We all remember those games where you run and throw barrels as an ape with a tie. Well, meet Donkey Kong now – he and his friends Diddy, Funky and Cranky are back in an all action game for the Ds.

                                                          

But there’s a few tweaks this time round – You can now team up with Diddy Kong, who will reach high up platforms when you lob him, whirls a hammer around, smashing everything in his way and holds a map in one level so you don’t get lost! You can take on up to three friends in multiplayer mode, plus players can now climb even higher with the simple game controls. But are the controls too simple?

Multiplayer mode seems okay at first, riding flying bongos and having climbing races, until it begins to repeat itself. in fact, it dosn’t even let you chose which course you want to play!

The minigames are not like that of ‘New Super Mario Bros’. with only six games to chose from, this also begins to get repetitive after you’ve unlocked the four difficulty levels on each.                

A good idea Nintendo had whilst making the game was to include a cheats section in the game, so when you have collected a certain amount of DK Coins, you can raise the speed of Diddy’s hammer spinning, or have extra lives after game over.

I enjoyed the actual platform game – if it wasn’t encrusted with bad multiplayer modes and crude minigames I belive this would be one of my favourites of this year!  - mabe this game is more suited to the younger gamers…

RATING: 72%

If you enjoyed this game try playing New Super Mario Bros