DK's previous outing Donkey Kong: King of Swing gave the character a new style of platformer. All the gameplay was focused on manoeuvring DK around floating pegs, with movement entirely based around the L and R buttons. Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber brings this formula to the DS, improves on it, and adds an extra screen for a wider view. Jungle Climber isn't exactly a sequel to King of Swing, but it has been made to give the concept another shot in the gaming world.

One of the biggest criticisms of King of Swing was the graphics. The cartoon style felt like a large step back from the Donkey Kong Country games. Jungle Climber fixes this by using lovely pre-rendered sprites for a 3D effect, just like the much-loved Country series.

As previously stated, you'll mainly be using just the L and R buttons. L makes DK's left hand grab the next peg (i.e. a circle suspended in mid air) and R does the same for right. When you are only holding on to one peg, DK will spin on the peg. Pressing both shoulder buttons causes DK to jump – which requires precision when spinning around pegs. The A button is used for jump attacks (this required holding L and R to charge the attack in King of Swing) which can kill enemies, but you must time it right to hit them in the right place – you don't want to attack bees in their stinger, for example.

As well as climbing your way through all the levels, Jungle Climber is a massive collect-a-thon, with lots of additional content to unlock. There are loads of bananas, plus four K-O-N-G letters on each level, which can earn you extra lives. Coins come in two varieties: 5 normal coins and 1 large DK coin are hidden in each level to unlock mini-games and cheats. Fuel tanks (which seem a bit of a random choice) unlock an insanely difficult level in each world. All of this means is that there will be plenty to keep you occupied once you beat the final boss. Lastly, you can collect jewels that give you power-ups, like the ability to fly around at will for 10 seconds. Diddy Kong is also relegated to a useful power-up in Jungle Climber, acting as an “extra jump” to flick out-of-reach switches.

On top of the main game and mini-games is the multi-player mode. There are various modes, from a simple first-to-the-top idea to a racing game where you must race around laps using rocket-propelled barrels. The best thing is that it can be played using just one game card.

Donkey Kong Jungle Climber is set to have a steep learning curve. The first few levels are planned to be friendly, though the last few are being prepped to be a real challenge. Couple that in with the much harder unlockable levels and you have a game that should test your gaming skills. You'll need to master using and moving around obstacles such as bouncing tyres, sunflowers that fling you upwards, switches, spinning corn-on-the-cobs, beach balls that pop to reveal a shower of items and much more.

Can this shoulder gameplay still feel fresh for another title? Will the difficulty be annoying or keep you coming back for more? To find the answers, keep an eye out for our review.