Review: Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is a platform game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo. It was originally released for Wii U in 2014 and later released for Nintendo Switch in 2018.

The game takes place on Donkey Kong Island, where Donkey Kong and his friends try to stop an invasion of Vikings who have frozen the island. Gameplay is similar to previous games in the series, with players controlling Donkey Kong (and other unlockable characters) as they move through the jungle, mountains, forests, and other areas.

The gameplay mechanics are side-scrolling platform-based, with players controlling the main characters as they jump over obstacles, collect items, and fight enemies. The game features amazing graphics with beautiful environments and detailed characters.

Like the Wii U version, Tropical Freeze retains many positive aspects of Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii) and adds more possibilities and new gameplay options. With a higher resolution, as shown in the comparison between the versions by the Digital Foundry channel, a broader view of the scenery and an improvement of small details and noticeable textures is possible.

Since the Wii U version was only able to display the game at 720p, the jump to 1080p on Switch, when it's docked, we can see the whole aesthetic beautifully and it shows off the magnificent work of the art direction.

Another commendable aspect of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is the soundtrack. It's amazing how the developers managed to once again achieve such memorable acoustic quality as in their predecessors, with a brief mention of the beloved Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (SNES).

When the subject is about the care in the elaboration of the phases, the minecart needs to be mentioned. The stages that have the famous mining cart are very challenging, in addition to being visually beautiful. Unfortunately there aren't many friendly animals from the old games, like Enguarde the swordfish and Rattly the jumping snake, only Rambi the rhino is present in this version.

The artistic quality of the game Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze is commendable in all aspects, leaving the Switch with the honor of receiving a port that further valued the work of the creators.

The bosses, at first, seem simple and unmemorable. However, to my surprise, every animal I faced during the game surprised me, since the sequence of attacks and the illogical induction of what to do during the battle meant that I had a few failed attempts before correctly executing the command against the boss, generating that good feeling of challenge completed at the end.

In addition to the normalized difficulty in the game, players have the challenge of getting the collectibles to complete the game in 200% — which is not easy at all. The famous letters KONG are present, in addition to puzzle pieces and coins that can be exchanged in the store.

There are also secret passages to special stages, requiring players to be extremely careful to search every portion of the map in order to find the hidden secrets.

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