Okay. I'm up to Forest (World 5) currently. Been playing a couple hours each day with my brother, pretty much following the formula of beating a world straight through, then going back and 100%ing the world before that one if we didn't the first time.
Complaints:
-Shaking to roll. I actually find it kind of decent for hand-slapping, and I don't really mind it for blowing (since there's never a situation where you need HOLY SHIT SPLIT SECOND TIMING for blowing on plants
). But for rolling it feels more problematic than intuitive.
-Harder to roll through a line of enemies unless Diddy is on DK's back. You usually end up stopping in the middle of it and getting hurt.
-Generic world names (Jungle, Beach, Ruins, etc.). Again, not a huge point, but I prefer stuff like "Monkey Mines" to just "Cave."
-Map screen is slightly lame. Would prefer if without the big red/blue dots and with DK and Diddy actually walking around on it.
-No Kremlings/other returning enemies. Of course, I was already prepared for that, though, so this isn't HUGE either.
-Related to the above, no Kong helpers besides Cranky, and no (rideable) Animal Buddies besides Rambi.
-You BURN through lives on co-op. I can understand why you lose two lives when both characters die at the same time, but man.
-Barrel-throwing has a smaller focus. Shame, since it was a big mechanic in the originals, but eh.
-Too much DKC1 focus. I love that game, but I liked the stuff 2 and 3 did with the gameplay/environments.
-R.I.P. the DK-shaped mountain on DK Island.
Accolades:
+Pretty much everything else.
...oh. Right. Specifics.
+Opening story cutscene rules.
+The details. Good lord the details. There is so much going on in any given environment, and it usually affects the gameplay in some way. There has been so much that has made me and my brother go "oh wow, that is so cool" while playing. So awesome. I could literally fill a post with more examples, but just a few:
**One of the smallest things I was impressed by was when my brother pointed out that when the Frogoon enemy jumps, it's actually trying to eat a fly buzzing around over its head.
**The zebra, giraffe, and elephant that were stranded on a raft in one of the beach levels. The elephant was even drinking some from the water!
**The fact that most of the Bonus Barrels blast you into some space in the background, usually through a wall. My favorite example so far still being (as mentioned from the September videos), the wrecked ship that, once you finish the bonus room, it falls apart and sinks into the sea.
**The Chicken-Stilts guy in one of the ruins levels, during the beginning pan-in he gets nearly ran-over by the camera. Awesome and fourth-wall-breaky.
**Handslapping DK's TV and making the DKCR logo appear.
+Co-op is a ton of fun. It can get pretty hectic, but unlike NSMBW you can't be a complete dick, and I think it's better for it.
+Cranky is still awesome. "Come back with Banana Coins, or don't come back at all!" "So, who hasn't stolen your bananas by now?" "Tell those Tiki guys to keep it down. I'm an old ape, I need my sleep!"
+Secrets seem pretty well hidden. While some are obvious (and a few seem like complete guesswork), it's mostly "pay attention to your environment." For most of the stuff hidden just off-scren, they seem to follow Rare's idea of using a single banana as an indicator.
+I like that Squawks only gives you a general idea of where a secret is located, the rest is up to you to figure out.
+I like the music, but it's a point I think the originals still win out on. Still, the remixes are good, as is most of the new stuff so far.
+This mostly follows DKC3's "gimmick almost every level", but in this case it feels a bit more natural. Stormy Sea (giant squid) and Tidal Terror (crashing wave) were amazing, as was Crowded Cave (giant bat) in level 4.
+Seems to be getting more difficult further in. Always a nice thing.
+The secret "K" levels in each world are ****ing RIDICULOUS and I love them. Especially World 2's.
+The little boss introduction cutscenes are nice. I love how the bosses are pretty chill dudes when not under Tiki-hypnosis.
+The Slot Machine Barrel is probably my favorite end-level object in the series so far. Maybe I'm just a sucker for the zoom-in.
+I actually like the shaking for the Tiki beat-up sequences and when you get the "DK" icon on the Slot Machine Barrel. I find it gratifying.
+The Hand-Slap was so underutilized in DKC1, I honestly forget it's there most of the time. In this game it's pretty much required, and I love it.
+The originals toyed around with rolling into a pit and then jumping to get an item/get across the pit, but the roll-jump is used much more often here. You even get a huge momentum burst when you do it in this game. Love it.
+Rambi is incredible in this game. I've only seen him in two levels so far, but both were wicked fun with him.
I may have forgot to mention some things, both good and bad, but eh. Honestly, this game is shaping up to be one of my favorites. It has flaws, but I love it. Really hope Retro decides to continue with DK, as they are more than capable of handling it.
tl;dr: shit rules.
holy shit i can be wordy when i'm talking about video games.