Donkey Kong Land is such a strange idea.
I understand wanting to port the Donkey Kong Country games to a handheld, but I don't understand why they made it in the same visual style of the SNES game when it doesn't fit the Game Boy at all. I know it's probably because the visual fidelity was part of the allure of Donkey Kong Country, but when the visuals start to get in the way and make things hard to work with like here in Donkey Kong Land, you start to ask yourself why they kept going with this.
I can't say this is all bad though. They really are trying to translate Donkey Kong Country to the Game Boy, and you can see it through some well designed levels with interesting and fun mechanics/gimmicks thrown in every once and was while. The major issue is that the game controls really weirdly, so you can't really appreciate the ideas of the levels at all. It's super easy to run off ledges or miss seemingly easy jumps. I think a lot of that stems from the jump. I feel like you sink immediately to the floor once you let go of that jump button.
Another strong issue with the gameplay is the camera. Usually you can see enough to get by, but very often an enemy will come crashing into you from offscreen. Similarly, the game will register a death when you reach the bottom of the screen even if you know for a fact there's flooring beneath you. It's something that will rarely bother you but you'll notice it once and a while when playing and it'll mindfuck you.
Overall, it's a nice shot really. I don't think this game is good, but I appreciate the effort and can see this being developed more and turned into something great.
5/10 - Mediocre/Mid
I understand wanting to port the Donkey Kong Country games to a handheld, but I don't understand why they made it in the same visual style of the SNES game when it doesn't fit the Game Boy at all. I know it's probably because the visual fidelity was part of the allure of Donkey Kong Country, but when the visuals start to get in the way and make things hard to work with like here in Donkey Kong Land, you start to ask yourself why they kept going with this.
I can't say this is all bad though. They really are trying to translate Donkey Kong Country to the Game Boy, and you can see it through some well designed levels with interesting and fun mechanics/gimmicks thrown in every once and was while. The major issue is that the game controls really weirdly, so you can't really appreciate the ideas of the levels at all. It's super easy to run off ledges or miss seemingly easy jumps. I think a lot of that stems from the jump. I feel like you sink immediately to the floor once you let go of that jump button.
Another strong issue with the gameplay is the camera. Usually you can see enough to get by, but very often an enemy will come crashing into you from offscreen. Similarly, the game will register a death when you reach the bottom of the screen even if you know for a fact there's flooring beneath you. It's something that will rarely bother you but you'll notice it once and a while when playing and it'll mindfuck you.
Overall, it's a nice shot really. I don't think this game is good, but I appreciate the effort and can see this being developed more and turned into something great.
5/10 - Mediocre/Mid