| E3 2004 Coverage > Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat |
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| Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat |
DK kicked some Donkey Kong butt this year at E3 with several large and entertaining premiers of games to come. Alongside the US release of "Donkey Konga" and the GBA's "DK King of Swing", Donkey Kong begins his next adventure with "Jungle Beat". On the first day of E3, the Jungle Beat booth remained barren while the spotlight was stolen by the nearby Pikmin 2, Geist, Metroid, and other hit titles. However, as time went on the audience grew, and most everyone walked away with smiling faces (and might I add, some rather painful palms). Jungle Beat utilizes the new bongo controller set to be released with Donkey Konga in an innovative way by controlling the action as you traverse a side-scrolling platforming world similar to the Donkey Kong Country series. However simplistic in concept it may be, Jungle Beat provides the player with up-beat, fast-paced, and highly addictive gameplay.
The basic controls of the game were fairly easy to pick up on, and with a bit more time invested some more advanced moves were discovered. The basic layout of the controller included a right drum, a left drum, a sound sensor for clapping (or, as preferred by some, hitting the side of the drum), and a start/select button. The start/select button was only used for pressing start at the very beginning of the game, and pausing/un-pausing the game. The controls were as follows:
| Action | Controller Input |
| Walk/Run Right | Tap right drum (the tempo at which the drum is hit determines DK's speed) |
| Walk/Run Left | Tap left drum (the tempo at which the drum is hit determines DK's speed) |
| Jump | Hit both drums at once. |
| Punch** / Clap/Dodge* / Pound Chest / Smash Barrels | Clap / hit side of drums |
| Pound Ground* | Jump and clap in the air |
| Flip | Run in one direction, then quickly hit opposite drum and then original drum (I.e. RRRRRRRRRRR-LR) |
| Wall Jump* | Jump towards wall, hit drum opposite in direction as you touch the wall, repeat in succession |
| Spin* | In certain areas of gameplay, running is replaced by spinning on an object |
| Fly* | Tapping right will send you up-right, left will send you up-left, hitting nothing will allow you to slowly drift down |
| Navigate Menus | Tap left and right to scroll through items, clap to select an item |
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*Only at specific times in gameplay ** In battles against mini-bosses and bosses, tapping the right drum throws a right punch, left drum a left punch |
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I am sure there are plenty of other moves either not in the demo or not discovered by myself while playing.
Gameplay begins in a side-scrolling country environment rich in earthy greens and umbers with flecks of yellow and orange from an approaching sunset. A few trees dot the landscape, and mountains can be seen in the far distance. DK waits for you as a gentle yet prominent jungle rhythm plays in the background. The environment is simple, flat and lacking enemies, with only a few bunches of bananas lingering in the air. As you begin your journey, obstacles increase as ledges and pits appear. The camera gradually zooms in closer to the action and the volume of the drums in the background thickens. When the view closes in as much as humanly possible, you approach a giant, leafy pillar, cascading into the sky, with one giant barrel hanging from it. As you use DK's jumping and smashing abilities the screen explodes into - a main menu. The gameplay experienced was an artful and interactive introduction to the game, allowing the player not only to be more involved from the start, but to explore this new controller that is to be used.
The main menu utilizes the same color scheme as before. It appears to be a close-up of some dimly lit tree bark in the mist, with a triangle of three icons shining bright within their own separate spotlight. The music now is unmistakable, and what was once a faint jungle beat is now a chorus of rhythmic drums and wildlife singing in harmony. There are now three choices for the player, navigable by tapping the right or left drums - Mountain, Jungle, and a third level that for the life of me I cannot remember the name of (we will call it Forest). As you decide which path to embark on, you must clap excitedly to select the level. As you clap, the spotlight shines brighter and the entire jungle cheers with you. Suddenly, voila! You are in a new world, ready to begin the real journey, full of obstacles, enemies, and excitement.
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| Between a rock and a hard place. |
Mountain, the lengthiest of the three levels, earns its name as it begins high upon an icy, snow capped mountain top, with DK strapped to the back of a wild mountain bull. This level is all about speed, and you will definitely need it as you begin riding and plummeting down a steep slope to the right, collecting what items you can as you pick up momentum. The level intrinsically challenges you to tap that drum as fast as humanly possible and pick up the fastest attainable speed as the level whirrs by. Just when you think riding fast is a fun option to have, you realize that it becomes a matter of survival when an angry fish-like creature about ten times the size of your bull comes chasing after you. Fierce and powerful, the uprising of snow from the beast barely misses you as you try not to stumble over any ditches or lumps in the road. You begin to learn that coordination is everything, and without a nicely timed slap on both drums to jump in between the mad beating of the right drum, you will not be able to make it to the end. You know that just one misstep will cost you your life, and that is what keeps you running, awkwardly figuring out the rhythm required as you go. Just as you think your pace is set, and you have the hang of things, yet another obstacle appears. Even bigger than the enemy looms a giant, and unfortunately SLOW, snowball rolling lazily in front of you. The incline has lessened dramatically, however now you must artfully gauge your speed by toggling between right and left drums to maneuver between the two things that could crush you in an instant. Finally, the end of the section nears, and a victorious final blow on the two drums rockets you and your mighty "steed" to safety. You are now ready to begin the rest of the level.
