Diddy Kong Racing DS: Nintendo DS

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Diddy Kong Racing DS: Nintendo DS

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day. And he's going to do it by racing. At least the game doesn't dwell on the storyline too much. Who would've thought a storyline in a video game could feel tacked on?

Diddy Kong Racing feels like a hybrid of Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart. You explore the island and can go into one of the hubs where you'll go through a race. In each hub there are doors with balloons on them, and if you don't have the required amount of balloons, you can't go in and race. Thankfully, if you're ever stuck, there are some balloons hidden across the island. Likewise, you'll also get balloons by winning the race. And when I say win I'm not kidding, you have to be first place. Otherwise you get nothing.

Racing in and of itself isn't so bad, though. Like Mario Kart you get an assortment of ways to deal with your competition. You can chuck items at them to slow them down or knock them out for a moment. In truth, racing is actually quite fun. Mostly in part because it feels like Mario Kart in several areas.

What really stings the gameplay, however, is the repetitive nature of it. First, you'll go through the hubs four races. After that you'll race a boss. After defeating the boss... you go through all the races again. You win all the races again and then face off against the boss a second time. And after you face off a second time? You get to go through all the courses AGAIN, only this time you see the race from a bird's-eye view. Racing can be fun, but the amount of time spent racing through the same courses in order to progress forward is tedious. By the third time you'll probably be sick and tired of it all.

The touch screen controls are no better. You'll race in an assortment of different vehicles. You'll race in either a kart, airplane or hovercraft. To get a boost from these requires you to use the stylus. For example with the plane you'll have to use the stylus to trace out a ring as if you were spinning a propeller. These controls are just annoying, especially because once you actually get going you probably won't need them.

Even worse, the third race from the bird's eye-view will make you use the stylus. You'll have to use it to boost yourself as well as draw out a course for your driver to take. You'll find yourself having to boost more as they'll slow down a lot, and even worse, they may not even follow your course properly. This makes some of the races a real drag.

There are things to do outside the racing. There are plenty of mini-games and you can upgrade your kart any time you feel like it. It's really expensive to upgrade your kart, though, and that'll require more racing from you. In fact, unlocking a lot of the stuff requires you to race a lot. It's a racing game so, of course, you'd have to race to get all the goodies. The problem is again, like the main story, you have to race in the same courses over and over and over again. It's bad enough to go through all the courses three times in a row during the main storyline. Now I have to go through all the courses as much as four times in a row just to unlock stuff? Getting all the extras in this game is a tedious task, and all that hard work just doesn't always pay off.

At least the game's multiplayer is fun. Especially because even those who don't own the game will be able to have full access to everything the host does. Even better you can go online with six people. Nintendo still has some issues to work out with taking their games online, however. Even though here you don't actually need a friend code, there's still the problem of not being able to communicate with anyone online when you set up races and the like. When will Nintendo learn that if you're going to send a game online, there needs to be some form of communication as well?

To it's credit, the game looks good, though. Great graphics. They're really colorful and it's nice to see that there are games out there willing to use the DS's 3D capabilities. The music itself isn't bad, but some of the voices are pretty annoying. You don't hear the voices much, though.

Diddy Kong Racing is hard to judge. On the surface, it's actually a pretty fun game, but once you start digging deep, it's very tedious. Having to go through all the courses three times in order to progress just begins to drag after a while. Even worse, unlocking the extras feels more like a chore than anything. Finally, the touch screen controls are just awful. It's a pretty looking game and it can be fun... but not all that glitters is gold.

If you honestly want a good kart racing game on your DS, then Diddy Kong Racing won't deliver the goods. It can be fun, but it's so repetitive and tedious in its execution that you'll grow tired of it fast. If you really want a good kart racing experience, invest in Mario Kart DS and leave this one.

