Reminds us of why we love the 3-D platformer so much
Positive:
+ gameplay is very deep with new elements added all the time
+ worlds are very diverse and have a lot of content
+ music tracks are great and change in style when you're in different spots
+ sharp controls that work well for the most part
Negative:
- you have to start your note count every time you re-enter a world
- camera doesn't always give you the best view you need
Super Mario 64 revolutionized the 3-D platformer; and the amount of people who would deny that are probably fewer than the words in this sentence. But when a revolution comes, what's the point of it being so revolutionary unless something comes of it later on? In video games, a game is a revolution indeed when other games take the basic model and take it to a whole new level, and possibly delivering a game that's even better than the root. Whether it really is a beneficiary of the beloved Mario 64 or Rare is just really, really good at making games, that is where we find Banjo-Kazooie.
Games of the platforming genre aren't exactly known for their amazing stories, and Banjo fares no different. Banjo's little sister Tooty is kidnapped by the stereotypical green witch Gruntilda. She has some sort of weird machine that will supposedly transfer Tooty's beauty to herself, and this will leave Banjo's poor sister ugly in the process! So Banjo and his grumpy bird friend Kazooie (who for some reason lives in Banjo's backpack) set out to Gruntilda's lair to save Tooty. The story doesn't take itself very seriously at all but there's a great, humorous tone to it that more than makes up for the lack of depth.
The game doesn't move from place to place at all; the whole thing takes place in Gruntilda's huge lair, key word being 'huge.' This one location is just so big but perfectly balanced with the ease of traversing that it makes the perfect setting for a platforming game. There is a whole lot of variety within the mountain lair, with a sewer, swamp, graveyard, and many other spots. The areas of different theme will almost always take you to one of the game's nine worlds, which are all big, diverse, and have a lot of stuff to find. You'll find yourself at a mountain to begin the game, then moving on to a beach, and later a snow area and haunted mansion-like world, and so on. The game never really runs out of new material to throw at you, which is really nice, even if most of the themes are found in many other games of the genre, too.
Another way Banjo always keeps itself fresh is with the moves you can learn. In most of the levels you can find a mole named Bottles who will teach you a new move if you can find him. These moves are sometimes confined to certain spots or items you can put on, and they all work together perfectly to make the game progress logically. You have to unlock some of these abilities, such as flight and invincibility, to get deeper into Gruntilda's lair, and also to accomplish more in the worlds. The game controls very well too, even with all the added moves, and it doesn't get too complicated. One issue though is with the camera, which you can control the angle of but you still sometimes can't get the viewpoint that's just right for a room or area.
But the core of the game stays the same, no matter how many moves you learn or different worlds you visit. The main objects to collect are jiggies, which are basically pieces of jigsaw puzzles that, when put together, open the door to a new world. Ten of these can be found in each level along with 100 notes, which open up doors to new areas of the lair. Unfortunately the game's note total is merely a combined high score of how many notes you collect in each level; each time you re-enter a world the note count restarts. This is pretty annoying sometimes, and it would have been nice to just keep all the notes so you don't have to recollect all of them again to advance your total note count. Thankfully the jiggies are extremely well-balanced as far as how hard they are to get; in the first world most of them are sitting on the ground like Easter eggs, but as you progress through the game you have to work much harder to earn your way to more worlds.
Graphically Banjo kept up to date well enough. The visuals are just a tad choppy, but they still look good enough, and that sort of thing happened all the time in the N64 era. Sometimes objects that are a little ways away won't appear on screen until you get closer, which thankfully doesn't prove to be too annoying but still would be good if fixed. Despite these few flaws, though, the graphics look great considering the times.
One of Banjo's shining areas aside from gameplay is the sound. The characters speak in a gibberish sort of language (with text shown on the bottom of the screen) and this might annoy some but it's still good to add personality to each character. The sound effects are all good too, no complaints there. The really cool part of the sound, though, is the music. The tracks are cool enough as they are, but when you're standing on a different spot or in a different area, like if you're under water or at the entrance to a different world, the music style and sound totally changes while keeping the same song. Then as you exit the spot the music transitions back to the normal style, and this effect may sound small without actually hearing it but trust me when I say it's really, really cool.
Mario 64 may have been the revolution, but some of the games that derived bits and pieces from it were possibly even better, in my opinion. Banjo-Kazooie is one such game, adding a lot of depth and value to an already proven formula. It may not be the game everyone looked to for inspiration in the game-making world, but Banjo-Kazooie is a real gem from Rare's glory days on the N64, and it makes me want to play the sequel even if it is ten years old.
