New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat is the latest in Nintendo’s ‘New Play Control!’ series which aims to bring classic GameCube titles to the little white box with some new motion control goodness.

In the original Jungle Beat you used the innovative and unusual bongo controllers to make Donkey Kong jump around the levels, of course that peripheral isn’t available for the Wii so they’ve translated the movements onto the Wii’s motion sensors.

This has obviously resulted in quite a change to the way the game plays, as the motion sensors are far more accurate than a set of bongos. To reflect this the game offers an increased challenge with more enemies and new environmental hazards, but the improved control method is generally successful.

The game itself is classic Nintendo platformer, a cutesy run-n-jump adventure with a silly storyline, it has lovely cartoon visuals and smooth movement with some perfectly designed levels. The gameplay slowly unveils new attacks and moves to keep you interested and the difficulty is pitch-perfect.

Our one complaint is the short playing-time, it’s possibly to complete the main game in just a few hours, but you can always go back to pick up missed collectibles.

Verdict: 90%

It’s not quite Mario good, but this is still better than most platformers out there. It’s vintage Nintendo that still stands up to modern titles. Recommended.