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| Donkey Kong Racing - Preview Sick of the endless supplies of cart-racing games on the market today? If so, Donkey Kong Racing may be right up your alley. Instead of the pollution creating Karts, animals and insects are the main methods of manoeuvring our favourite apes around the lush landscapes of DK Island. A racing game....� a sequel to Diddy Kong Racing.... on Gamecube....developed by Rare....starring the Kongs....Ahem.... does it get any better? Not a chance.... Gameplay Donkey Kong Racing is the all new (well sorta) adventure/racer from the team behind Diddy Kong Racing, plus a few of the Donkey Kong 64 team members thrown in. Shown in the form of a pre-rendered clip at E3 2001 (yes, that long ago) Donkey Kong Racing was a promising looking title, among the most anticipated of Rare's upcoming games. However, save for a few tidbit details from Rare's unofficial news source, Scribes, on their website, DKR has gone cold, just like 90% of all of Rare's games. No screenshots, no movies, not a single update on the Donkey Kong Racing section on Rare's site. It?s frustrating when your writing a preview to inform people on a game, and the only thing you have to go on is a 30-second promo clip. However, being a die-hard Rare fan, you come to live with that. Despite the small amount of details known, what we do know from Rare about DKR, are a few interesting and very unique gameplay aspects. The main one is of a feature first displayed in Final Fantasy, but Rare is sure to improve on. It involves picking up fruit and other items for your certain animal along the paths of the tracks, which in turn upgrades the animals, meaning the animal is a lot better by the time you have finished! An example is you could be a weak rhino running half heartedly at the start of the race, and by the time you finish you could be a massive rhino running full pelt and taking out your opponents with a solid nudge. If Rare take advantage of features such as this, Donkey Kong Racing could breathe life into this quickly choking genre. Another major feature, if not the most vital detail about the game so far released, is the ability to take multiple routes throughout the tracks. For instance, say you were riding a rhino, in the open spaces you would be doing fine. But coming up to a jungle area, it is probably too narrow to allow your hulking animal to run through. So you change paths, of which there are several, and take a wide part of the track. This path may be longer than the others, but it means you got a clear run, while other riders have to contend with the jungle. Already, you can see deep elements of strategy creeping into the all-important gameplay. Donkey Kong Racing will require you to use your brain, unlike previous racers, such as Mario Kart, and even Diddy Kong Racing to a lesser extent. Another innovative aspect of Donkey Kong Racing (another one?) is how you can ditch your animals mid-race. Say you have just left the jungle part of the track, using the wasps, but your coming to the water part of the level. You will have to dump the wasps, grab a Dolphin or something similar, and glide through the water, continuing on. It will be very interesting to see what Rare can do, and with gameplay elements as unique and innovative as the ones described, Donkey Kong Racing will surely be a must have game. Graphics If a 30 sec pre-rendered clip is anything to go by, then we are in for a treat. How close is the gameplay to the quality of the clip? Nintendo says that it's a lot closer than you'd think, and that can only mean that Rare has spent just as much time working on the visuals as it has the gameplay. It is possible that Rare pre-rendered footage with real in game models and textures. Rare wants to create lush tropical landscapes, teeming with all different kinds of wildlife, some of them even affecting races. Another focus that Rare's striving to recreate is realistic real-world phenomena. The Donkey Kong Racing world will be brought to life with effects such as palm tree's swaying in motion by the wind, shadows that advance and recede depending on the daylight, and clouds that affect sunlight throughout races.� There really is no limit in the imagination's of the DKR team, thought to be made up of members of the Jet Force Gemini team. Could we be seeing lighting storms ala Creepy Castle in DK64, maybe rain that provides puddles for out primates to run through, or even weather effects that could topple Wave Race Blue Storm? Only time will tell. A lot of time, that is... Sound Donkey Kong Racing will feature high-energy soundtracks, fitting right in with the style of the game. Many complaints were made about the soundtrack to Diddy Kong Racing on the N64, probably Rare's least popular soundtrack of any of its games, simply for the facts that they were quite repetitive, were very kiddie orientated, and were nothing like the brilliant soundtracks featured in Conkers Bad Fur Day. However, this will surely change in DKR, and now with a fully-fledged Dolby Surround system support, DKR will surely come up roses in the sound area. Its just not all music however, sound effects will play a major part in this title. You'll be able to hear your opponents hot on your heels, listen to the real time sound effects such as wildlife class, water splashing, hooves crashing and so on. It's all looking very impressive, and with Rare coming off brilliant sounding games such as Conker's Bad Fur Day and Starfox Adventures, DKR shall be no different. Outlook Featuring unique ideas, innovative design and surely superb visuals, Donkey Kong Racing is looking to be the ultimate sequel racer on the Gamecube. With the added depth of training your animals, feeding them mid-race, and with so many in-game options, its all looking mighty spectacular, a game any Kong fan will hurriedly rush out to buy. If Rare can live up to what they have promised, the Donkey Kong world will be a whole new racing spectacular. By Tim Schaefer |
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| - 23/07/02 - Preview - Tim Schaefer |