Donkey Kong Country Returns

I received Donkey Kong Country Returns for Christmas, and I played for about an hour and a half tonight. So far, it's freaking amazing.

Playing through the first world's levels, I was very pleased to see how similar it was to the SNES DKC games, and a whole lot of nostalgic awesomeness came flooding back to me. Then I started shooting out of barrels and experiencing new game play, and got quite giddy (but not as giddu as I get around my 3-month-old nephew, who is way more awesome than this game).

But DKCR is awesome! I was able to run through the first world with ease, and collecting the KONG letters in the first mine cart level was the first real challenge. The world's boss was an easy read too, but I also unlocked a secret level...

With all KONG letters recovered from all levels, a new area was unlocked, level 1-K. That was a true gaming challenge. Platforms would fall after a few seconds when you landed on them, and enemies and spikes would hinder my progress, so much so that one touch would likely end my run and kill me. I can't say how many times I tried, but it took me well over 30 minutes to complete this level. I still didn't get all the puzzle pieces in the level...

Which is an incredible sign for this game. The game play is very fluid and the levels are beautiful and fresh, but the challenges and secrets are aplently.