Banjo-Tooie, not the best name, but one of the best games
Warning - Fucking Long!
Banjo Kazooie was a true gem of a platformer, it had a huge cast of characters, loads of things to collect, great humor, terrific graphics and sound and a length adventure. The game was so good a sequal was needed, and it didn't take Rare that long to give us one. But has this pair still got a jar full, or are they all out of honey?
The game takes place 2 years after the events of Banjo-Kazooie and Gruntilda the Witch is still where she landed and Klungo is trying ever so despratly to release her from the boulder's grasp. On a dark and spooky night Banjo and Kazooie are playing a game of cards with there old friends Bootles the Short Sighted Mole and the Magic Shamen Mumbo Jumbo. there card game is going well untill a tremor disturbs the game and the whole house shakes from top to bottom. Mumbo goes to investigate whats causing the disturbance, which gives Kazooie an oppertunity to steal his money! Anyway so Mumbo is outside and finds out that the disturbance was made by a huge digger machine, two witches come out of the digger known as "Hag 1", Mingella and Blobedda, Grunty's sisters. Mumbo watches the two witches as they free Grunty from the boulder with the aid of a spell, however what comes out is not what went in. Grunty is not the green old hag she used to be, now she's a bony old hag, her flesh has all rotted and been eaten by worms because she was under there so long. The girls devise a plan to make Grunty how she once was, they have a machine that sucks up the life force of anything that is in its path. Grunty decides to suck up the life force of the whole island, but this will take some time. The girls are about to leave and head back to there castle but Mumbo is spotted by one of the witches. Grunty gives chase but Mumbo is alot faster and less fat so he gets away, but Mumbo leads Grunty to Banjo's House. Grunty finnaly has the oppertunity to take her revenge on the bear and bird and son't waste anytime, she fires a deadly spell heading straight for the house. Mumbo rushed in and warns everybody of the incoming spell, Banjo and Kazooie dash out to safety but Bottles thinks its a wind up and stays put. Grunty and her sisters make there way to the castle and set minions (Including Klungo) apon Spiral Mountin to destroy whats left. The following morning Banjo, Kazooie and Mumbo wake to find Spiral Mountuin destroyed, including the house, and then shortly after Bottles staggers out of the house, and then die's infront of the trio. Mumbo sets off to stop the witch, kazooie can't wait to peck some witch butt again, but I don't think it's going to be as easy this time round.
You are given more options to begin with than Banjo-Kazooie, you can copy game saves and erase them. Replay boss's and minigames that you've encounted in the game. Watch the cinimatics in the game, adjust the screen brightnes and size and much much more. There is also an multiplayer mode for up for 4 players which we will go into more depth later. The game also saves onto the cartridge with up to 3 game saves at one time.
As with Banjo Kazooie the controls are solid, moving Banjo is very easy and you'll never find yourself moving in a diffrent direction from where you want to go. When in flight the controls are also solid and when your underwater. The movement is very fluid and makes it look like Banjo and Kazooie are actully in the world not just characters playing ontop of the world. By the end of the game you'd think that with 40 moves under its belt you'd need to write them all down or jam them into your head, but the moves are so simplistic to use and most of all they feel natural. To crouch for instance you just press and hold down the Z button, then from that position you can fire eggs, do a little charge, go invincable for a short amount of time or do a backflip.
The camara is used using the 4 C buttons which is again resposnsive and reliable. Firing eggs has never been this easy, this time around you can fire eggs in First Person mode and even use them in water or in air. this opens up alot of new possiblitys.
In Banjo-Kazooie there were instances when you would enter a small room and the camara would go kinda crazy and you wouldn't beable to turn it round to where you wanted to see. That has been remastered for Banjo-Tooie and now you will have hard to no probelms with the camara. There are the occasional moements when the camra would be in the wrong position, but with the simple press of the R button it will get back to where its meant to be.
Without good controls even the best looking game would be bad, the same can be said about the level design. Banjo-Kazooie had some levels that put Super Mario 64 to shame, I mean who didn't love the design of the season changing Click Clock Wood? But Banjo-Tooie takes it to a whole new level.
