Donkey Konga 2 – GC – Review

Donkey Konga
is Nintendo’s own rhythm game that requires players to match the beats on screen
by striking a set of bongo drums. Depending on the icon shown, players must
strike either the left or right bongo, both simultaneously, or clap into the
drum-mounted mic. The first one was a very fun game; being the first drum game
to hit stateside it gave gamers a new way to express their musical talent (or
lack of one).

Donkey Konga
2 is pretty much identical to its ancestor in terms of quality, difficulty, and
included game modes. The game plays exactly the same as Donkey Konga and even
uses the same bongo controller, so if you purchased one or more for the first
then you can dust them off for more percussive fun. Konga 2 only differs in its
added modes and inferior soundtrack.

My first
gripe right off the bat is Donkey Konga’s difficulty level. It was a problem of
mine in the first as well, and DK 2 didn’t change much. If you read my recent
review of In The Groove you saw that I thought its difficulty grew too quickly,
almost to an unplayable point. Well, DK 2 is far too easy, and anyone with
rhythm or good reflexes will be finishing songs on the hardest difficulty by the
end of their first night playing. You may think I’m hard to please in the
difficulty section by now, but I’m really not. Donkey Konga’s difficulty
progression is great … it just needs one or two more difficulty settings on the
harder side. The fact that DK 2 is easy doesn’t make the game any less fun; it
just limits the lifespan of the game’s replay value.

Donkey Konga
2 shares many modes with the first. Street Performance is where coins can be
earned. One or two players enter, choose the difficulty (monkey, chimp, or
gorilla), and then choose the song. As the player(s) successfully hit the notes
coins are awarded to one cash pile. When not playing a song, these coins can be
spent either in the Shopping Mall on new bongo sound sets or gorilla level
songs, or can be spent on the mini games offered in the Music Lab.

The Music
Lab is new to Donkey Konga. Now instead of purchasing mini games for unlimited
use like in the first Donkey Konga, the mini games are offered from the start
but players are charged coins for each play. There are only two games, but both
are very fun and can be played with up to four players. One game gives each
player vertical stacks of barrels at a time that are labeled with the usual
notes. As players play the notes on the bottom of the stack, that barrel is
destroyed and the stack drops to the next in line. Once the stack is complete
another is placed on screen, and the point is to get through all your barrels
before your opponents get through theirs. The other mini game gives players a
repeating beat using scrolling barrels like in the normal play mode, but after a
few measures the barrels disappear and it’s up to you to keep the rhythm with
that same beat.

The Battle
mode is still present, allowing rival drummers to duke it out and compete for
the most points. After a good competitive match, those rivals can then go into
Concert mode and work together to complete a song. Concert mode offers both
Share and Quartet options; in Share two players must share the same set of
bongos – one claps while the other drums. Quartet places four players into the
same song to cooperatively play, and if you have less than four people playing
the game will fill in the empty spots with computer-controlled characters.

There is
also a Challenge mode now, where players can test their endurance by playing
song playlists at once. A certain number of songs are lined up and must be
played all in one sitting.

What really
hurts the level of enjoyment for Konga 2 is its song list. It’s overrun with
pop, R&B, hip-hop, and new age rock. I know that a person’s preference in music
will affect this particular aspect of the game, but due to the low difficulty
and available music the audience for this game is reduced drastically. I was
embarrassed to play this one too loud, and I found myself going to the random
option on the song select screen because I couldn’t find a song I wanted to
play. After a few hours of play I got used to the music and found a handful of
songs I liked, but I still found myself getting bored much quicker than I did
with the first because there was nothing left I wanted to play. I mean, come on,
only one Nintendo song? And it’s the Donkey Konga 2 theme? Europe gets Mute City
and the Mario Bros. 3 theme among a few others!

I think if
you enjoyed the first Donkey Konga you’ll still have fun with Konga 2, and if
you love the kind of music that it’s full of you’ll have a blast. The point is
that the core gameplay is very entertaining, and you’re bound to find at least
half a dozen songs you like, so Donkey Konga 2 makes for great, family-friendly
fun.

Review Scoring Details for Donkey Konga 2

Gameplay: 8.9
If only more
difficulty options were offered the gameplay could last much longer. If you have
any kind of rhythm game experience you will most likely be nailing the gorilla
songs soon after you purchase the game. But the fact is that the game is very
fun to play, and even if you can complete gorilla songs early on you’ll be
having fun doing it.

Graphics: 7.5
When playing you
won’t notice anything but the notes you need to hit, but the menus are very
attractive, and this time there are animated backgrounds during the song for
spectators to watch.

Sound: 7.3
This is a tough
one; I personally think the song list could have been bigger and better, but
some gamers are going to disagree. Aside from that, the sound effects in menus
and such are enjoyable, and they included all the bongo sounds from the first
Konga as well as a bunch of new ones.

Difficulty: Easy
Beginners can
start on the monkey difficulty with no problems at all. Within each difficulty
you’ll be able to tell how hard each song is by the number of bananas hanging
next to it, so there will always be a lot of songs in your range of expertise.

Concept: 9.0
Since the Donkey
Konga games are one of the two offered drum games in America, and they’re the
only rhythm game on the GameCube, I think it’s great a sequel was released. Plus
bongo owners like me need more excuses to use our drum peripherals!

Multiplayer: 9.2
Multiplayer takes
the level of enjoyment up a couple notches, because now you and a friend can be
embarrassed together when playing those teen pop songs. But seriously, playing
with a friend cooperatively or competitively adds to the entertainment and
replay value of this title big time.

Overall: 7.8
It’s a shame that
there were so few Nintendo themes and so much of only a few genres. There are
still some classical tunes, but they’re all redone in very childish-sounding
synthesizer, making them a lot less enjoyable. Konga 2 has great gameplay, but
the poor track list killed the desire to play for me and my gaming companions
after finishing the handful of songs we did like. Fans of the prominent music
genres are bound to dig this title, but even if you don’t like the music chances
are you’ll still have fun.