Josh H

This has been out for a few days....anyone pick it up?

The song list didn't look great, but I hadn't heard of a lot of the tracks, and it seemed like most were the same way in that regard.

For those that picked it up, who are the songs overall? Any changes from the first game at all (other than new songs and bongo sounds). i.e. what are the new mini-games, modes etc.

victant

Picked this up yesterday and played for about an hour.

Yeah, the song tracks (they were posted earlier on this forum) are a bit disappointing. The fun songs have only a few bananas (easy difficulty) while some of the more obscure songs were the more difficult ones.

Also, the interface has been changed a bit. Not that it makes a big difference in the game, but I think it breaks the monotony of the scenes in-between songs.

What I liked best about DK2 are the mini-games: I only played the multiplayer mini-games, which were actually fun! One game consists of a Tetris-style interface where you have to perform the corresponding action for the symbol shown, in order to make the block highlighted disappear and move on to the block above it. The second game was more rhythm-oriented. A series of symbols (5ish or so) flashed across the screen, where everyone has the option to get the beat down. Then, in rapid sequence, it would prompt the first, second, etc players to emulate the right symbol in the exact rhythm shown. The hard part? It would then continue with the symbols invisible, meaning you have to remember the symbol and hit them at the right time!

A good addition is that the multiplayer arcade/battle mode give coins that can be used to purchase games, sounds, etc. Oh, and the minigames described above are available to play from the beginning. You don't have to buy them, like you did in DK1.

All in all, I'm glad I purchased this ($39.99 at BB), though I wish the song list were better.

Josh H

Thanks for the impressions!

Anyone else?

darkside

It is on my want list, but it will be awhile before I get it. There is just too much coming out this summer I have to budget for. I'm hoping Jungle Beat drops to $20 soon.

Josh H

Yeah, I'm holding off as I just picked up Konga and Jungle Beat and havent' even started on the latter yet.

The song list is making me think of passing altogether though.

PixyJunket

My friend showed me some of Jungle Beats (?) when we were out this weekend. It looked pretty sweet! I have no interest in the music game but what he showed me looked like an old-school shooter or something with all the crazy combos and bonus points and stuff you get. Looks like a game where the object is to get high score, not "beat" the game. He said the bosses were good aggression release as it feels like you're actually physically beating the hell out of them.

Josh H

Have you tried Donkey Konga?

I was pretty skeptical as I've never been big on music games, but I'm hooked on this one for whatever reason.

PixyJunket

Yup, I've played it and Taiko Drum Master. I liked Taiko much better and it had a much better song selection. Playing the opening to Katamari Damacy kicks ass. The import Donkey Konga 3 apparently has a bunch of remixes of classic Nintendo and Namco game songs; if I end up getting Jungle Beat I'll probably import that.

victant

Well, just finished playing another few hours on DK2 with friends tonight. Apparently, the songs are much more recognizable to others and while we were playing, some of them did start to come back to me with the whole, "Oh, I've heard this before" feeling. In retrospect, I think that DK2 is tweaked a bit better to make it a more enjoyable multiplayer experience. It also encourages teamwork and synchronization, instead of straight-up competition. It's not a huge jump in innovation, but it's definitely a welcome improvement to DK1.

Just my $.02 on the matter.

darkside

Picked it up tonight. Did the trade two to get it for $29.99. The best thing is now we have two sets of Bongos. Multiplayer battles are excellent. I'm really tempted to go and get Jungle Beat so we can have three sets of Bongos.

The song list is not the greatest as we have all noted, but I've found quite a few songs I like so far including some really cool classic music ones. Wish they had more Video Game music, but as PixyJunket mentioned this is probably a good reason to import Konga 3.

Awesome multiplayer anyway.

Goldberg74

Where at?

darkside

GameRush. They still have the trade two PS2, GNC, Xbox, DS, PSP or GBA games and get any new release or preorder for $29.99. I traded two GBA games and got the game for $29.99 plus the $14 credit for the games.

Goldberg74

Ok. Thanks.

I haven't been back to BBV since the whole "You Didn't Return Our Game" thing. Might have to go there this week.