Donkey Kong Country Returns sees Donkey Kong on the Nintendo Wii for yet another outing. But will the game, that's scheduled for release later this year, really appeal to the Nintendo Wii gamer? Is he still pissed at losing his bananas? Read on to find out.

Name

Donkey Kong Country Returns

What platform is it on?

Nintendo Wii

When's it due out?

Christmas 2010

What other game is it like?

Every other 2D platform game you've ever played

Does it use any new tech like 3D, PlayStation Move, or Kinect for Xbox 360?

Nope, although it does use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk - exciting

The pitch

Donkey Kong Country Returns with new levels and updated graphics, but with the same sense of fun and excitement of the original. For the first time in the series, two people can play through the entire game cooperatively.

The storyline

Controlled by a group of evil Tikis, the animals in Donkey Kong Island have raided Donkey Kong’s Banana Hoard and stolen his stash of bananas – and he understandably wants them back.

Our first impressions

Donkey Kong Country is fun but nothing new, with Nintendo churning out yet another platform game to keep the kids in your life happy.

While it's a 2D plaformer there are times when the action zips to the background - something that you'll find you'll just end up squinting for, before it returns to the foreground.

The first time on the Wii, here you can play as Donkey Kong or Diddy Kong in co-op mode bashing and crashing your way through the levels.

In an attempt to make it a little more entertaining you have to shake your Wii remote and Nunchuk like a pair of maracas to thump up and down in the game unlocking special areas or defeating enemies.

Co-op multiplayer is good, although expect it to get frustrated, failure to keep up with your partner in crime means you lose a life as you'll fall off the left-hand side of the screen, if they are on a mission to get to the far right of the screen as quickly as possible.

For times when that does keep happening Diddy Kong can ride on Donkey Kong’s back and hop off whenever he pleases, allowing novice players to ride on Donkey Kong’s back through more challenging areas of the game.

Please note

The E3 games convention is a fantastic chance to see the latest games due out over the coming year, as well as, letting us get a glimpse into what is going to be the big titles and the ones to avoid like the plague.

The big problem however is that for most of the titles that glimpse is, well, just that. At the show you'll get to play a level here or a multiplayer map there.

So with that in mind we present you with our Quick Play.

What we've done is broken down the key facts you need to know and then given you our first impressions based on around 15 minutes of gaming. For us that 15 minutes isn't enough to do a First Look review. How can you rate a game that offers over 30 hours of gaming on just 15 minutes of play? However it should hopefully give you an idea, a feeling, a notion, of what to expect come launch day.