Find me a rhythm game with some lasting appeal to it and I guarantee you that I will become addicted to it quicker than a popular brew at my favorite bar. There have been a few favorites over the years that I've loved such as any given Dance Dance Revolution game, the long-lost Konami arcade game Dance Freaks, Sega's unforgettable Samba De Amigo (SAMBA!), and, most recently, Namco's addictively wild Taiko Drum Master, one of last year's most overlooked party games. But I've never really gotten into Donkey Konga for some reason. It's not like Namco and Nintendo didn't try to pour appeal into the title, but it's not very appealing at all. It's an alright game, but I was left wanting more.

With Donkey Konga 2, very little has changed. Of course, that's going to be good news for fans who think it's the next big thing that will wear down their GameCube with "party till 5 AM" sessions. But that's also bad news for the legions of gamers who fell into the same category I did, not getting what all the hoopla was about and instead turning to something a little more inventive and stylish. A good party game should be accessible to everyone and Donkey Konga 2 feels like a "members only" affair.

Let's start with the basics. The game still contains a single player mode called Street Performance where you can earn coins and spend them on mini-games in the Mini Lab (renamed from Ape Arcade in Donkey Konga). These two mini games are the freshest thing about the sequel, introducing the world to a unique yet somewhat difficult timing game called Rhythm Keeper and a fun little game known as Barrel Race. Rhythm takes a while to master, and may even frustrate some, but Barrel has some appeal, working like a puzzle game where pieces must be eliminated with bongo motions. It's actually a novel idea.

Anyway, as you proceed further into the game, you can also earn some new drum sets which can be customized to your liking, complete with new sound effects. More than likely, this won't draw a big crowd because the gameplay is generally the same, but those who wouldn't mind mixing up their action with something wacky may enjoy it. Also, if single player antics bore you, you can always try the Jam Session mode (called Concert in the first game), where you can challenge up to three friends in an all-out session for bongo domination. I played against a couple of friends in this, but it's nowhere near as fun as it looks in the ad.

Notice something there? Nintendo tried to "freshen up" the product simply by renaming it instead of taking it in a new direction. Concert mode simply came back as Jam Session and the Ape Arcade has become the Music Lab. Something novel could have gone into Donkey Konga 2, like a barrel-bashing mode or maybe even something with more versus multiplayer emphasis, like a "close out" effect that some of Activision's earlier sports games possessed. Unfortunately, Nintendo didn't capitalize on the opportunity.

The graphics are still colorful but the visuals aren't taxing the hardware. The gameplay itself too remains fast-paced, complete with clapping, timed bongo beats, and the occasional "drum roll" that consists of pounding the bongos to a certain end, but again it just fails to catch on. But then we come to the thing that really made me shelve Donkey Konga 2, something that comes into play whenever a rhythm/music game is concerned, and that's the actual music.

When this game arrived in Japan it had a diverse soundtrack that includes some classic Namco tunes, some J-Pop favorites, and a few anime tracks but then came the horrid US soundtrack. The Nintendo classics featured in the first game are no more, and instead we have a mixture of mostly crappy songs. Some, like "La Bamba" and "High Roller", definitely have their moments, but then you run into something like Hilary Duff's "Come Clean" or Staind's "It's Been Awhile", a great song in itself but something that doesn't have a place in a party game, if you know what I mean. I'm still trying to figure out why "Losing My Religion" by R.E.M. was included. I think Nintendo should've loosened up here and kept the bouncy soundtrack the game originally came with instead of going on a licensed frenzy trying to find tunes we recognize.

Donkey Konga 2 isn't a horrible game by any means, but it's a game that's been done before and really done better. The original had a little more appeal because of its varied song selection, even if the gameplay wasn't as catchy to everyone as Nintendo hoped. Here, DK2 is just a lame sequel. If anyone needs me, I'll be playing Taiko Drum Master and mastering the Hard level of "Don Rangers".