➤ Mario + Rabbids: Donkey Kong Adventure, the review 🎮

It has been said and written in all sorts of ways, but we repeat it for the umpteenth time: what Ubisoft Milan in the last year she managed to get incredible, and, after the "moment of amazement" for the success of the project Mario + Rabbids, the spotlight is now on our house, as well as the expectations of fans for future projects. More than natural: the real litmus test is always the second success, and we believe that even the developers are well aware of it; this does not mean, however, that all the energies of the software house must necessarily be channeled into a new video game when your firstborn still has a lot to say. The choice was therefore to develop a cheerful expansion for Mario + Rabbids named Donkey Kong Adventure, which - if it had not been understood by the title - sees among the protagonists is the most loved ape of Nintendo than its ... white rabbit counterpart. The result? Not so amazing as to give us security for the future, but certainly a remarkable demonstration of intent.

Fiction and gameplay: monkeys, selfies, and lots of love

Donkey Kong Adventure holds the same principle as the basic Mario + Rabbids: everything from the campaign to the gameplay, revolves around a simple story, but perfectly mixed with the absurdities of the rabbits of Ubisoft and to the characteristics of the historical characters of the great N. Here, in particular, everything starts from Rabbid Kong, who devastated by the defeat received by the group of heroes of the game (immortalized by various selfies) finds himself in front of the "special" washing machine from which it all started, and combines an inevitable mess by opening a new portal. In the general chaos, too Rabbid Peach she is teleported away from the mushroom kingdom, only to find herself alone (excluding the inevitable BEEP-O) and unarmed in a "Rabbidized" version of the world of Donkey Kong. And this is where the fun begins: in the new campaign you will not have all the heroes exploited up to that moment, but a small group composed of Rabbid Peach, Rabbid Cranky, and just that Donkey Kong that gives the name to the dlc. However, if the "Lapins Cretins" are very classic in their use, the same cannot be said for the gorillone ...

Mario + Rabbids: Donkey Kong Adventure, the review

Donkey is in fact an incredibly powerful character, around whose abilities the whole adventure revolves: not only can he move quickly around the map using specific platforms, but also take any enemy, destructible cover or elemental chest, and throw them around the scenario as if they were balls. basketball, all in addition to the normal attack, movement, and secondary skill activation actions that all characters have. In short, to clear the cards, the guys from Ubisoft Milan concentrated the new mechanics in a single character, and built almost every mission around a team he led. A clever move, which not only didn't force them to turn the system upside down, but allowed them to shape battlefields even more original and unpredictable than those seen in the original game.

Structure: password "movement"

Little to say: once again the Ubisoft designers have shown their muscles, and we are talking about biceps not too far from the gigantic ones our simian protagonist is equipped with. The few new enemies of the game are in fact extremely mobile, to force the player to calculate the movements with the leader and the other team members to perfection (Kong can take and throw them too, repositioning them properly) and to make the most of the new skills . The same Cranky, then, it features an equivalent of Peach's shotgun and a special landing after team jumps that damages and freezes enemies - usable twice thanks to Donkey's launches - proving the team's desire to merge old and new mechanics to deliver a fresh experience. And it is, mind you: most of the game's missions are very valid and the adventure flows beautifully; it is just that we are not faced with a product that is completely devoid of weaknesses.

In the end, in fact, the Mario + Rabbids skeleton does not allow for huge variations on the theme, and despite the beauty of the new mechanics we found the boss fight of the new campaign ... flies, because they are built either around midbosses that are not particularly fearsome, or maps with elements to be destroyed and activated very similar to those seen in battles such as the phantom of the opera or, precisely, the original Rabbid Kong. We understand how there was no way to do much more, but perhaps at least in terms of variety of enemies we could work more with imagination, because - although suitable for the DLC - both summoners and collectors do not differ much from opponents already seen and stand out in the classic Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. On the other hand, the progression is excellent: faster to get married to a less long-lived but still substantial campaign (it will take you 6/7 hours to complete the adventure, not counting the usual puzzles present between a clash and the other and the extras), and perfectly calculated to support a slightly steeper but never prohibitive difficulty curve. As we have already said: at Ubisoft Milan they know what good game design is.

Comment

Price 19,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

8.5

Readers (13)

8.5

Your vote

Mario + Rabbids: Donkey Kong Adventure is a DLC worthy of Nintendo's ape, which at times manages to be more hilarious than the original game (the choice to spin the story around Rabbid Peach was a winner) and refreshes the experience with a series of brilliant new mechanics. Maybe more could have been done in regards to bosses and enemy variety, but Ubisoft Milan's latest work is still substantial, artistically gorgeous, and a must have for anyone who enjoyed their first adventure.