Annoying difficulty and frustrating puzzles don't affect this platformer's addicting charm.
The game starts out like the arcade game. You got that spooky theme music, you got Donkey Kong climbing up a ladder with the lovely Pauline, and you got that steamy Mario (Or Jumpman) tailing the monkey. The first four levels are from the arcade game and you go through them like a bullet train. But just when you think it's all over, (Pauline's saved, Donkey Kong dead, and there's a heart between Mario and Pauline) Donkey Kong gets up, pounds on the ground, (Causing the couple to fall and heart to break in two), and runs off with Pauline, and Mario running after him. Then, they travel to a bunch of places, including a city, a forest, a ship, a jungle, a desert/pyramid, an airplane, an iceberg, a barren valley, and the excruciating tower. Tallying up to 101 stages, it will take you a long time to finally defeat the big monkey (And Donkey Kong Jr. who also makes an appearance around the 4th world).
There are plenty of great things about Donkey Kong, but I think the most impressive one is the outstanding graphics. The game looks fanatasic, excluding the visuals, the level design is significant and downright awesome, and the background of each level goes great with the stage's setting. The gameplay is amazing, too. In the first four levels, the goal is to get to the monkey at the top of the stage. After those, the game gets more complicated. You then have to find a key and carry it to the door. When you drop the key, you have about 10-15 seconds to get it back before it disappears and returns to the place you found it. In some cases, getting the key back is easy. In other cases it's not. Every fourth stage, you encounter Donkey Kong. The goal is to get to him. The last stage is your typical boss fight. In this case, Donkey Kong throws barrels or other items in random places. Your job is to pick up the objects and throw them at him three times. After this he runs off. You will be scored based on the time you have left when you get to the door, get to Donkey Kong, or beat him. This feature adds to the addictiveness, and it's always fun to achieve a new high score. The music is fun to listen to, and goes great with the setting of each stage. There are some funny moments, especially when you die. You can fall of a building at a certain height, get flattened by something, die from an enemy, or get beat up by Donkey Kong.
There are some flaws though. Sometimes the game gets too hard for some people to handle, either because the puzzles are confusing, or the strategies needed to complete the game are too overwhelming. However, that annoying difficulty and frustrating puzzles don't affect this platformer's addicting charm. br />
Gameplay: 9.5/10
Graphics: 9/10
Story: 8/10
Sound and Music: 9/10
Replay Value: 10/10
Fun: 9.5/10
Overall: 9.0/10
+ Outstanding controls
+ Bouncy music will have you humming along;
+ Very sharp graphics;
+ Tons of levels keeps you going for hours;
+ Highly addictive;
+ Some funny moments, especially when you die.
- It's somewhat likely you'll be repeating the same level constantly due to it's difficulty;
- Puzzles are frustrating and sometimes time consuming.
Final Word: Did I also mention this game could one day be rare to find? That's right. Have fun!