Originality: Never have I (I do not believe) been so let down by a games originality comparing it to it’s sequel I do not believe. This game, while an ode to the past, introduces little new designs, visuals, or interesting setting/story. I had my issues with the Penguin Vikings in Tropical Freeze having no explanation, but at least they looked cool and at least made some sense. I still don’t know what on Earth I just defeated at the end of Returns 3d… Overall a non-original, strange, and kind of creepy game. I would imagine my opinion on this game will be quite unpopular considering it sold tremendously.

8/20

Graphics: This game actually looks pretty good for a 3ds game (I suspect it’s due to the fact that they didn’t have to build the engine from scratch since it’s a port). Not too shabby to look at, but also no Kid Icarus Uprising either.

 7/10

Art Style: Unlike Tropical Freeze, this game didn’t even bother to really introduce anything truly aesthetically revolutionary (except for maybe the black levels). I was rather disappointed with this.

7/15

Story: No references to past battles, enemies, or progression. Just another chase for Bananas. I’m tired of typing out long explanations for why it is so dumb for 2-d side scroller games to have NO story whatsoever so I’m not going to rant about it again. I’m just disappointed again. However, at least Tropical Freeze had somewhat interesting enemies and bosses. This game was just weird.

5/30

Game Interface: Everything was fine here!

5/5

Controls easy and fluid or difficult and rigid? Due to the smallness of your character, it was hard to time controls at points to dodge certain things (because things coming at you can barely be seen sometimes especially in carts, rocket ship, or doing boss fights unless you have 3d on fully). Other than this, it was fine.

3/5

Is it fun? Not as much as tropical Freeze. Not as much by a long shot. I don’t even desire to get all the unlockables in this game.

7/15

Total Score: 42/100

1. Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition – 100 + 5 = 105
2. Zelda Skyward Sword-98
3. Zelda Minish Cap – 92

T4. Zelda Oracle of Ages – 91

T4. Metroid Fusion – 91

T4. Mario and Luigi: Bowsers Inside Story – 86 + 5 = 91

T7. Zelda Twilight Princess – 90

T7. Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon - 90

T9.Guildwars 2 – 89

T9.Mario and Luigi: Dream Team – 89

11. Animal Crossing New Leaf – 84 + 5 = 89

T12. Pokemon X – 88

T12. Zelda: A Link to the Past – 78 + 10 = 88

T11. Kid Icarus Uprising – 88

T11. Darksiders 2 - 88

T11. Fire Emblem Awakening - 88

17. T16. Paper Mario Sticker Star – 83

T17. Zelda: A Link Between Worlds-83

19. Super Mario 3d land – 72 + 10 = 82

20. Batman: Arkham Origins - 81

21. Trine – 80

22. Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze* - 68 + 10 = 78

T23. Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D – 74

T23. Rome: Total War-74

25. Red Alert 3 - 70

1. New Super Mario Bros. U - 66
2. New Super Mario Bros.Wii – 57 *
3. Assassins Creed 3 - 57
4. Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition – 53*
5. Kirby Squeak Squad – 43
6. Donkey Kong Country Returns 3d – 42

By the way, I've introduced a new system into my grades. Any game that has a charmfulness in it that makes it amazing that can't really be explained can receive bonus points of +5, 10, or 15.

Add to that the fact that it is just huge for a platformer on the 3DS. Nintendo is usually the master of compression, so I'm not sure what happened here.

It needs 17693 blocks to download, twice as large as Fire Emblem: Awakening.

No way this game is worse than squeak squad. Besides, isn't this a port of their Wii game?

This dude is on crap. I hope he is not serious.

=p

In all seriousness, I do think TF was a better game than DKCR, but I still think DKCR is pretty good. As far as story complaints go, not all video games need or even should go for all elements of other video games. Dark Souls wouldn't be (and isn't) better off with platforming, Zelda wouldn't be better with shooting, Donkey Kong wouldn't be better with any significant attempt at storytelling.

I will say a number of your complaints come from having played TF before playing DKCR. There are a number of new ideas in Returns (rocket barrel levels, silloutte stages, etc.) that were actually introduced in DKCR, but were put into TF as well. Since you played TF first, though, it looks like Returns didn't do much new.

Same goes for visuals, DKCR introduced the visual style and TF brought it back. Actually, now that I think about it...

...you do realize that DKCR 3D is a port of a Wii game from 2010, and was released (on the Wii) a full four years before Tropical Freeze, right?

As I have stated in my previous however many reviews I've done, if your not a story obsessed person then my reviews are probably not for you.

You gave Batman Arkham City a 105...

I'm out of here.

My reviews are always based on when the game was released. If a game truly innovates and pushes the gaming industry forward then it will do better than a game that releases 15 years later that has better graphics/control but doesn't innovate as much.

It was the only game I gave a 100/100 to ever and it gained an additional 5 extra points for how charmful it is (a newer part of my review style that rewards games with charm that can't be explained but does not punish games that lack it).

So...did you know that Returns came out 4 years before TF initially?

And if you're a story obsessed person...why exactly are you reviewing a Donkey Kong game? That's like a person who hates singing reviewing an opera.