You now find yourself in the middle of a sweltering, dense jungle, thick with enemies and obstacles. A variety of baddies swamp you as you fight your way through; jumping, smashing barrels, and pounding your chest with coordinated smashes of the drums, which sends out a sonic wave and busts everything around you. The main enemies through the levels are small, vicious creatures that look like a cross between a moogle and a cheetah. They viciously latch on to you and slow you down as you try to make your way through the jungle. Even more pivotal than the small enemies, however, are the environmental challenges you face. You must smash openings in the jagged rocks and pound madly to the right to roll at a high enough velocity to make it through a tunnel. You must alternate between the right and left drums successfully to wall jump through crevices and begin your travel upwards.
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| Spinning around on a dandelion. |
After finishing successions of wall jumps, the forest grows thicker and you must pound your chest to call tiny blue versions of big bird to pick you up and whisk you away into the sky. A tap on the right drum makes the bird fly up and right, a tap on the left sends you up and left, and not tapping either drum will let you slowly drift downwards. As you squeeze between rocks and spikes, it is sometimes necessary to alternate between drums and fly straight upwards, or hit both, abandon your bird and jump onto a different bird nearby. Beware, though! If the bird as much as scrapes a corner, he will explode in a burst of blue feathers and you will be sent spiraling to the ground. After clearing the flight, you must abandon the meticulous nature of the previous screen and readopt the "faster is better" theory as you reach a thicket of dandelions and flowers. The dandelions act as a springboard. DK can jump on to the base of the stem, and with a rapid tap in the correct direction, DK will spin faster and faster towards the tip of the weed and eventually be flung into the sky to catch the next ride up from his fellow primates in small floating bushes. A quick clap from DK will signal a monkey to grab on and throw you further upwards. Small clusters of pink and purple flowers are abound, and if DK happens to fly through them, the flowers explode like confetti and petals help replenish DK's depleted life.
In the middle of the level you come to a platform with an angry armadillo pacing impatiently back and forth. You approach the beast and expect to pound him into the ground like the rest of the enemies. As soon as you come close enough, however, you find yourself in a classic black screen with DK intently staring above him, watching as the giant, shiny armor of the armadillo comes spinning down at him. The object here is to sucker punch the armadillo as many times as you can, knocking him back up into the air with each successful hit. With each punch (you may use either fist), the armadillo's falling speed increases and it doesn't get knocked quite as far up in the air (very reminiscent of the energy-ball portion of the Ganondorf battle in Ocarina of Time). When you feel you can't take it anymore you finish the battle with a blast of both drums, blowing the armadillo off into the distance. Although you may deliver the deathblow at any time, it is advantageous to go as long as you can. Not only can you earn significantly more points that way, you can also earn extra lives and other goodies if you do really well. If you fail during the punching session and let the armadillo drop, however, you will find yourself back at the platform, the armadillo alive and well, and you must do it all over again. After a few more screens of obstacles, you find yourself at the boss of the level.
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| I'm you, DK. I'm your shadow. |
It is now night-time, and DK is walking down a path high in the jungle canopy with a slew of maniacal monkeys watching as they hold torches that light your way. In front of you appears an ape comparable in size to DK, with thick, dark grey fur and glowing red eyes (maybe a shadow DK?). Your abilities are matched, and you begin the battle. A long, gnarly stem with masses of thorns borders the screen, which serves as the life bar for the boss. You may punch left and right all you want, but this is incredibly inefficient and will do little damage to your foe. What you can do is parry a blow from the enemy by clapping as he throws a punch at you. This will cause him to miss contact, spin around, and become confused. Here is your chance! Until the ape regains his composure, you have unlimited shots at the beast. The missed shot at you plays out in slow motion, and as soon as the cinema returns to normal speed, it is your turn to pound the drum as fast as to can to do some significant damage. A few rounds like this and victory is yours! After a successful battle, DK gets a nice camera shot of his victory, and the demo restarts. Congratulations!
The other two levels, Jungle and Forest, are simply subsets of Mountain. Jungle is the entire sequence without the initial race down the mountain, and Forest is just the boss battle without the rest of the level. It was worth it to play through Forest, as you go into the battle without any bananas (which act as health) in case you take a hit.
Overall, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat was a fantastic demo, and I only hope that the entire game provides as much entertainment as the first level did. The graphics are simple and classic with stunning, vibrant colors, and the barely orchestrated percussive beat of the soundtrack provides an excellent aide to engage the player in the entire primitive feel of the game. One piece of criticism, however, is that gameplay was a little bit on the easy side. Minus a few areas, anyone could get through the game the first time through without too much trouble. I hope Jungle Beat either ends up being very long and varied in obstacles and layout to provide a little better of a replay value, or they will up the difficulty of individual elements of the game to provide a lengthier and less linear first time through. With that aside, Jungle Beat is a work of art and I can't wait for it to hit store shelves.