Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is a challenging, well designed and rewarding platformer. It's the perfect start to 2014 for Wii U fans, and has topped Returns in challenge, design, soundtrack and overall fun. Tropical Freeze is unforgiving at times, but that only makes success even more sweet.

+ Great level design; + Looks great; sounds even better; + Challenging boss battles; + Added characters; + Collectables

- Multiplayer isn't that great; - Inherently can become a little repetitive

This game is an old time favourite, a true classic. Great that it's on the Wii U

It looks fantastic, with the extra grunt of the Wii U creating a sense of spectacle. The worlds are vibrantly coloured and rich in detail, with a hyperactive camera that swooshes outwards as explosive barrels fire you into the screen. The game is at its best when it explores one-shot gimmicks.

is a great platformer full of tense sequences and tough levels. Boss battles are a huge highlight, and it's packed with hard-to-find secrets and collectibles. Multiplayer could use some improvement, but I found myself laughing whenever my teammate and I wiped out on some of these unforgiving setups.

A challenging platformer; Great boss fights; Clever level designs; Lots of Secrets

No Co-op Switching

Seeing everything there is to see in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is a privilege, not a right. While some platformers present their content to you on a silver platter, daintily spoon-feeding each level into your eager mouth, Tropical Freeze tells you to go out into the snow barefoot, run...

Great presentation; with lush graphics and charming music; Incredibly challenging; but never feels unbeatable; New Kongs encourage different playstyles

Will simply be too difficult for some tastes; Co-op play is a disappointment

You might be tempted to overlook Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, but if you did, you'd be missing out on an excellent platforming title with tons of style and polish. While it's true that it doesn't explore a lot of new territory, iteration within a genre is only bad to the extent which...

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Reviewed on Wii U by Michael Damiani. Given the woeful performance of the Wii U to date, Nintendo's struggling console can use all the help it can get.

I would give this game a 10/10 but it's for da WIIU.

One could argue it's the machine that's started the giant's trend in recycling more and more of their older series instead of diversifying with new game experiences. So, no real surprise that Donkey Kong returns, and although there's been four years since the ape reappeared on Wii, it doesn't feel...

Conventional mechanics presented with contemporary flash: Tropical Freeze expertly blends spectacle, set-pieces and classic platforming.

Might be Wii U's best-looking game; Wonderful David Wise soundtrack; Challenging in all the right ways..

...but occasionally the wrong ones; Still quite conservative in its design