Gameplay: 9.5
Graphics: 8.5
Sound: 9.5
Camera & Control: 8.5
Value: 9.5
FINAL SCORE: 9.2/10
+ gameplay is very deep with new elements added all the time
+ worlds are very diverse and have a lot of content
+ music tracks are great and change in style when you're in different spots
+ sharp controls that work well for the most part
Negative:
- you have to start your note count every time you re-enter a world
- camera doesn't always give you the best view you need
Super Mario 64 revolutionized the 3-D platformer; and the amount of people who would deny that are probably fewer than the words in this sentence. But when a revolution comes, what's the point of it being so revolutionary unless something comes of it later on? In video games, a game is a revolution indeed when other games take the basic model and take it to a whole new level, and possibly delivering a game that's even better than the root. Whether it really is a beneficiary of the beloved Mario 64 or Rare is just really, really good at making games, that is where we find Banjo-Kazooie.
Games of the platforming genre aren't exactly known for their amazing stories, and Banjo fares no different. Banjo's little sister Tooty is kidnapped by the stereotypical green witch Gruntilda. She has some sort of weird machine that will supposedly transfer Tooty's beauty to herself, and this will leave Banjo's poor sister ugly in the process! So Banjo and his grumpy bird friend Kazooie (who for some reason lives in Banjo's backpack) set out to Gruntilda's lair to save Tooty. The story doesn't take itself very seriously at all but there's a great, humorous tone to it that more than makes up for the lack of depth.
The game doesn't move from place to place at all; the whole thing takes place in Gruntilda's huge lair, key word being 'huge.' This one location is just so big but perfectly balanced with the ease of traversing that it makes the perfect setting for a platforming game. There is a whole lot of variety within the mountain lair, with a sewer, swamp, graveyard, and many other spots. The areas of different theme will almost always take you to one of the game's nine worlds, which are all big, diverse, and have a lot of stuff to find. You'll find yourself at a mountain to begin the game, then moving on to a beach, and later a snow area and haunted mansion-like world, and so on. The game never really runs out of new material to throw at you, which is really nice, even if most of the themes are found in many other games of the genre, too.
Another way Banjo always keeps itself fresh is with the moves you can learn. In most of the levels you can find a mole named Bottles who will teach you a new move if you can find him. These moves are sometimes confined to certain spots or items you can put on, and they all work together perfectly to make the game progress logically. You have to unlock some of these abilities, such as flight and invincibility, to get deeper into Gruntilda's lair, and also to accomplish more in the worlds. The game controls very well too, even with all the added moves, and it doesn't get too complicated. One issue though is with the camera, which you can control the angle of but you still sometimes can't get the viewpoint that's just right for a room or area.
But the core of the game stays the same, no matter how many moves you learn or different worlds you visit. The main objects to collect are jiggies, which are basically pieces of jigsaw puzzles that, when put together, open the door to a new world. Ten of these can be found in each level along with 100 notes, which open up doors to new areas of the lair. Unfortunately the game's note total is merely a combined high score of how many notes you collect in each level; each time you re-enter a world the note count restarts. This is pretty annoying sometimes, and it would have been nice to just keep all the notes so you don't have to recollect all of them again to advance your total note count. Thankfully the jiggies are extremely well-balanced as far as how hard they are to get; in the first world most of them are sitting on the ground like Easter eggs, but as you progress through the game you have to work much harder to earn your way to more worlds.
Graphically Banjo kept up to date well enough. The visuals are just a tad choppy, but they still look good enough, and that sort of thing happened all the time in the N64 era. Sometimes objects that are a little ways away won't appear on screen until you get closer, which thankfully doesn't prove to be too annoying but still would be good if fixed. Despite these few flaws, though, the graphics look great considering the times.
One of Banjo's shining areas aside from gameplay is the sound. The characters speak in a gibberish sort of language (with text shown on the bottom of the screen) and this might annoy some but it's still good to add personality to each character. The sound effects are all good too, no complaints there. The really cool part of the sound, though, is the music. The tracks are cool enough as they are, but when you're standing on a different spot or in a different area, like if you're under water or at the entrance to a different world, the music style and sound totally changes while keeping the same song. Then as you exit the spot the music transitions back to the normal style, and this effect may sound small without actually hearing it but trust me when I say it's really, really cool.
Mario 64 may have been the revolution, but some of the games that derived bits and pieces from it were possibly even better, in my opinion. Banjo-Kazooie is one such game, adding a lot of depth and value to an already proven formula. It may not be the game everyone looked to for inspiration in the game-making world, but Banjo-Kazooie is a real gem from Rare's glory days on the N64, and it makes me want to play the sequel even if it is ten years old.
Gameplay: 9.5
Graphics: 8.5
Sound: 9.5
Camera & Control: 8.5
Value: 9.5
FINAL SCORE: 9.2/10
