It's a little odd how Returns changed the style of Donkey Kong Country from two individual characters to Donkey Kong and his friend/ power up. I don't think it's a bad way to go about the series, but I'll be honest when I say I miss the older Country games play style. Aside from that hiccup tho? Honestly Tropical Freeze delivers more Donkey Kong Country goodness than the original did.
Tropical Freeze is oozing with far more flavor and charm than the majority of the country games did, and compared to Returns, does far far better with it's stylish backgrounds and levels. Not to knock Returns, as honestly it was a great return to the Donkey Kong Country series; Tropical Freeze just improves on everything that Returns did. Add that together with Dixie and Cranky in the mix, and the amount of new areas and platforming that you can do is pretty amazing.
On top of all this improvement, they also made Tropical Freeze far more challenging than any other game before. Honestly the game's difficulty curve is so smooth and the deaths just feel so fair that it really should be a testament at how to make difficulty in game making classes. Add that with a bunch of resources for a player to access more life's or use a super version of Donkey Kong that will make the game easier, and it really does feel like they thought of everything when it comes to the hurdles of platforming skill.
Really Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is one of the best Country games out there. The platforming is great, the atmosphere is great, and the unlockables are abundant. There is so much to do and see in Tropical Freeze that makes it well worth retail price.