Always the trendsetter, Mario went retro in 2009 and reminded the world of the joys of well regulated gameplay. In 2010 Retro Studios followed up by reviving the beloved technical marvel of the SNES with Donkey Kong Country Returns.
I mostly wanted to write about this game because it reminds me of what is perhaps the most critically overlooked and unappreciated quality of a good video game: level design. I understand its a tricky thing to write about, particularly compared to controls and graphics, but at the end of the day, good level design is what separates the games worth playing from the games worth playing again and again and again. It's what separates Mega Man 2 from Mega Man 2000 and what makes one random game of crosshair alignment so much better than the millions of other games where you shoot things from the first person.
DKCR is a game that proves just how far good level design can take a game. This is a brutal, relentless game, at least once killing me more than 30 times in a single level and yet, giving up is never an option, even when that stupid little pig shows up to let you wave a white flag. The reason is simple, at no point in this game do you want to skip anything, because it's a game that's constantly throwing new and exciting things at you. One moment you're riding a mine cart on a giant rolling egg, the next you're swinging along vines, or shooting yourself through a series of barrel cannons, or balancing pulleys to move platforms, or riding a missile chasing a giant spiraling mole train. You don't ever choose to skip a level because the game constantly reminds you that no level is to be missed.
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