I think Rare has a thing for malevolent snowmen. They trotted them out in Battletoads, too, and it wouldn't surprise me if some made an appearance in Saberwulf (which I haven't played at length). As for your review, this was great stuff, a nice look at a game I still haven't played. I went through the first Donkey Kong Country pretty thoroughly, but only touched the intro of the second one and never played this one. Sounds like I've missed out on a lot. One sentence you might want to tighten reads "One stage has you constantly ascending up a series of ropes that are on fire..." If it were me, I would lose the word "up," since it is implied by "ascending," but overall your text is tightly written and engaging, exactly as I have come to expect from an overdrive review.
"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality
"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world
"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world