Donkey Konga 2

I bought this one at the beginning of the summer, just before my project began. As such, it's been one of the frontmost games on my back burner. At least, it was. Having drummed along to every song in the game on the normal difficulty level, I feel I can call this game beaten. Gameplay-wise, it was exactly the same as its predecessor. I always felt that the Donkey Konga series never got any respect because the ten month span over which both games came out occurred back when everyone was already sick of the DDR craze, but before Guitar Hero came out and revived the "music" genre. Donkey Konga found itself wedged between eras where people could have cared about it, I reasoned. Having just played the second installment for a few nights, I can say I have changed my mind. Donkey Konga 2 was not unsuccessful because of its release date. It was unsuccessful because of its lackluster tracklist. Now, this game is only four years old, having been released in North America in May of 2005, but it feels as dated as any music game ever could. Take a look at a sample of the tracklist, and you'll see what I mean. There's Shaggy's "Boombastic" (1995). Smash Mouth's "All Star" (1999). Incubus's "Drive" (2000) and "Wish You Were Here" (2001). Pink's "Trouble" (2003) and Blu Cantrell's "Hit 'em Up Style" (2001) also appear. Butt rock enthusiasts will be happy to know that Trapt's "Headstrong" (2003) and Staind's "It's Been A While" (2001) were included. Into R&B? Enjoy TLC's "Unpretty" (1999) and Aaliyah's "Rock the Boat" (2001). And what collection of mediocrity would be complete without Good Charlotte's "The Anthem" (2002)? I hope you'll notice the underlying trend here; this game reeks of early 2000s stink. The reason no one bought it is because, well, who still liked any of these songs in 2005? The obvious counter-argument to make here is, "So what? Guitar Hero and Rock Band use songs from the past fifty years, and everybody loves those games!" The thing is, those games intend to be broad-spanning collections of all kinds of music. Donkey Konga 2 gives off the vibe that it aims to be a mixture of popular contemporary songs that'll be a big hit with the kids. I was somewhere in middle school when the majority of these songs came out, and was concluding my junior year of high school once this game did. Of course, that didn't matter; it wasn't even until after my junior year of college that I played this game anyway. In a way, I think that made the tracklist more bearable. Playing through loads of crappy songs that are 7 to 10 years old was a lot more entertaining than playing through crappy songs from 3 to 6 years ago would have been. It'd been ages since I'd heard any of the songs I was drumming along to, and that made for a slightly more enjoyable experience. It made it feel not so much like I was playing a 4-year-old game, but at times like a 10-year old one. Ironically enough, a miserable yesteryear tracklist turned out to age like a fine wine, ending up with more of a vintage air to it. So let's wrap things up. Do I think you should make it a priority to play this game? No. But if you've already got the first one and the bongos, it's not like it'll put that big a dent in your wallet, either. Besides, once you get into it, it's really pretty fun. Just get the show on and get paid, you rock star.