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| Preview - Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers After making a surprise unveiling at E3 2001,Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers has gone cold, in part to Rare's shyness in release game details, and also gamers lack of anticipation for this "interesting" title. But don't pass up this game just yet, Coconut Crackers could be up there rivalling Tetris...maybe. Gameplay Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers (DKCC) is a curiously named puzzle game, running on the DKC SNES engine. Your task is to place plates strategically on the playing arena, building up combos, while at the same time getting rid of naughty Kremlins who try and smash your plates. The game starts off with an isometric view, which can be changed during gameplay to an overhead angle. Colour coded plates fall from the sky, all in different shapes, and it's your job to place the same colour plates on top of each other, building combos that increase with every correct plate placement, while racing against the clock. Rare has added a gameplay twist, by placing Kremlins on the playing arena. The Kremlins run around the screens, smashing your plates up, until you knock them off or squash them. You need to think of where to place the plates, so when they are placed down, they knock off the Kremlins. Ways to get good combos are making squares or rectangles out of as many plates as possible. As the game progresses it gets harder with more Kremlins on the screen, faster movement and less time. There is definitly more to the game than placing blocks, but no-one outside of Rare can really say what the game is about, and what it can do. Here's to waiting for more juicy details on the game's mechanics in the upcoming months. Graphics Running on the DKC engine, Coconut Crackers had mildly impressive graphics, but nothing to rival its best efforts on the GBA, in Sabrewulf and Grunty's Revenge. The playable demo displayed smooth character animation, while proving that Rare has escaped the "dark screen" syndrome plaguing many GBA titles at present. The backgrounds were crisp, and foreground characters and items were clear and colourful. Admittingly, nothing in the form of screenshots or movies have been released since E3 2001, so it is too early to comment on the graphics. Rare has probably tweaked and polished the graphics exceedingly, and are just waiting to surprise us at one of the European game shows in 2002. Just expect more than what you have seen so far, and without a doubt, it shall be interesting to see whether Rare alters the graphics upon release. Multiplayer A great element of Cocunut Crackers is its ability for 4 player link up. This could mean a co-op mode, and also a multi-player game where someone is the Kremlins, and the others are placing plates, trying to knock their opponents off. Already, this seemingly is an addictive type of play, and if done correctly, could be the ultimate multiplayer game. Also expect time trial modes, endurance, and all the other modes that make 4 player puzzle games so damn addictive and fun. Once investigated, Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers is surprisingly a game that I would invest in. Featuring Donkey Kong, the famous Kremlins, a wide range of game modes, and crisp visuals, this is looking to be a fantastic game to add to the already vast collection of GBA titles. Whenever it does get released - if at all - Donkey Kong Cocunut Crackers should be all you need to entertain yourself with, and grabbing 3 more mates will triple the fun. Great multi-player action ahead. Tim Schaefer |
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| - 23/07/02 - Preview - Tim Schaefer |