Review: "Donkey Kong: Country Returns 3D" (2013) "Swings Into Handheld AGAIN"

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By: Gabriel Roderick

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I was very excited to see that Donkey Kong was getting a reboot to the Nintendo 3ds. And instead of making a whole new game, they decided to take probably one of the best Donkey Kong's of all time; Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii.\



It was a fantastic game, that added a new twist to the series. More complex levels and added even more difficulty to the side scroller that we know and love.



This port over to the 3DS does just that and more for the series. It sure brings the difficulty level to a whole new level and I found myself spending hours on just one or two of the levels. Nintendo tries to level with you (made a pun) on this one by giving you the two player aspect. Yes this game is two player co-op for two friends in veracity and game.



The game starts off with a bang, and I mean BANG. I nice volcano explosion to supplement some great cut scenes and beginning to this game. But before you can even get to that point you must choose, new mode or original mode. Original mode is the exact same thing as the Wii version ported over nothing new or fancy about it. While new mode is supposedly graphically better and more challenging.


Yes it is definitely more challenging but graphically it is a HUGE step down from the Wii version. There is so much going on in the game the framerate is the one aspect Nintendo didn't really put the time into. Don't get me wrong this is a wonderful game even with a this issue. The point of the game is you and Diddy Kong teaming up again to kick some major but and get some bananas. Which adds some fun using Diddy Kong seeing as he helps you glide a bit with his jetpack. This helps with A LOT with the amount of challenges of this game.

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The biggest probably being collecting everything. There is so much to acquire such as puzzle pieces, the most bananas, and of course the letters for the name "Kong". Lots of them SEEM impossible but if you have the ability to go back, DO SO.



The controls were nicely ported over. You basically only use "X" to smash things and sometimes to "A" to roll and take things down. This simplifies things to a point and makes it easier to get past most levels.


Our Honest View gives Donkey Kong: Country Returns 3D, 8.2/10. This is a great port from the original Wii version. Granted it's plagued by graphics and difficulty, so much more is put into this game making it a fantastic and long game.


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Replay Value: Moderately High

Like Donkey Kong?
Similar Games:

• Donkey Kong Country
• Donkey Kong 64
• Donkey Kong Country Returns

 

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Review: "Fire Emblem: Awakening" (2013) "Awaken's The Mouring Side Of Me".

 

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The Fire Emblem series has been running since 1990. Fire Emblem Awakening coming just in time to give people something to play, is going to go down as one of the greatest 3ds game to come out. First I have to say that strategy games are not my forte. 

Fire Emblem is a special kind of strategy game though! For one if your characters die usually they're gone forever and you're left mourning them! But in Awakening you have the option to play a casual mode so you can bring back fallen comrades after they're defeated and you beat the stage row. 

After several hours of blazing in and getting all my units destroyed, missing opportunities to heal and putting Pegasus units in rang of archers. Defeat is the best teacher. Picking the right units, equipping the correct weapons, all of this taught me to slow my roll, FE rewards the patient. 

Oh boy does it, pulling off a massive critical hit on a foe is rewarding in sound and sight.

Speaking of sound and sight, the visuals of this game are outstanding being some of the best on the 3ds, not only for the cut scenes but also the general game. 

The world map and battle grid sprites have the feel and look of Final Fantasy Tactics. The soundtrack gives you that old school jrpg feel that I oh so miss these days in games.

After the beautiful Opening cut scene, you create your unit and the story begins. Your character wakes up in a field with amnesia (what a twist) and meets Chrom, the protagonist of the story and the prince of Ylisse and his army “The Shepherds”. 

After their faithful meeting you join The Shepherds ranks and set out to stop the on coming war with Ylisse neighboring country Plegian. Little do they know that this is just going to open up an Earth Worm Jim sized can of worms. Intelligent Systems and Red Entertainment did a great job with the story, keeping me interested every step of the way.

Nintendo, Red Entertainment and Intelligent games out did themselves with all the upgrades they made off and on the battlefield. FE boast 46 class some being Advanced classes that you can only become by using the Master Seal a new add on along with the second seal which lets you change classes at any time. FE is the second game that receives DLC on the 3ds. 

 

**BORROWED FROM NINTENDO**

With 2 classes released, Nintendo is going to be releasing more classes in the future. The combat is your traditional rock, paper, scissor concept. A new battle upgrade comes in the ways of pairing up. This allows you to pair 2 units together to give the main unit bonus stats, this also leads to your characters have better relationships on and off the field giving the second unit a chance to attack or block incoming damage. 

Pair up really comes in handy when facing strong foes, using it wisely will say your healing if you pair it up with a character high defense, or pairing up a slow storming unit with a Pegasus knight to more him across the field making it something your going to use often.

 Off the battle field your characters become closer and form relationships and eventually become married and have children.

This is one of the charms of FE, once you think you found everything you come across something new and interesting. 

 Using the Outer Realm to play DLC maps to recruit new units is something that will for sure keep people with their 3ds’s in hand for awhile. FE uses street pass in a very interesting way, when you pay someone one the streets, their army shows up on your world map and yours on theirs, an excellent concept. 

This is definitely a game you buy with eShop cards, with extra maps and battles this game is truly infinite you can go on and on mastering your craft. 

Our Honest View gives Fire Emblem Awakening 5 out of 5.  This is reason I bought a 3DS XL and I don’t regret it. Everything from the stunning visuals, beautiful sound track, strong story, cool street pass function, DLC, Double Duels and a hell of a lot more Fire Emblem is great point blank.

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Replay Value: Infinite

By: Nevill Adeyeye