Date played: March 16th
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 10/10
I finished Tropical Freeze!
This game was an amazing, challenging experience. People shit on the Wii U a lot, but that thing has some really good games on it, Tropical Freeze being my favorite game on the system so far (Pikmin 3 is a close second).
I started by playing the last secret level, Icicle Arsenal. Set in a cave with falling icicles and wobbly platforms, it was a pretty standard level overall. 6-K, Slippy Spikes was also kind of standard, though of course it was a lot harder, being a K level. It had some really interesting movement in some parts, but nothing too special.
Finally, I was up against the final boss, a large...walrus maybe? Either way, this was one of the most intense challenges in the game and took me a solid 45 minutes to beat and more than 30 lives. He has a pretty simple pattern to recognize, but the timing, accuracy and endurance required made this a very difficult battle. On a flat, 2D plane, he jumps into the background and throws enemies at me. I must then bop them on the head, grab one of them and throw it at the boss in the background. He then jumps back onto the foreground where he charges DK. That's where he is vulnerable and needs to be hit on his back during his charge. At first, this is pretty easy, but on the second and third phases of the fight, he gets fucking fast and hard to hit.
He then launches ice dragons from the background to freeze the different areas of the ground. After dodging the dragons, DK slips around and must avoid huge butt stomps, while avoiding the lava that spits out from below. After 6 hits (this took me a while...), the boss adds a stomp that makes the floor rise and fall into lava, then shoots giant fucking ice dragons at incredible speeds that must be jumped over or ducked under. I got him, but holy shit, it was quite a battle.
Everything in DK's world is back to normal, and the credits roll to some funky music. However, I also had collected all the K levels, which gave me three bonus levels. The first, Levitation Station, was one of the best 2D levels in recent memory. I had to navigate platforms that were being flung from the bottom of the screen to almost instantly fall back down, requiring intense precision and some memorisation.
Rocket Rails was a wacky combination of falling platforms, a hardcore mine cart section and a fun rocket barrel ride. The best part about this level were the floating fish that littered the level and the upbeat music.
Finally, the last level was Crazy Clouds, a very difficult trek through the air as crumbling propellers, shaky cloud supported platforms, strong winds, insane enemy placement and a very fast rocket platform combined to test all the skills I had acquired throughout the game. Tropical Freeze is a modern masterpiece for experienced gamers and I'm very happy to have played it.
Platform: Wii U
Session fun rating: 10/10
I finished Tropical Freeze!
This game was an amazing, challenging experience. People shit on the Wii U a lot, but that thing has some really good games on it, Tropical Freeze being my favorite game on the system so far (Pikmin 3 is a close second).
I started by playing the last secret level, Icicle Arsenal. Set in a cave with falling icicles and wobbly platforms, it was a pretty standard level overall. 6-K, Slippy Spikes was also kind of standard, though of course it was a lot harder, being a K level. It had some really interesting movement in some parts, but nothing too special.
Finally, I was up against the final boss, a large...walrus maybe? Either way, this was one of the most intense challenges in the game and took me a solid 45 minutes to beat and more than 30 lives. He has a pretty simple pattern to recognize, but the timing, accuracy and endurance required made this a very difficult battle. On a flat, 2D plane, he jumps into the background and throws enemies at me. I must then bop them on the head, grab one of them and throw it at the boss in the background. He then jumps back onto the foreground where he charges DK. That's where he is vulnerable and needs to be hit on his back during his charge. At first, this is pretty easy, but on the second and third phases of the fight, he gets fucking fast and hard to hit.
He then launches ice dragons from the background to freeze the different areas of the ground. After dodging the dragons, DK slips around and must avoid huge butt stomps, while avoiding the lava that spits out from below. After 6 hits (this took me a while...), the boss adds a stomp that makes the floor rise and fall into lava, then shoots giant fucking ice dragons at incredible speeds that must be jumped over or ducked under. I got him, but holy shit, it was quite a battle.
Everything in DK's world is back to normal, and the credits roll to some funky music. However, I also had collected all the K levels, which gave me three bonus levels. The first, Levitation Station, was one of the best 2D levels in recent memory. I had to navigate platforms that were being flung from the bottom of the screen to almost instantly fall back down, requiring intense precision and some memorisation.
Rocket Rails was a wacky combination of falling platforms, a hardcore mine cart section and a fun rocket barrel ride. The best part about this level were the floating fish that littered the level and the upbeat music.
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| The Kongs celebrate victory in style! |
