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Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat Review - Gamecube

it's really quite surprising how well a platformer can be controlled by what basically amounts to three inputs. Props to Nintendo, for making a game so simple, accessible, and damn fun to play. Your PS2 buddies may have a guitar, but Nintendo's bongos were here first. First, I say.

Gameplay

There's the left drum, the right drum and the microphone for claps (or taps on the side of the bongos). You move left or right by drumming the appropriate side. You jump by hitting the other drum after you've built up speed. Clapping causes your onscreen persona to do the same, which gathers bananas or "beats", as the game calls them" - clapping rewards you with more beats than if you just ran into them.

Basically, that's it. There are a few secret moves (or, at least, those which aren't used in the game other than to unlock secrets), such as a backflip followed by a slam into the ground, but these are tricky to pull off and, really, unnecessary. Kong has supernatural strength, somehow managing to maintain a position on a wall (against gravity, too) long enough for you to clap and grab bananas, which comes in handy in your frenzied jumping. There are also environmental obstacles, like big flowers, mushrooms and blobs of goo that help you keep moving.

Basically, the aim of the game is collect these beats/bananas, which play several roles. They're considered points, but are also health, so you want to amass as many as you can. In each world - there are 13 compulsory ones to reach the end, but you can unlock a few more after the credit's have finished rolling - there are two stages, and a boss fight. When fighting the boss, the total number of beats you've collected in the previous stages is combined to form your health.

So, to collect your beats you need to pick up the bananas littered across the levels and suspended in the air. You'll get more beats if you clap to pick them up, as well as if you get a combo going (by not touching the ground). The levels have been cleverly designed to allow you to wall jump, bounce, slide and clap your way through in a big combo, though only true pros would be able to pull of the big chains; I can't claim to be that good.

At the end of a world, your beats are donated to the banana god/tree, and the Earth is a better place. By gathering over 400 or 500 (my memory eludes me) beats you get a bronze crest, over 600 nabs you a silver crest, and if you can hold on to over 800 you'll get the prized gold crest. Each crest is equal in value - to unlock new worlds and levels you need certain amounts of crests, the number of which are never out of reach.

Pretty soon, some fatal flaws become apparent. First of ... (continued next page)