video game review

‘donkey kong country returns’

Grade: B

Details: Nintendo, $49.99

No video-game company values its characters as deeply as Nintendo. Visit the company’s flagship store in Manhattan and you’ll find plush versions of dozens of Nintendo favorites, from icons like Mario and Pikachu to more obscure creatures like Mr. Resetti from “Animal Crossing.”

Nintendo’s fans can generally trust that any game with one of the company’s stars on the cover will be, at least, solid, and has the potential to be magical. That reputation means the rebirth of a legend like Donkey Kong is a big deal for Wii owners. And despite its awkward title, “Donkey Kong Country Returns” will delight fans of the big ape.

This isn’t the Donkey Kong you remember from the arcades of the 1980s, the one who tormented Mario from atop scaffolding. No, this is the Kong that Nintendo transformed into a hero in 1994, sending him on a mission to recover stolen bananas in “Donkey Kong Country.”

Sixteen years later, I still regard that as one of the tougher games I’ve ever defeated. Old-school gamers will celebrate the news that “DKC Returns” is just as brutal; it’s probably the most challenging game Nintendo has released in years.

The mission has Kong running, hopping and climbing across more than 70 tropical levels. The first few sequences are fairly straightforward — just keep moving to the right — but the designers continually introduce fresh ideas.

—Lou Kesten, Associated Press