Donkey Kong ReviewDonkey Kong Jr is a sequel to the original Donkey Kong. Likebefore, there were arcade versions of the game, but there was also a port forthe NES. And here it is. Having never played this game before, I don't knowmuch about it. So I'll play it now and we'll see what it has to offer. So getyour....um....lets just jump in, shall we?
So the story is that you are Donkey Kong Jr, and you must save your father Donkey Kong from....Mario? He was refereed to as "Jumpman" in the first game, so it's interesting that they call him Mario in this game. But he's normally the good guy. Why would he trap Donkey Kong like that? So in this game, Mario is "evil"? What a twist. What next, Browser doing charity work? So you need to save Donkey Kong from Mario as he has caged him up. So you must go through four levels (which is one more than the last game) to save him. How do you do this? Simple, you climb up vines and poles that are conveniently placed there. It's funny how villains always seem to place something convenient when they want to keep the hero away. You can climb up just one vine or pole, or you can grab a second one to go up faster. Just grabing one vine or pole makes you go down faster.
But be careful, there are blue and red crocodiles trying to nom nom (^^) you up. They can travel up and down poles and vines as well. So you must maneuver so they don't get you. You can also get fruit by touching it, which falls down and gives you some points. There are Bananas, which seems reasonable, and apples. No other fruit? No pears or grapes or Cherries? *shrugs* If you let fruit hit an enemy, then it gets killed. Also, this guy is just a little pathetic. Just like in the first game, if you fall too high, you die. Even if the distance seems just right. He also dies if enemies touch him, or if an egg touches him. An egg.....really? That counts as death? What happens? Is he lactose intolerant?
Just get to the vine with the shield thing with a key on and you have completed the level. The difficulty in levels gets much harder as you go across them. Much harder than Donkey Kong. The second level is murder, and is probably the hardest level there. There are birds, Sparks (accrual name) and other Sparks with different colours. Jumping over an enemy gives you some points, which is nice. You get a different type of jingle when you complete a different level. That's the only music you really get in the game. The background music is very unremembered and boring. But the sound effects are good just like the first game.
There are two types of game play. Game A and Game B. Game A is your basic gameplay. Nothing new here. Game B is basically increased difficulty. You can get this if you complete the game once anyway, but this can be good if you want to start the game harder than normal. There are some handy things that only appear in the second level, and I felt they could have used it again in the third level, or at least in Game B mode, for added difficulty. The last level is not all that bad, and requires quick thinking in order to complete it. You have to push all the keys into the slots to free Donkey Kong and defeat that evil Mario. Still sounds odd saying that. The difficulty of it has the rare position that makes it seem impossible to complete the level, but at the same time it seems really easy to complete. So if your good at Donkey Kong, you'll be good at this.
Overall, I give this game a 8.8/10 The graphics might be simple, and the music seems limited, but of what is there is good for a game like this. The background music might have been better as it seems shrouded with all the sound effects that are being produced. The game play itself is simple but effective. Made a little more complex than the first one, I would play this game over Donkey Kong any day, not that the first one was bad or anything. So If you liked Donkey Kong, this is a must play. If you haven't played Donkey Kong yet, I would advise that you play the first one first before you play this one. Enjoy!
Graphics
7 Sound
7 Addictive
8 Depth
6 Story
4 Difficulty
9