Tropical Freeze Review – Cold Reception

It was a different time when Nintendo released it Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze On the switch. At the time, the little hybrid device was taking the world by storm, making up for the past excesses of the ill-fated Wii U. As a result, Nintendo has released Switch ports of its best games to help those who haven’t bought one enjoy them. Right. As of now, with the device’s time in the spotlight coming to an end, is this banana-filled adventure still brimming with potential, or is this slippery port just a relic of its time?

Bananas should be a real commodity in the Donkey Kong Country series, as Kong Island suffers another hostile takeover. This time, while our favorite monkey is celebrating his birthday with the rest of the Kong population, the Arctic invaders known as the Snowmads launch an all-out attack. Their leader, Lord Frederick, sounds a climate-changing trumpet that freezes Kong Island and launches our ape heroes off the island. They must travel across multiple islands to return home.

DKC: Tropical Freeze continues its challenging style Platform game Action that defined the series back in the SNES days. Thus, gameplay is largely unchanged from Donkey Kong Country Returns, with Diddy Kong returning as a second player in co-op and power-ups in single-player modes. The same tricks return too, with sections where you ride a go-kart or a flying barrel, and entire levels where graphics turn into silhouettes, blocking out obstacles along the way.

One of the new additional gameplay mechanics in DKC: Tropical Freeze is that you can now play as Dixie Kong and Cranky Kong or use their abilities. Dixie twists her blonde ponytail to give Donkey Kong a double jump, as well as a propeller to move quickly underwater. Cranky uses his stick as a pogo stick, making Kong invulnerable to rising hazards or hitting enemies while swimming. They’re fun additions and, in the right circumstances, there are advantages to swapping between mid-level Kong family members wherever possible.

The ability to play as Funky Kong is new to the Switch version of DKC: Tropical Freeze. He has better overall health, and can glide through the air, jump on spikes, and constantly roll on the ground or spin in the water. I barely spent any time with Funky, mainly because I found his extra moves to make the game too easy overall, but it’s perfect for younger players.

As for playing as regular Kongs, this brings me to my biggest issue with DKC: Tropical Freeze: the consistency of the level design. Overall, each one is well designed, fun to play, and can sometimes be a fair test of stamina and patience. It’s relatively easy to gain more lives by collecting 100 different bananas or balloons scattered throughout, but I’ll admit there were times when I felt frustrated in all the wrong ways. At one point, I’ll be at a loss as I waste my 20th life facing extremely difficult obstacles, yet I manage to reach the next level easily on my first try. This issue persisted throughout the game, and as such felt like it was more of an ordeal compared to other Donkey Kong Country games, which have a steadier arc.

The levels have some replay value, as you still have KONG characters to collect and new jigsaw pieces. Some levels contain secret exits that can lead to some of the most conceptually different areas in the game. There are also seven runes that, when put together, open up a secret seventh world filled with the most challenging levels in the game.

Bosses are another problem in DKC: Tropical Freeze. While it’s just as inventive as the previous game in terms of its design and ways to beat it, it drags on for far too long with little room for any shortcuts. The first boss is a great example of this in action, as it took me several minutes to beat compared to the first boss in DKC Returns. I’ve also found bosses to be somewhat less creative, often waiting for the boss’s weaknesses to emerge. Compared to DKC Returns’ bosses, where you ride go-karts or climb vines in some cases, the only special fight was against a giant Pufferfish, and that’s because it was completely underwater.

DKC: Tropical Freeze is at least a visually pleasing game. Each island has a theme that ties its levels together. Even with the invading wintry enemies that might be completely out of place, every sweeping camera shot as the Kongs shoot out of barrels or ride go-karts across ever-more-complicated tracks with huge, rollercoaster-like drops makes all the levels feel that much more engaging to play.

However, the real hero that pegs DKC: Tropical Freeze as a game worth playing is the music composed by David Wise. Just like the SNES soundtrack for the original DKC games on the SNES, each level is accompanied by lively textures that change dynamically as you progress through its obstacles, such as frenetic minecart sections or when you move into the new stage of an intense boss fight.

No part of DKC: Tropical Freeze provides a better example of great music than Whenever Kong Needs to Swim. Dive into each aquatic section in each level leading up to World 4: Sea Breeze Cove will change into an exact remix of Wise’s most famous track: Aquatic Ambience. By the time a complete new version of this tour de force comes out, it seems like it’ll be worth it. And it doesn’t stop there, as after this point we’re treated to a version of DKC2’s underwater theme in the next level, which is an unexpected treat.

Even with the amazing soundtrack, I felt a bit cold by the end of my time with DKC: Tropical Freeze. It’s well made with some amazing visual effects like the aurora borealis. However, I was never inspired enough to revisit the levels to find all the collectible items, all because of how inconsistent the difficulty of each level’s design was. Compared to other platformers on the console and even when pitted against DKC Returns, it doesn’t stack up favorably. However, if you’re a fan of this kind of ape action, Tropical Freeze is a great addition to the series.