When I first laid eyes on DK64 I wasn't impressed. In fact, I walked right past the booth and over to Perfect Dark. Sure, the game looked pretty nice but it didn't look fully rendered. Obviously, I was expecting way too much of the N64 and I went back a little later. Turns out I was partly wrong. The game doesn't look rendered, but it is the most beautiful N64 game I have ever seen. Characters like Donkey Kong almost do look rendered as it's impossible to see any polygons. If you thought Banjo-Kazooie looked nice, just imagine something that looks ten times better. Requiring the 4 meg Ram expansion is a good thing as the game sports real-time lighting effects and some of the most crisp textures I have ever seen. I actually think certain areas in the game (minecart comes to mind) looked better than the the Dreamcast games I saw.

The game opens with a 3-minute rap sequence that is reminiscent of the SNES series. Cranky seems to have come a long way since his music box days though. This time around he is mixing on a couple of turntables. The rap seemed put together for E3 because it was proclaiming that 'DK, Donkey Kong is here' so I am not sure if it will be in the final version. The rap was pretty cool with the digitized voices but Trevor and I mostly just watched, embarrassed for Rare and mocking the entire thing. Oh well, the stupid song still got stuck in our heads and it drove us nuts back at the hotel! This brings me to sound. E3 was really loud so it was kind of hard to tell, but of what I heard DK has some catchy tunes like the first 3 in the series. Ape yelps, water splashes and explosions all sound convincing. Also, like Rare's other games DK has Dolby surround sound so everything sounds terrific. I heard a couple of old-school DK themes playing on the speakers around the booth and I hope Rare will include these.

So DK succeeds at being the coolest looking game on its system once again, but how does it play? Gameplay makes or breaks every game. I have to say I was a little disappointed with the 3D based levels. They just reminded me too much of Banjo-Kazooie and I was hoping for a more retro, 2D feel. Still, these platforming levels are top-notch. I say I was disappointed but I actually mean let-down because, in fact, if I had been expecting 3D adventure I would have been in heaven - the levels look and play beautifully. By far my favorite parts of the game were the bosses and bonus type levels. The bosses perform just like 16-bit baddies thrown into a 3D world. You have to memorize their different patterns and throw exploding barrels at them when they vulnerable. It's great fun and Rare has translated the 2D classics' feel perfectly. The bosses are also extremely tough! Very similar to the grandeur and size of those found in Zelda, the two bosses I played beat the crap out of me! I actually don't remember defeating either one of them... shut up! Like I had hoped they would do for the whole game, Rare did pay homage to the classics by including mine cart and barrel blasting levels. For me, these sections were awesome and I found myself constantly returning for more. The barrel blasting levels throw you into a barrel and you have to aim for the next barrel using a first-person point of view. Every barrel moves consecutively faster than the last one and it's a lot of fun. Saving the best for last, I have to talk about the thrilling mine cart levels! What I believe to be the most beautiful and fun section of the game, the mine cart levels throw one of the apes into a mine cart and the result is an awe-inspiringly fast-paced roller-coaster ride to the finish. As the apes you can lean left and right to keep the thing on track around sharp turns. Also, you can lean out an brag switches sending the cart along different paths and opening gates that are blocking your path. People were amazed by how fast these levels flew past, but I personally want them to go even faster. As you tear up the rails Kremlings fly by swinging huge bats that you have to avoid by steering clear or jumping over. Real-time lighting sets the scene as lights swing back and forth and explosions go off all around you. For a serious adrenaline rush head down a hill at full speed and try making it around a sharp 180-degree turn. Oh yeah! To make the action even more thrilling you have to jump, duck and lean to grab all the DK coins floating around the mine shafts. If this level hadn't been on display you might have seen me at that booth a lot less. I would pay almost $60 just for that level in fact. Rare: I know you are reading this so I want you to speed it up even more!

