has plenty of new, unique points of interest to explore. Some of these you’ll visit as part of the side or main quests, but others are just there for you to explore for fun – my favourite being a cave full of treasure hunting space bandits that feels like it’s straight out of Skyrim.

Speaking of Skyrim, this DLC is a return to what a lot of people were saying they wanted from Starfield – a more focused experience set within a single location with lots of handcrafted content to explore, all within easy reach. Well, that’s exactly what this DLC delivers, although I have my doubts it will win over the naysayers because it is, ultimately, still more Starfield, and if you didn’t like it before, I doubt you’ll like it now.

I think this return to a more ‘traditional’ Bethesda structure may also put some other fans of Starfield off. Because I think a lot of people like the fact that Starfield is structured differently to other Bethesda titles – that it’s not just ‘Skyrim in space’. And I’m one of them. I like travelling to different planets and new locations all across the Settled Systems. But you never leave Dazra (or the area immediately surrounding Dazra) at any point during this DLC.

That’s a real shame, because I was hoping for at least one space combat mission because I really like the space combat in Starfield. But no. There’s nothing. Once you park your ship, that’s it until you’re done and want to leave. There’s also – and this is an even bigger disappointment for me – no new ship parts. Seriously?

This DLC was an opportunity to give House Va’ruun their own unique ship designs and parts that the player could then get access to. As someone who loves Starfield ship building, I was kind of annoyed about the DLC lacking this. There’s also not a great deal of new weapons or equipment. There’s some, but it really needed a little more.

Starfield is a game that’s great at letting you focus on what aspects are important to you – quests, exploration, outposts or ships – and you can engage with all these elements as much or as little as you please. So when a piece of DLC doesn’t give equal measure to all these aspects, you’re undoubtedly going to see some disappointment.

As I said, if you don’t care about House Va’ruun or Starfield ‘lore’ you won’t get as much out of this DLC as I did. But if you’re also someone who couldn’t give a shit about ship building like I do, then the lack of new ship parts probably won’t even cross your mind. If you do, however, love ship or outpost building – if it’s the main thing you love and spend your time doing in the game – then there’s really nothing here for you.

I do think that’s why I’ve seen such a mixed bag of reviews for Shattered Space. It’s not a DLC that caters to all types of Starfield fans or how they prefer to play, and it’s not a DLC that’s going to change the minds of anyone who didn’t like the base game.

Visually, this DLC is gorgeous to look at, utilising a colour palette not seen anywhere else within the game. The recent updates to lighting in the base game also continue to impress here with – like the base game – some of the most detailed and impressive interiors you’ll see in any game.

The only other point to touch upon with regard to this DLC is the price – £25.99 – which I feel is a little steep. It took me about 18 hours to finish everything within the DLC and that’s a pretty decent amount of content – and good quality content – but I feel like a 19.99 release price might have been a little more on the mark. It’s a DLC I’d recommend any fan of Starfield to pick up – provided you don’t just play it to build ships or outposts, at least – but if you didn’t get it as part of the deluxe edition like I did, you might want to wait for a sale.

Overall, Shattered Space is a very good expansion to Starfield that’s just a little held back by a lack of content with regard to new items, outpost and ship parts and a total lack of space combat. But there are also some of the best quests in the game to be found here and a lot of cool lore for those of us into that sort of thing.

7/10