I couldn't wait. I used the $30 Father's Day gift cards and bought a digital copy of Donkey Kong Bananza. The praise is out there, and beyond "performance issues" I think this game is really really fun in my first impression for the Nintendo Switch 2.
I say that, mostly because in the first 10 minutes of the game, I proved that Donkey Kong is indeed a monkey that smashes things, contrary to his movie counterpart. I smashed everything I could. Donkey Kong moves fluidly through the caves, caverns, walls and everything else, because he can smash the vast majority of things in front of him. He has a regular punch, a downward punch an upward punch, and a jump, and that's just for starters.
Once you get into the game a little more, the game starts teaching you that you can grab rocks, to smash other rocks. The gold that you can grab can be used for bigger explosions, while the sand up clump up can be used to build platforms. DK can punch enemies into oblivion. He can collect gold and other in game currency using a hand slap with a touch of a button, and that also sends out a little sonar to show you where hidden things are. Later later, as you progress in a semi linear story, Donkey Kong can change his fur color, and his tie and shorts even have attributes tied to him.
The game is called Bananza, and are filled with Bananas, and Donkey Kong loves em. So much so, that for every 5 crystalized ones will net you a skill point. Those skill points can be used on a skill tree for more power, or even more range for the hand slap. You meet your companion, who is Odd Rock, and find out that you and "it" have a musical connection. All this is jam packed within probably the first half hour.
When I say that Donkey Kong can navigate almost anywhere, I absolutely mean it. As deep as he wants to. As high as he can get. He can roll into a ball and even smash through rocks in that form. There are NPC's, side quests, teleporters called "eelevators", and treasure behind every rock. If a rage room were a video game, Donkey Kong Bananza is it. Listen to the universal acclaim. They're right. I do wish Pauline was more of a surprise though. That would've rocked. (See what I did there?)
I don't want to give too much more away. It's out. Critics love it. People love it. It's sitting at a 91 based on 87 critic reviews already. Grab it. I'm not reviewing it. Ya'll don't need my opinion. But it's good. I'm going to play it more now.