Other levels included a slide race a little too similar to the Penguin race in Mario 64 (c'mon guys, think of some new concepts!). For some reason all the apes pack heat now. Diddy double-fists a set of pistols. DK carries his shotgun while Chunky has a bazooka and Lanky has a blowgun. Obviously this remains a DK game and the apes are only loading up peanuts as ammo. I'm not sure everyone who played saw this feature because it required certain buttons to be held down and tapped. Other features were a little odd too, but I'll get to those in a minute. The guns are a lot of fun to use and aren't hard to aim either. The arsenal doesn't end there. Every ape can collect and chuck orange grenades at the baddies. Not sure which demented designer thought of this weapon but it's great nonetheless. One major problem I have with the way you knock out baddies - you can't jump on their heads! What's the deal with that Rare? Don't stray from the hop n' bop style gameplay! On some levels I actually lost life (lost a piece of my melon...which is your life meter) when I tried to jump on the baddies. Grrr!

You collect a number of items in the 3D platform levels. Pieces of fruit provide you with life and bananas do something (I forget, sorry!). Oranges for ammo, Nuts for ammo, etc etc. There are also certain buttons that each character can activate. Only that character can use it. Lanky inflates and can float around the level for example. There are apparently over 100 moves in the game and every ape has his or her traits that must be used to finish the game. Backtracking is needed to fully complete each level as only certain Kongs can do certain objectives. You start the game with DK and slowly pickup the rest of the Kongs as you progress. I noticed a lot of objectives on each level that I would have to wait to complete. For example, not even DK could lift a huge rock blocking my path in the jungle. Unless I'm a moron (which I might be) it seemed obvious that I would have to bring Chunky in to the action to remove it.

I'll give a quick summary of what I liked and remember each Kong could do. Donkey was your average strong character who couldn't jump very high. I actually don't remember anything special about him (but he's still DK so he's still awesome). I didn't get to use Diddy in a 3D level when he wasn't totting guns but I suspect he can do cartwheels and jump pretty high. Lanky is a great ape. He rests his long arms over his head when he walks around. When he jumps he can swing his arms around his body jump-rope style and stay afloat for a little while. Also, along the lines of Kazooie, he can tear it up by running on his hands. Of all the Kongs, Lanky was probably my favorite because he had so much character. Tiny can shrink herself to fit in small places and like Dixie, can helicopter down to safety by spinning her hair (why not just keep Dixie?). Chunky is one fat ape. He can become extra large and pound just about any bad guy. Of course, all this bulk gives him terrible jumping ability. As you can see, each character has moves that correspond to their unique traits. The three new Kongs have more exaggerated skills while DK and Diddy remain your average bunch of apes.

A few odd features were included in the game, and like I stated earlier I'm not sure many people noticed them. Obviously, Trevor and I got to play all the Rare games much more than any other magazine or site so we actually took the time to read the controls that were placed at each station (yeah, we're Rare dorks, shut up). By holding down something like Left-C, trigger and pushing B your character will whip out a camera and you can take a picture from first person perspective. When you snap a shot a little film icon appears and records the image. I have no clue what this is used for although I would suspect it is some sort of objective. Even odder was another move that sent each ape into a music playing frenzy. I forget what they whipped out but the end result was a musical dance performance. Scary, to say the least. These options seemed to be available at any time too. Speaking of button sequences, control was right on (as it always is with Rare games). There's not much else to say because each ape responded accordingly and I controlled the guys with ease.

I was let down by DK64 at first but after playing around with it for 5 hours or so I realized what a great game it was. If Rare stays true to the 16-bit games and includes a lot of the old levels and concepts this could be an awesome game. As it stands now, I hope they don't add too many more full out 3D exploration levels. However, no matter what happens I think DK64 is still a must buy this Christmas. The game is extremely high quality and according to Rare and Nintendo, longer than Zelda was. With the aid of a required Ram pak, the game not only looks awesome but is gigantic. I will be getting the game the second it hits stores (or when Nintendo sends me my free copy, ahem) and I hope to find all the things that made the 16-bit series so great translated to the N64 version, and I think I most definitely will.