In Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast, Donkey Kong and his pals have gotten their mitts on some high-powered Barrel Jets, incredible engines that boost when struck by a pilot. By beating on the in-game DK Bongos controller, players use the Wii Remote and Nunchuck attachment to make drumming motions to increase speed and then they can make their character swoop up, bank side to side and launch attacks on rivals.
Players challenge the Kremlings or up to three pals on five worlds, each with their own 3D aerial maps filled with countless obstacles and powerup items.
System: Wii
Genre: Racing
Release dates: October 8th 2007 (USA), January 25th 2008 (EURO), February 7th 2008 (AUS)
Players: 1-4
Developer: Paon Corporation
Publisher: Nintendo
Origin: Japan
How to progress through the game:
* Cranky’s Flight School: Learn how to play from Cranky Kong himself.
* Grand Prix: Race solo in 12 different cups across a variety of courses and difficulty levels.
* Time Trial: Pick the course and try to set a new record. Players can even save their best times in the form of ghost data.
* Practice: Race across any track without the pressure of time limits or other racers.
* Candy’s Challenges: Help out Candy Kong by taking on 32 unique challenges, such as grabbing 1,000 bananas, beating a course in a certain time or staying in first place wire-to-wire.
* Multiplayer: Players take on up to three friends in a high-flying free-for-all as they bash, smash and rocket their way to victory. Multiplayer is not a separate mode; players can simply choose to play the other modes with additional people.
Special powers/weapons/moves/features:
* Wild Moves: Each course is littered with bananas. If players grab 50 of them, they can perform a Wild Move by pushing down on the control stick and then releasing it. Wild Moves propel racers forward at an insane rate of speed for a short period of time – they also allow them to run over enemies, other racers and most obstacles. Skilled players can extend the lives of their Wild Moves by hitting objects to create combos.
* Style Barrels: If players fly into a red Style Barrel, it will fire them high over the course. While in flight, an animation of the Wii Remote will appear on-screen and ask players to shake it in a certain direction. Each time players do so successfully, the rider will pose and get showered with bananas!
* Items: There are 15 crazy items that players can use – everything from offensive weapons like Backward Barrels and Pineapple Launchers to helpful power-ups like Banana Fairies and Crystal Coconuts. Using items effectively can turn the tide of a race.
Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast racing gameplay:
So what are Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast’s main features?
* Donkey Kong is Back! One of Nintendo’s most popular characters, Donkey Kong, is back with all of his friends… and a few enemies as well. Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, King K. Rool and the whole gang appear as playable characters in this fast-paced racing adventure.
* Shake, Rattle, and Roll! Simple Wii controls make racing a snap. Shake the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to accelerate, then shake one or the other to turn. Press a single button or shake the controller to jump, attack or use items.
* Rocket to Victory! Target enemies with a Pineapple Cannon, skillfully chain together Wild Moves or use the Wii Remote to blast out of a Style Barrel. Multiple game-play modes, 16 awesome courses and a rollicking four-player multiplayer game will keep players coming back for more.
* Characters: Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, Lanky Kong, Tiny Kong, Funky Kong, Wrinkly Kong, Cranky Kong, Kritter, Kopter, Klump, King K. Rool, Kludge, Kalypso, Kip and Kass.
Watch some Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast multiplayer gameplay footage.
As a conclusion let’s rate this game on its fun-basis.
FUN FACTOR – 4.0
Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast began life as a GameCube game called DK Bongo Blast and clearly got a simple port to the Wii. This isn’t Rare’s cancelled Donkey Kong Racing game either, it’s a new game made by Paon. For an arcade-style racer it moves tediously slow and the controls are so unresponsive that you often wonder what the point is in moving at all, especially when you don’t even have to steer corners and will only find yourself avoiding obstacles all the time. Cranky’s Flight School attempts to teach you the basics of how to speed up, dodge obstacles, perform special moves and attacks. But then the game modes themselves are so mundane, you’ll most likely end up putting down your controller after playing it a few times. The Donkey Kong license can’t save this one. Don’t buy this, not even on the cheap, the bad controls really do ruin the game.
Graphics – 5.0
It doesn’t even look like a Wii launch game, but rather a GameCube launch game. The game’s character models and backdrops look like the creators attempted to recreate favorite scenes from past Donkey Kong platformers, but they end up being designed uninspired and dull.
Audio – 5.0
The soundtrack is a happy mix of tunes. Nothing that stands out, it’s just okay, but a good attempt at creating a party-game atmosphere in multiplayer (even if it fails). Oh and the sound effects and Donkey Kong’s voice acting is truly terrible, and I watched the 90’s CGI DK cartoon with him singing, so I know what terrible is.
Ingenuity – 3.0
The mismatched Wii controls make the gameplay slow and the motions are annoying to perform. Worst of all is the total lack of support for the GameCube Bongos controller, which would’ve been fun, but it’s not included.
Replay Value – 4.0
Don’t get this for the single player as the imbalanced computer players will always catch up to you out of nowhere. You might want to try this if you’re desperate to play multiplayer with a friend, but even so there’s not much meat on these dry bones of a game. Instead try out racing games that were developed by Rare called Diddy Kong Racing DS and Diddy Kong Pilot (renamed Banjo-Pilot on DS), or maybe download some Mario Kart titles from the Wii Shop, but probably your best bet is waiting for the Nintendo developed Mario Kart Wii.