Junkman
Dec 13 2004, 05:04 AM
Game: Cartman Kong Country
Creator: ML Productions
Genre: Platformer
Description: Kremlings are on the loose! Guide Cartman Kong and his little buddy Stan Kong in the hope to defeat them all.

Rating: 64%

Review: If you didn't guessed already (if you REALLY didn't, get yourself some glasses for whoever's above sake), I'm currently reviewing Cartman Kong Country, one of the many small full games which ML Productions released back in mid-2002. Of course, this game tries to mimic the well-known classic SNES game Donkey Kong Country, which I played the hell out since it rules. smile.gif

If you're unfamiliar with the DKC concept, let me explain it. You control two apes into a bunch of levels infested with nasty Kremlings, unfriendly critters who had stolen all your banana stash. OK, maybe you won't personally make a big deal out of it, but Cartman Kong does. In CKC, you control both Cartman and Stan Kong through 15 levels infested with many obstacles. Both apes play differently, with Cartman being slower but tougher, taking out almost every baddie (except those damned Bees) with a single jump. On the other hand, Stan is faster but can't stomp the tougher enemies like Klumps and Krusha. You visit a jungle, a forest, a mine, a factory and finally the pirate ship.

Graphics are for the most part took straight from the original game. You'll easily notice the many backgrounds and enemies straight from the game. It gives the game a good feel, although the enemies walking animations are a bit stiff. I do know however that trying to animate stuff alike isn't easy so I won't complain about that anymore. The menus do look good though.

However, the sound portion of the game leaves to be desired. You all know how fantastic the DKC soundtrack is when you're playing it on your SNES, but the MIDI versions of these songs sound pretty horrid. It's a shame that someone really sent midis of the like at VGMusic IMO. There is no sound effects in the game neither. Not a single Kremling yell. No collecting items sounds. Although silence isn't always a bad thing, a game do need some sound effects, right?

Gameplay do however capture some of the DKC feel, but there's some omissions and bugs. When stomping enemies, you really gotta aim them right in the middle, otherwise you just die and restart the level. That's nowhere as worse than Kenny vs. Death though, whose stomping system was just ridiculous at times. What a shame that I made this, but hey, it was my first game ever smile.gif There's also some very difficult spots, especially the second factory level. You must jump on a series of small barrels over the air untill you reach the end of the level, but with all the flying critters around, it's pretty frustrating. After a great number of failed tries, I really wanted to mash my keyboard to pieces. I didn't felt that way since Kenny's Quest 2, but it's still good to see that someone else than me can make tough games smile.gif. There's also a couple of features which could have been great but weren't present in the game, like those barrel cannons. Who didn't liked these cannons? smile.gif I do hope that ML will put some of these in the sequel. As for the final boss, is he really destroyable? I chucked barrels at him for almost 5 minutes and he didn't seemed to be on his way to die. I got bored before I could see if I was close of killing him.

To sum it all, Cartman Kong Country is a small little game which is good at certain points, but fails in other areas. It is a fun game in the end, and I do still recommend the game, as it's a pretty small download. It's a good game overall, but it could be better.