E3 2013: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Impressions

It’s a controversial choice, but Retro’s next game puts them back in the captains chair of the Donkey Kong Country franchise for another round and with the added power of the Wii U they’re able to pull off some great looking stuff.

Tropical Freeze sees DK’s island taken over by Vikings, all of which are creatures from the arctic. Seals, walruses and penguins are now DKs enemies as he attempts to get them off his island.

The game plays similarly to Returns on the Wii, Nintendo were promoting or at least trying to push people to play the game on the Wii Remote and Nunchuck combo which brings back the (controversial) waggle roll and smashing controls. However if you play it on the GamePad, the controls return to a similar set up to the 3DS version. The game is also entirely playable Off-TV which looks amazing on the GamePad’s screen.

While still a 2D platformer Retro has made the world seem bigger and more complex by adjusting the camera to go move freely in a three dimensional space or even sections going from the front of the screen to the back. The mine cart levels especially gain a lot from this dynamic camera. No longer do you have to judge jumps on one angle but multiple.

The world is incredibly detailed and there’s a lot going on, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong too look fantastic and alive with some great fur details too. Dixie Kong is said to be in the game however she wasn’t playable at E3. Two player co-operative play returns just like in the first as well.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze looks amazing in HD and plays great too. I can’t wait to play it again when its released later this year in November.