Donkey Kong Jet Race

The old GameCube console had an unusual bongo controller peripheral that was used to great success in several Donkey Kong games. You bash the bongos and Donkey Kong jumps around on screen. As bizarre as it sounds it actually worked quite well.

Jet Race was clearly intended as a bongo game for the GameCube, but for whatever reason it never made an appearance and was instead held back for the Wii. It features Donkey Kong and host other characters recognisable from some SNES and GameCube titles racing through the air on jet powered barrels.

Instead of bashing the bongos, you shake the Wii remote and nunchuk to speed up, then shake one or the other to turn left or right. If you think this sounds like a rather imprecise control method, then you’d be right.

The early stages are fairly painless since the pace is slower and there are fewer obstacles, but once the difficulty ramps up the game becomes an uncontrollable mess. It’s almost impossible to corner without bashing against something, which then slows you down and lets every other racer overtake.

The AI racers are always faster, have no problems with their controls and are never far behind, always ready to take the lead if you make the smallest mistake. It’s unbelievably annoying and even when you are in front there’s no real sense of speed.

Verdict: 45%

This terrible game looks and feels like it’s a decade old and the controls are a horrible concept, serving only to irritate.