I was a little concerned when I saw the initial track listing for this game last year. It’s hard to imagine how songs like ‘Loco-Motion’ and ‘I Think I Love You’ would fit in with this thematic. Thankfully the audio engineers hired respectable bands to perform covers that fit in with the bongo theme. So that means you’ll get respectable covers of ‘All the Small Things,’ ‘On the Road Again,’ ‘Rock Lobster’ and ‘Louie Louie.’ All told there are more than 30 tracks available for your perusal, and while that seems like a lot on paper it’s actually a rather paltry amount. In addition to the licensed music the game features remixed versions of popular Nintendo theme songs that were altered to fit in with the theme of the game. Of course there’s a huge downside to this as well. Most of the songs are geared towards younger audiences and only a handful will appeal to hardcore gamers. After some time you’ll find yourself narrowing your play list down to about five or six songs while ignoring the rest entirely.
When playing the game I never felt like the designers were able to grasp the concept of bongos. Being that I lived in Ashland, Ore for three years I was able to experience the miracle of bongos first hand. As any good hippie can attest, a bongo helps to keep the rhythm and set the pace much like a bass drum. In DK the bongos run the gamut from the chorus line, to the melody to the rhythm. What made Samba De Amigo so addictive was that it really felt like you were playing maracas in a band. In DK you never quite feel like a bongo player in a conga band. At times you’re the main attraction but the effects are so quiet and subdued that your ears will pick up on the melody of the song instead of the sounds that you’re making.
The look of the game is amazing, if only because it brings back so many memories of 1999. Namco decided to go for that pre-rendered look for its characters that was found in the Donkey Kong franchise, but decided that decent animation was too much and rid the game of it. What you have is some sub par character models that feature close to 10 frames of animation. Calling it embarrassing might be understating just how horrible the characters in the game look. Sadly the rest of the interface looks just as bad; although the notes are visible the backgrounds are very bland and generic. Actually they’re just still images that pan along as the player progresses in the song.
In terms of audio the game merely gets the job done; nothing more, nothing less. Similar games such as Sony’s
Amplitude went the extra mile by including support for Dolby Pro Logic II. Apparently Nintendo was content with delivering the music to two channels instead of immersing the gamer in the sound. What you get is a decent audio experience that should have really been more. Everything sounds good but the music lacks that extra oomph to get your body into the action. Probably the best audio comes from the actual bongos themselves. While they’re not real bongos (they have a sort of rubber top to them and are constructed of plastic) they emit a satisfying sound when hit.
To add some more variety to the game Nintendo included some mini-games that can be unlocked via the coins you earn in the Street mode. There’s a pretty fun juggling game, an interesting rope climb game and a rather pointless whack-a-mole variation. All of them have their merits and serve to prove that there are further uses for the bongo mechanism outside of DK. Don’t look at them as the main attraction though because they’re merely there to add some diversity to the game. Other unlockables are available that change the sound that come from the bongos. They’re fun but none of them really fit in with the music.
With the GameCube market being as weak as it is, buying
Donkey Konga should be a no-brainer. It’s not the best rhythm-based game out there but it’s a fun one that players of all ages can truly enjoy. Some of the tracks in the game are troublesome and the graphics look like they’re straight out of 1997, but honestly, what are you going to spend your fifty bucks on?
Pokemon Colosseum? Yea, I didn’t think so.
C+
Its poor track listing won't win over older audiences, but fans of the rhythm-based genre will probably be able to forget the shortcomings. It's a fun little game and Nintendo's decision to pack in a set of bongos at no extra cost was a great move.
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