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Donkey Kong 3 Game Review

Donkey Kong 3 is a 1983 shoot ‘em up video game developed and published by Nintendo for the arcades and later ported to the NES. It’s a very lackluster sequel.

This game was well received when it first came out, but in retrospect it’s looked upon harshly. And I have to say that I understand all of those criticisms given that this sequel not only didn’t play all that well, but was hardly a fit for this particular franchise.

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You see, instead of being a platformer like its predecessors, this third entry is a shooter, a shoot ‘em up to be precise. Its gameplay is reminiscent of numerous other shooters from this era, so it’s rather unoriginal. You play as this odd character called Stanley. He is an insect exterminator who has to protect Donkey Kong from all of these bugs.

The premise is odd, the characters made no sense and the entire game felt like a cash grab. I have a big problem with this entry not feeling like it fits in this series, but an even bigger issue I find in the execution. You have to spray either the bugs to kill them all off or you can spray at Donkey Kong to force him to the top of the screen. The level ends when you achieve one of the two goals.

But the problem here is that you do not really know which of these two actions to complete as the game never explains it to you. And it’s not easy to just focus on one thing as you feel like you are missing something while not focusing on the other goal. It was all so strange.

Donkey Kong 3 is also a very easy game. When I realized that I could climb to the top of those ladders (again something that the game never explains to you), I sprayed him faster and I finished the levels effortlessly. The bugs can take your flowers away, but these do not affect your life, but just your score, which was a bad choice.

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The game looks and sounds good for the time, but there is hardly any variation between the levels. It controls well and it’s all rather intuitive, but once you finish those first three levels, you are not compelled to continue playing the same loop just to get a bigger score. It’s such an inferior sequel to ‘Donkey Kong Jr.’ that I cannot understand how anyone could say otherwise.

Donkey Kong 3 is at the end of the day a weak sequel that had nothing to do with this franchise, but even worse its gameplay was uninspired and poorly explained. While it looks and sounds good, it’s not particularly fun to play. It lacks variety and it all felt too easy and odd. I did not care for it.

My Rating – 3.2