Pros:

+Great looking game
+For the most part, racing is fun
+Multiplayer is a good experience

Cons:

-The story is just stupid
-Repetitive gameplay
-Unlocking most of the games content is more of a chore than anything
-Bad touch screen controls

Diddy Kong Racing DS: Nintendo DS

...

day. And he's going to do it by racing. At least the game doesn't dwell on the storyline too much. Who would've thought a storyline in a video game could feel tacked on?

Diddy Kong Racing feels like a hybrid of Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart. You explore the island and can go into one of the hubs where you'll go through a race. In each hub there are doors with balloons on them, and if you don't have the required amount of balloons, you can't go in and race. Thankfully, if you're ever stuck, there are some balloons hidden across the island. Likewise, you'll also get balloons by winning the race. And when I say win I'm not kidding, you have to be first place. Otherwise you get nothing.

Racing in and of itself isn't so bad, though. Like Mario Kart you get an assortment of ways to deal with your competition. You can chuck items at them to slow them down or knock them out for a moment. In truth, racing is actually quite fun. Mostly in part because it feels like Mario Kart in several areas.

What really stings the gameplay, however, is the repetitive nature of it. First, you'll go through the hubs four races. After that you'll race a boss. After defeating the boss... you go through all the races again. You win all the races again and then face off against the boss a second time. And after you face off a second time? You get to go through all the courses AGAIN, only this time you see the race from a bird's-eye view. Racing can be fun, but the amount of time spent racing through the same courses in order to progress forward is tedious. By the third time you'll probably be sick and tired of it all.

The touch screen controls are no better. You'll race in an assortment of different vehicles. You'll race in either a kart, airplane or hovercraft. To get a boost from these requires you to use the stylus. For example with the plane you'll have to use the stylus to trace out a ring as if you were spinning a propeller. These controls are just annoying, especially because once you actually get going you probably won't need them.

Even worse, the third race from the bird's eye-view will make you use the stylus. You'll have to use it to boost yourself as well as draw out a course for your driver to take. You'll find yourself having to boost more as they'll slow down a lot, and even worse, they may not even follow your course properly. This makes some of the races a real drag.

There are things to do outside the racing. There are plenty of mini-games and you can upgrade your kart any time you feel like it. It's really expensive to upgrade your kart, though, and that'll require more racing from you. In fact, unlocking a lot of the stuff requires you to race a lot. It's a racing game so, of course, you'd have to race to get all the goodies. The problem is again, like the main story, you have to race in the same courses over and over and over again. It's bad enough to go through all the courses three times in a row during the main storyline. Now I have to go through all the courses as much as four times in a row just to unlock stuff? Getting all the extras in this game is a tedious task, and all that hard work just doesn't always pay off.

At least the game's multiplayer is fun. Especially because even those who don't own the game will be able to have full access to everything the host does. Even better you can go online with six people. Nintendo still has some issues to work out with taking their games online, however. Even though here you don't actually need a friend code, there's still the problem of not being able to communicate with anyone online when you set up races and the like. When will Nintendo learn that if you're going to send a game online, there needs to be some form of communication as well?

To it's credit, the game looks good, though. Great graphics. They're really colorful and it's nice to see that there are games out there willing to use the DS's 3D capabilities. The music itself isn't bad, but some of the voices are pretty annoying. You don't hear the voices much, though.

Diddy Kong Racing is hard to judge. On the surface, it's actually a pretty fun game, but once you start digging deep, it's very tedious. Having to go through all the courses three times in order to progress just begins to drag after a while. Even worse, unlocking the extras feels more like a chore than anything. Finally, the touch screen controls are just awful. It's a pretty looking game and it can be fun... but not all that glitters is gold.

If you honestly want a good kart racing game on your DS, then Diddy Kong Racing won't deliver the goods. It can be fun, but it's so repetitive and tedious in its execution that you'll grow tired of it fast. If you really want a good kart racing experience, invest in Mario Kart DS and leave this one.

Pros:

+Great looking game
+For the most part, racing is fun
+Multiplayer is a good experience

Cons:

-The story is just stupid
-Repetitive gameplay
-Unlocking most of the games content is more of a chore than anything
-Bad touch screen controls