When I first got a hold of DK64, I had a blast, and everyone I talked to seemed to share the notion. Great graphics, fun levels, lots to do. Eventually, however, something seemed to go bad. I'll touch on that in the next section, but let's start out with what made me think this game was so great.

If you're familiar with the gameplay from the SNES and Game Boy Donkey Kong games, you'll be right at home here. It's like Donkey Kong country in 3D, just a lot more extensive. You take your seedy group of apes and scour a variety of levels for bananas and tokens, beating the crap out of any kremlings that get in your way.

There are many returning themes from the DK Country games, most impressive being the giant bosses. At one point or another you'll be pitted against a giant armadillo, a giant dragonfly, and a giant blowfish. The battles truly are spectacular, and show off some of the impressive lighting present in this game, which I'll talk about a little later. Also returning from the previous games are the assorted family members. Funky Kong is now an arms dealer, who'll supply your characters with a rather impressive arsenal. Cranky Kong upgrades your basic abilities, and Candy Kong sells you some musical instruments.

Also returning from previous DK incarnations are the minigames. Throughout the levels you'll find special barrels that plop you into an assortment of trials ranging from target practice to slot machines. Some are really quite inventive, and will take you quite a while to master.

Finally worth mentioning are the mine cart levels. In the DK Country games, these were often the most entertaining and original levels. Finally translated to 3D with DK64, the cart levels require the same split second reflexes as before, but now there's a lot more going on. Your object is to collect as many coins on the track as possible while avoiding obstructions and enemies. It always seems chaotic, and the speed is sometimes ridiculous. But believe me, those are good things. The transition to 3D was quite successful.

The first level is a massive 3D remake of the DK Country level "Jungle Japes." As the camera pans around, you can see how massive the area is, and how much there is to do. You start as Donkey Kong, but you have to progress through the game and rescue your comrades, Diddy, Tiny, Lanky, and Chunky, in order to accomplish anything. They each have their own set of powers and abilities, along with highly specific personalities. Chunky, for example, is a giant heap of muscle, but wouldn't hurt a fly if he didn't have to. The personalities are best illustrated when you jump into a switch barrel. You get to choose between each Kong and they all try to get your attention. Donkey waves frantically for you, and when you highlight him he grins and shows off his muscles. Move away, and he slaps his forehead and mopes. It's very well done.

In fact, DK64 just oozes personality throughout. A great example is the main menu. When you start the game DK picks up a barrel and jumps into view. This becomes the interface. While pretty cool in its own right, the entertaining part is when you just leave the controller alone. Things will start happening in the background, such as beavers chasing each other and kremlings making asses of themselves. It might get dark out, DK might get tired and stretch his legs, and a group of tiny rodents might start bothering him. The developers put a lot of work into making this game fun, and it really shows.

And now on to the graphics. The main improvement here over older N64 games is the use of lighting. Virtually every area in DK64 has some form of real-time lighting effect going on, most noticeably in Cranky's hut and after boss battles. Once you beat a boss, a giant key falls from the sky and waits to be picked up. In the mean time, a big group of sparkles swirls around your character and casts something like 6 different scaling shadows on the ground as it 0spins. It's quite possibly the most impressive lighting on the system to date. Also impressive are the smooth character models. Seams between polygons are nowhere to be found, and they rarely look all that blocky. Finally, in order to keep the frame rate fluid, the developers opted to hide certain structures until you get close to them. All of the huts that you visit for upgrades stay hidden beneath the ground and spring up when you get near. It's not all that important, but it is a nice consideration for those frame rate freaks out there.

On the sound front, the boot up sequence for DK64 has some of the most impressive voice samples yet on the system. The entire "DK Rap" is very well done, although it's a bit� erm� terrifying. In the game, each ape has his or her own specific assortment of grunts and growls, but there is one sound effect worth mentioning specifically. Whenever you discover a golden banana, DK will utter, "Ooh, banana!" At points, that will be your sole motivation to find another banana. It's the most brilliant voice sample in the history of sound itself.

• Legal disclaimer: "Ooh, banana" may or may not be the most brilliant voice sample in the history of sound itself.

Game control is another plus. There are a ton of different functions for each ape, but Rare managed to cram them all onto the N64 controller with out any confusion, thanks to creative use of the Z trigger. And speaking of control, DK64 finally refines 3D swimming. It's leagues ahead of Banjo Kazooie, and even Mario 64. It's not too slow, and it's very responsive. Bravo, Rare!

DK64 can be finished in about 30 hours, but since there's so much to do, it'll seem like a hell of a lot longer. The multiplayer mode is actually surprisingly fun, considering it seems like an afterthought. There are two modes, one where you wander through a deathmatch arena, and another that's akin to Smash Brothers. The latter is kinda confusing, but the arena one is a lot of fun. Very surprising indeed.

To add even further replay, you can take pictures of Banana Fairies in the main game to unlock secrets in the "mystery" menu. You can replay boss battles, access a couple original minigames, play the arcade versions of Donkey Kong and Jetpack, and view all the game cinemas again.

Sounds good, right? So where did it go wrong? Well let's see�

The Bad...