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Nintendo has regularly infused the iconic franchise featuring the acrobatic plumber hero Super Mario with exciting projects. But Donkey Kong? When he's not making himself comfortable as a guest in the cockpit of a go-kart, the lovable heavyweight has recently had to make do with revamped remakes of past adventures. But that's over now!
With Donkey Kong Bananza, Nintendo is finally giving the quirky ape a full-fledged and well-deserved facelift that packs a punch.
Colorful underground
So you slip into DK's skin to work your way deeper underground through numerous and thematically diverse layers of earth. At least you're greeted by expansive sandbox playgrounds with ever-changing, creative, and colorful panoramas that aren't short on unusually impressive visuals right up to the end.No surface is safe when DK unpacks his fists. You reliably hit, jump, thump, and plunge your way through almost any terrain . And it's incredibly fun!
Impressive riots
There are virtually no limits to your rampaging fun; beyond a rudimentary framework, pretty much everything in the expansive levels can be destroyed in one way or another. Of course, you don't just cause random chaos. True to the motto "the end justifies the means," you help the inhabitants of the various layers of the Earth with their problems, which, of course, are always the work of the nasty Void Company. You refill dried-up lagoons with water, rid forests of toxic sludge, or help a sorbet-loving zebra village. Your main objectives are reliably marked; if you ever lose track, a quick glance at the beautifully implemented, freely rotatable 3D map.You will meet colorful characters, like zebras.
Oh, Banana!
While you're certainly free to stubbornly follow the main story, it's much more likely that you'll repeatedly get lost in the expansive levels, which vie for your attention with countless treasures the valuable Golden Bananas, which are DK's equivalent of Mario's Starbursts. Five of them provide you with a skill point, which you can invest in various upgraded skills and attribute improvements.But the valuable bananas are just as often earned through bite-sized challenges. These can be set up as skill tests and puzzles à la Breath of the Wild , or even time-pressured battles. Perhaps you'll also try hide-and-seek and quizzes with villagers, or feed greedy plants gold.
On your way you will repeatedly stumble upon challenges and treasures like this giant fossil.
Boredom? None!
Boredom is thankfully a foreign word in Bananza but the world around you also invites you to experiment with creative terrain. For example, with the two-colored opposite gel, which transfers substance removed from one block to another, thus enabling fun puzzles.Bananza introduces you to new mechanics in an exemplary manner and successfully tests your skills. It's just a shame that the title's consistently low difficulty level gets in the way here and there. While the boss fights cleverly incorporate maneuvers you've learned, the actual minions give up the ghost after just a few punches.
The boss fights are exciting, but Donkey Kong Bananza never becomes truly challenging.
