Personally, I really enjoyed the original game and if you are interested in what I had to say about it, you can head on over here and have a read. But, if you have already got the original game, love it and been looking for a review on the DK expansion, I might have you covered if you enjoy reading my reviews.
Ubisoft and Nintendo’s love for each other has been an amazing experience so far, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is such a good game, and soon Ubisoft will be bringing Skylink: Battle for Atlus to PS4, Xbox One, and PC, but there is an exclusive for Nintendo Switch owners, Fox McCloud and Crew will be making their triumphant return and I can not wait.
Back on track, I hate season passes when they offer rubbish DLC or a load of useless cosmetics just to make your character look different. I tend to look at The Witcher 3 and load of excellent FREE DLC and huge paid content expansions, this is what I expect from game developers now. So did Ubisoft, make me happy with their first major content update for Mario + Rabbids, let’s find out.
Its all starts when Rabbid Kong, the boss from World 1 (see below) decides to bang the living crap out of the interdimensional malfunctioning washing machine, which takes design aspect from the DeLorean from Back to the Future, if you have not watch Back to the Future, then I feel pity for you and implore you to do so asap.
After a couple of bashes, the time machine goes haywire and starts sucking Rabbids and poor Rabbid Peach inside, and with the help of the Rabbid with the Head Visor attached to his head, they all get transported into the world of Donkey Kong. As you land in the new world, Rabbid Peach is instantly surrounded by Rabbids with weapons, what can she do, nothing, as she has no weapon. This is when the DLC’s hero makes his showcase, along with Rabbid Cranky, who is one hell of a slow arse. I loved this intro and I had to add it to the review, so if you wish to watch, it is below.
Having Donkey Kong as a team member brings a whole new level of gameplay, fun, and tactics for you to enjoy and explore. One such fun aspect is well-placed Vines, which DK can use to swing across the map and use to his advantage, you will be surprised of how much ground you can actually cover. That is not the only thing he can do, bongos out, getting his groove on, he can mesmerise Rabbids with his beats, bring them in closer, then ground pound them all. DK can also pick up enemies or foes and throw them, even at the end of his own movement phase, this allows for some extraordinary amount of coverage during one turn. DK is so STRONG, he can pick up and throw cover around, even status effect covers, not only that DK also has a massive health pool, to me, he has to be the next best character to play in the game over Rabbid Peach.
But then we have Rabbid Cranky, a slow old fart, but has skills to make you drool, like ‘Long Story’, it is a skill that is activated when DK flings him across the battlefield, the skill simply puts nearby enemies to sleep for one turn, rather handy. He also has ‘Old Faithful’, his Walking Stick, which turns into a form of a crossbow, with shotgun and grenade launcher capabilities for an amazing area of effect damage.
With new abilities which seem overpowered, you will soon find out that new and old enemies also have some new abilities as well, which help them, the worse one for me to find was a damn enemy that held a huge shield, which negates all frontal damage, meaning you need to flank to take them down. There are plenty more new enemies to learn, so be prepared and do not expect everything to be as simple as you might think.
Just like the original game stages can offer a mix of objectives, complete in a certain amount of moves, reach a spot on the map or protect a zone, just some of the examples we had in the original which are also included in the expansion, this keeps everything alive.
The world of DK is Beautiful, every chapter takes place in a different environment, from the green and colourful jungles to yet a colourful underground zone. Not only that, if you are a fan and have played a Donkey Kong game, you will notice a sprinkle of musical flair as Ubisoft has used and created their own versions of some of the classic music scores used within them.
The one thing I really enjoyed seeing when exploring the original game where the Rabbids pissing about in the background, to my delight they are included in the expansion, these small, somewhat insignificant qwerks keep a smile on my face, and break up the gameplay.
Overall the expansion to me, in my opinion, is great, its shorter than the base game, but this is what I expected, the game adds variety, new challenges, plenty of puzzles and hidden chests to find. The game took approx 7hr to complete, but that was not 100% completed, I still have things to find, and get a better score in some stages. DK and Rabbid Cranky are amazing new characters to play, but you are locked into only playing them as well as Rabbid Peach through the whole of the expansion, which is a shame as you do not get a chance to mix it up. I would have liked to of seen more characters from the DK universe added to the mix and playable.
If you loved the original outing, love DK, then you going to love the expansion, and I would wholly recommend buying it.
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