The run up to Christmas always heralds a series of great multiplayer silly games, and this year Nintendo is one of the first off the block with its quirky and addictive Donkey Konga.

Rhythm games seem to be becoming ever more popular with the growth in the dance mats etc, and of course who can forget the maraca shaking Samba di Amigo a few years back on the Dreamcast. Anyway, Donkey Konga is a long overdue game featuring gameplay via bongos; offering a new type of rhythm game by getting down and dirty with the jungle beats.

The premise of the game is simple. Actions are displayed on the screen (right bongo, left bongo, both bongos and clap) and as they scroll by, you need to hit them in time with the music. This sounds simple yes, but once you raise the stakes by choosing the faster songs or the harder levels, you’ll see what a challenge Donkey Konga can be.

There is a variety of music to choose from, and the complete selection of songs are available from the word go. Pick from a variety of well-known pop or rock songs, plus a few classical pieces are thrown in and a large choice of Nintendo game theme tunes. Unfortunately it seems Nintendo was unable to get the licences for the pop and rock tunes, as they aren’t sung by the original artists. This in no way affects the game’s enjoyment however, especially since you can hardly hear the song over the bongo racket you make!

One of the other silly things Donkey Konga offers is the opportunity to get new sound effects for when you hit the bongos. Good idea you think? Maybe it’s funny at first, but damn it gets irritating after a while! But there will of course be some people who will love making silly noises with their bongos – so get playing in order to open up a choice of noises ranging from car horns to farmyard animals!

Most gameplay options are also available right from the start, however there are things you can unlock using coins you collect in one-player modes. The game follows a familiar template where the single player mode offers a chance to practice and perfect your bongo skills whilst earning coins. These can be spent to buy expert level songs, different drum sound affects and opening up new mini games.

The game’s real focus - and the most fun - can be had in the selection of multiplayer options available to you. The two main modes are freeplay where accuracy counts, and then there is the competition, or battle, mode where you have to try to beat your fellow percussionist. In this mode you can affect scores even further by hitting the random POW blocks that will randomly scroll across your screen; this will reduce your opponents score. To gain bonus points you can also attempt to stop the fruit machine reels at the right time – it’s a toughie though!

Unfortunately the bad thing about Donkey Konga is you can only battle in two player mode, and not get four of you together to rise to the challenge. Instead the only four player option is to jam, but that alone is a blast, and can also be very noisy!

The multiplayer modes are brilliant fun, and what makes it even harder is that you’re not all aiming to hit the same bongos at the same time. Each player is working to a different rhythm, and if you do well, it can actually sound quite nice. It’s just as enjoyable however, to try and mess up someone else’s rhythm but distracting them in some way or other, so it just depends on how big your evil streak is. Either way, you’ll have a blast.

Also, don’t feel like you can only play if you’ve got a set of DK Bongos. If you haven’t managed to get any, you can still play the game using a pad, with specific buttons doing different bongo beats. This makes it much easier to enjoy some bongo fun, but if you do get a chance to get some bongos DO IT! It just adds that little extra something to the game…

So those are the main aspects of the game. Of course graphics play a role, but as to be expected, there’s nothing really spectacular about them, they’re just functional and that’s certainly fine with me!

The funniest thing about the graphics is in one-player mode you have the jungle animals dancing around the screen and one of them is a strange ‘Banana Chicken’ – check it out!

Keri Allan