Review scores are a tricky thing to talk about in the gaming space. There was a time when they were one of the most trusted things around, but, if we’re being honest, reviews are one of the most subjective things out there. After all, how YOU feel about a game and some of the things that “make it great” or “hold it back” won’t be the same from what other people think about the title. Thus, you may need to see a more “collective opinion” about what the game is truly about. That “collective opinion” for Donkey Kong Bananza has dropped, and it looks like this game is a smash hit among critics.
At the time of this writing, Donkey Kong Bananza has a score of 90 on Metacritic, with 79 reviewers giving their score so far. Given the number of people already posting their scores, the grade of “90” likely won’t change that much. It could go up or down by a point, but it’s likely going to remain. That means that DK’s newest game is one of the highest-rated games of the year, and will definitely be a “Game of the Year” contender for most.
So, after seeing the scores below, you might think, what are people saying specifically about the title?
First, you’ll want to know that, as shown above, there were multiple perfect scores for the game. Many of those scores praised not only the game’s ambition, but its ability to make Donkey Kong feel like more than a “second banana,” as he has in certain past titles, or even his own ranking within the Nintendo pantheon. They also praised the game’s destruction mechanic, noting that you can “ignore the story” just so you can smash things up and see what’s underneath the area you’re tearing up.
They even praised the Nintendo Switch 2, and its ability to not only handle everything going on with the gameplay, but also make the game feel truly beautiful.
Even when you get to the non-100 scores, you get some incredible praise for Donkey Kong and his game, with some stating that even Mario and his titles would have a hard time rivaling some of what DK did in this game.
The only real “complaints” about the title were that some people had small “technical issues,” and many wondered if it “had the legs” of certain Mario games of the past. Regardless, it’s clear that critics love it, and you might love it, too, when it drops on Nintendo Switch 2 tomorrow!
