It's time to plug in your bongos again. Donkey Konga 2 is available in the shops for you. But with already a third part underway we can ask ourselves: Do we really need a second disk with more fake songs? My answer is yes. And here's why.

The original Donkey Konga was, uhm, well, original! A music game controlled with a set of bongos; we've never seen that before. The moment you started playing you knew why everybody was so enthusiastic about this one. But it was just as James said in his CE review: 'This game is an essential purchase for the multiplayer experience alone.' And that's exactly what the problem was with Donkey Konga. It was great fun with two, three or four players; but not when you were all alone.

Donkey Konga tries to resolve this problem with more unlockables and with a few more options. First of all next to the usual street performances, monkey (easy), chimp (hard) and gorilla (expert), where you can try to get gold status on each song, you now also have mixed modes. The notes are different each time you play a song. Also new is the duet mode, where the cu joins you. Together you can clear each song (of course it's also possible to do this with a friend).

But all this drumming by yourself is still not as much fun as with more players. Donkey Konga 2 brings the same modes as in the first one, with little differences. Coins can now also be collected with two players, but there's still no option for a bongo competition. Donkey Konga is a real party game, so we want some options that can be used with more persons. Not just an option for a one song battle. Hopefully this will be included in the third instalment.

Donkey Konga 2 has a total of 33 new songs (and one extra bonus song) imitated by different artists (some great performances, some bad; i.e. the Pink songs). Donkey Konga 1, 31 songs, felt like having too few songs. Are 34 songs in this DK enough then to keep us occupied? My answer is no. It will take a little while before you get tired of some songs. Is it so hard for Nintendo to come up with more than 34 songs? Imagine a Donkey Konga with 50 songs or more. Is it just too expensive for Nintendo to put in more songs? Why couldn't they have just added more songs from the US or Japanese versions?

Furthermore there are a couple of other differences with number one. The presentation of DK 2 is a lot better then the first one. While the first had some boring looking menus, the sequel has a better party look, although the graphics are still N64 quality. This game also offers two brand new mini-games, which are much better then in the original. Plus there's a free-style options, what looks to been designed for drunks or drug-addicts. Play it, and you'll agree. Another fun thing is that the game automatically detects save games from the previous game, importing soundsets unlocked in the first one. A nice extra service.

Unfortunately all these improvements don't make Donkey Konga 2 a better experience than the first one. Donkey Konga is all about drumming on the bongos. But drumming on the bongos doesn't become more amusing. You won't experience the fun you had the first time when you touched the instruments. But hitting them is still fun, and if you don't own the first game or you're not bored with bongo-ing yet, buy DK 2. You won't regret it.

All in all, Donkey Konga 2 is a welcome addition for the GameCube collection. It brings new life to the bongos. We're all probably bored with the songs from the original one by now, so new tunes are always welcome and the new modes offer enough enjoyment. Let's just hope Nintendo isn't doing this same trick over and over again.

We don't want another Mario Party, now do we?