Kaze and the Wild Masks is a must-own platformer — especially for anyone craving a new Donkey Kong Country game. The flow of the action is in line with Rare’s classic trilogy, and outshines the Returns games as well as Yooka-Laylee: The Impossible Lair. It features smooth controls and a lot of anti-frustration features to craft something that still offers a fair challenge, but scales the difficulty better than most and finds a healthy balance between collecting things and making doing so a chore. It’s genuinely rewarding to collect everything in a stage, but beating a stage on its own is still a lot of fun. It looks great and has a fantastic soundtrack to boot. No matter what platform you have, you’re in for a fun time with Kaze.

In conclusion Kaze and the Wild Masks was a game I was hyped for …. And it delivered. This can be compared to Donkey Kong Country 2 from back in the day. Platforming fans and gamers that take a shine to retro-styled games will like this. The easy mode makes it more accessible to those who might have more difficulty with platforming while not penalizing the player for choosing it. Kaze and the Wild Masks is quality 90’s gaming … today.

Kaze and the Wild Masks brought me back to a simpler time where I just enjoyed playing a memorable platforming game. It pays homage to numerous classics but makes a name for itself along the way. While it may not gain the same level of appreciation and following as the classics, it can certainly hang in there with the best of them. If you yearn for those 16bit glory days of 90’s platforming, Kaze and the Wild Masks will bring back those waves of nostalgia while giving you plenty to strive to collect.

I cannot recommend this game enough. I loved Kaze and the Wild Masks, and hope it finds the audience it deserves so we might get more games from this team. It really ticked all the boxes I would expect from a game inspired by the mascot platformers I grew up with. It also helps that the game is coming to every platform imaginable. Do not hesitate if you love titles like Donkey Kong Country or even have the most minute nostalgia for that plethora of mascot platformers from the mid -to-late 90s. This game hits all those notes while injecting its own flavor to the cause.

Sure, it’s attention-grabbing to do something new, and innovation does get reviewers hot around the collar. But, most of the time, we just want a good thing done well, and Kaze and the Wild Masks does its 2D platforming extremely well. While Kaze and the Wild Masks on Xbox wears the masks of various platformers, like Donkey Kong Country and Rayman, they’re all polished to a mighty sheen.

A game that will still appeal to those who love the platform. Just don't expect to be knocked down.