Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

DK has starred in some phenomenal 2D platformers over the years and his latest adventure is now available for Switch. So, quit monkeying around and let's head to the jungle and hang out with the Kongs.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is a game built as a love letter for the retro crowd, but some sensibilities could stand to be updated.

King of the frozen jungle.

The DK gang is back for a new (sort of) adventure on the Nintendo Switch. Snowmads have smashed DK's birthday party and attempted to freeze his island and take it away from him. DK is joined by Diddy, Dixie, and Cranky in the newest installment of the classic Donkey Kong Country Franchise. Explosive barrels, swinging from vines, bananas, and loads of new gameplay elements will charm old fans and show newer players just why DKC is one of the greatest platforming franchises of all time.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is a great platformer full of tense sequences and tough levels. Boss battles are a huge highlight, and it’s packed with hard-to-find secrets and collectibles. Multiplayer could use some improvement, but I found myself laughing whenever my teammate and I wiped out on some of these unforgiving setups. But a rewarding sense of accomplishment stuck with me each time I overcame a new obstacle, and that feeling kept me going all the way to the end.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze could have been a straight port of the Wii original, but Retro Studios took the winning formula and expertly built upon it. The sheer challenge, puzzle pieces, K-O-N-G letters, and hidden exits all combine to create an addictive and highly replayable side-scroller that is absolutely worth attention. Wii U owners take note, that this isn't a game you'll want to miss.

It hit me last night.  As I was playing a bit more Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze before penning my review I realized just how maddening this game can be.  I lifted my GamePad up in the air after yet another untimely death and I almost threw it across the room.  It was then that I just closed my eyes and took a deep breath, realized it was an expensive controller, and then I tried the level again.  It’s this love/hate relationship that makes Tropical Freeze such a rewarding experience and after spending the last 5 days with it I am here to tell you all about it.

Some have called this the best Donkey Kong game ever made, but does it live up to the hype? Here is our review!

Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze is a master class in the art form of 2D platformers, but it's way too difficult for its own good and this makes the inherent flaws and limitations of the genre all the more obvious. Tropical Freeze is probably the best side-scrolling platformer we'll ever see from a technical standpoint. Now it's time for Nintendo to stop making them for a while and actually do something new.

Donkey Kong Land represents the best of the Game Boy. Companies should strive for a console experience that's still good on the go, even with limitations. Getting a great game that's on par with its home console on handheld devices is something developers are still struggling with today, which is what makes Nintendo's achievements with this port all the more impressive. Even Donkey Kong Land makes light of that and has great success, as the thesis of making the gameplay shine works to great e...

And then there's me. I've played Nintendo games all my life, and while I enjoyed DKC Tropical Freeze, I can't help feeling saddened by it at the same time. DKC is becoming another Nintendo series where quality grows and importance shrinks with each faithful new instalment. Not all Nintendo's franchises have fallen into this pattern, but games like Tropical Freeze make me wonder whether they all eventually will, turning up to be damned by praise that appears fainter with every passing chapter.

I must be the odd one of the Donkey Kong fan base, while many praised Donkey Kong Country Returns in 2010 on the Wii I found I couldn’t have cared less about it as I didn’t really enjoy it. In fact it has been 15 years since I last really enjoyed a Donkey Kong game and that was Donkey Kong 64. But even with that I still felt compelled to give the ape another shot and I am glad I did as Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze recaptures the magic of the older games while adding to it to create one of the best 2D platformers in a long time.