I finished the game (not 100%) and totally loved it. It was the biggest surprise of the year, I must recognise that when I saw its presentation at E3 2010 I wasn't sure about the quality of this Donkey Kong, but after playing it all I can say is that there is creativity in every level of this game. Incredible, terrific.

However, I sometimes found quite difficult some levels, like the ones with the rocket or the mine cart. I died at least 25 times in one of these levels.

I really want to play the game but I don't have time now. I need a vacation just for games.

I liked it a lot. The puzzle pieces are hard to find and the levels are challenging. Still have to beat it anyways, thanks for reminding me.

That's a good summary of the co-op mode but you're off on a few things .

First you're pooling from the same life stock unlike NSMBWii. This means you loose two lives each try on rocket/mine cart levels. Also failing to grab the falling barrel looses a life.

Diddy Kong can pound on stuff (his pop-gun slams the ground where he stands). So it's a good thing to give Diddy Kong to the more inexperienced player since he has his hover and can hop on DK's back when things get though.

Another feature of the co-op mode is that if one player falls behind (stays off screen) for 3 seconds, he'll be teleported to the player who's ahead. So when you happen to fall behind the best thing to do is to stop moving to avoid falling into pits you can't see.

Did you see the Crocomire skull reference from Super Metroid on the Foggy Fumes level? 

Awesome reference.

That takes one hell of an eye to catch, I've been really interested in all the references made in DKCR

I think the game is pretty good, though somehow i think the game is overrated. It's the worst out of the DCK games, but its decent enough to avoid being a dissapointment. The games new music is unispired and boring, and they had to resort to old song remixes to invoke nostalgia. The physics in this game are over the place, NSMBWii like, but they get the job done. The Co-op is fun in my opinion, but i hate the fact that i can't use diddy kong and change characters whenever i like. The new bosses and enemy designs are just bad, though the art in this game is great. Motion controls make the controls bad, and make the best part of the game (time trial), harder than they're supposed to be. The level design is the best thing in the game, the levels were designed for time trial, but i think Retro stuck too many puzzle pieces en every level. I think the game is an 8/10, i'm glad the game is selling, so they can get the greenlight and start developin the sequel, in which i hope they improve everything. Also what's up with everyone lying about the mine cart and barrel levels? They're way worse than the levels in the old DCK, theres a few standouts, but the old games had much better level design involving mine carts and barrel levels.

il be getting this shortly, i would have preferred a 3d outing though

Just beat the game (minus the extra levels/special world) and the game is hella fun. I like it much better than DKC3, but not quite as good as the first two. But most everything about the game was great. Well done 2D platforming by Retro, good challange, interesting level design, love the art style in the sillouette levels, the factory levels in particular are awesome. The multiplayer is a blast. Music is great as always for DKC games. Especially this tune:

The main things I didn't really like about the game are all the minecart and balloon levels. I mean I use to love the minecart levels in previous games but here they seem to go a bit too far with them and it's almost impossible not to die without already knowing what's ahead of you in some cases. Also, I don't really like how the game relies so much on shaking. I have been killed more than a few times because the shaking didn't do what I wanted it to.

Overall all though, Retro has really captured the magic Rare originally created with the new DKC.

So, so true... but for me it's more like only half the time it works fine.  I absolutely deplore this design choice.  IMO the roll move should have been a button, plain and simple.  I also HATE the fact that to bounce high off an enemy you must time your button press perfectly rather than just hold down the button via Mario.

Also, to those saying the game isn't hard, you've either got Billy Mitchell skills or you just want to appear hardcore for your image's sake. :P  ... and this is coming from someone who has beaten all the GnG games (including the arcade original).

Just getting through the game may not be so tough, but like Rol I have beaten the game 100% and obtaining that was definitely a challenge (especially the time trials), as I didn't move on until I had fully completed a level.  Don't get me wrong; I love a good challenge, but there's a fine line between challenging and frustrating and the aforementioned control design choices (including the fact that DK's control and momentum are just too slippery for me) really bring the game down a bit for me.  That and those damn rocket barrel levels (yes, they're fun at first, but by world 8... not so much.  Again, it's the control that's the culprit).

Please don't mistake my criticisms for hatred of the overall game.  At heart it's still DKC and visually it's rivaled only by the Mario Galaxies and Corruption on the Wii.  I like it very much, but I don't love it and it really pains me to say that because I really, really wanted to love it.  But when it's the control that adds to the difficulty (for me) combined with some trial and error level design, its appeal falls a bit IMO.