In the game there are 8 creative and imagnative levels, and what makes the level design so good is that fact that they don't feel like levels, the game feels like one whole big one. Each level one way or another connects with another leve, for instance. The first level Mayham Temple connects to The 5th level and the 7th level, how cool is that. This gives lots of oppetunitys for some intresting gameplay. The levels themselves are also much bigger than banjo-Kazooie's levels, and each one has been carefully customised to make sure each one is it's own adventure. The levels are so big infact that in the levels there are warp pads which will take you to other parts of the level, now thats just cool!
Banjo-Kazooie was heavy on the "Collect Stuff" gameplay mechanic and it the same this time around aswell. The main focus of the game is ofcourse collecting golden jigsaw pieces called Jiggys. Jiggys is what opens levels so if you haven't got Jiggys you can't progress, so by collecting Jiggys you can open up more levels which house 10 more Jiggys which will be used to contuine your adventure untill finnaly you have enough to open the door to Grunty's Castle. Jiggys are alot more harder to collect this time around as the game focus's quite alot of the puzzle element, the game requires you to think this time around and not just run up and grab it.
Another thing to collect are musical notes, they are not as heavy as there were in the first game mind you. Instead of spending ages seraching round the whole leval for them indivudually there in bundles of 5's and also theres a treble clef which holds 20 notes. These are not used to open doors this time around, you use them to learn moves by giving them to a character called JamJars. In exchange for notes he will teach you some moves. And thankfully the biggest improvement with the notes is that when you leave a level they stay gone and don't come back, so unlike in Banjo-Kazooie when you leeave a level with 95 notes you don't have to collect all of them again just to get 100, makes it much easier.
The Jingo's are back and seem to have got themselves lost again, but even the though the concept may have changed its the same plan. Instead of having to find 5 Jingo's in each world to gain a Jiggy you simply must find all of the same colour Jingo to gain that colur Jingo's Jiggy. For example, in the 1st level you may come across a Red Jingo. In his family there may be 5 members, so untill you find those other 4 members which could be scattered across all of the levels you won't be getting his Jiggy. Some familys only have 1 member while another may have 9, so as I said, the concept may have changed but its pretty much the same thing.
Other things to collect include Cheato Pages. Cheato has lost all of pages from Banjo-Kazooie and needs you to go and find them, once you've found 5 pages bring them back to him and he'll reward you with a cheat. You also must find Glowbo's, they replace the Mumbo Tokens from the 1st game. theres two in each world so keep an eye out. There are also as in Banjo_kazooie Empty honeycomb pieces to collect and when you collect a certain amount you can increase your life bar. (Which is as in BK) Honeycombs which fall out of enemies as they die) And in levels you may have certain objects to collect like eggs, seeds, fish ECT.
Bottles is dead, but that dosn't mean your not going to learn any new moves, oh no. In the 1st leval you'll come across his brothr JamJars who claims to have a far greater knoledge of moves than his stupid brother. So you'll learn lots of new and exciting moves in the game, one of the most important in your Jiggy hunt will be the split pads. The Split Pads will allow Banjo and Kazooie to split up and beable to move about feely without there companion, this allows each character to do things they can't do toegther. Banjo will learn how to get in his backpack to fit into tight spaces, Kazooie will learn the art of hatching eggs ect. Eggs also are vastly improved here, you have your standard blue eggs from Banjo-Kazooie ofcourse. But prepare yourself for fire eggs, grenade eggs, ice eggs and clockwork bomb eggs. Each eggs can be used in diffrent situatios which again opens up more possibiltys.
The wellys and the speedy shoes are here aswell but they've got company as two new types of footwear come out. The Spriny boots which allow you to jump Reaaaaaaaaaaaaaly high and the suction boots which allow you to walk up certian walls and surfaces. its a shame though that the speedy shoes and wellys arn't used once, infact you don't even need to use the wellys at all. Mini games were lacking in Banjo-Kazooie, there were a few but they were far an few between, well in Banjo-Tooie Minigames gallore! there are just so many diffrent things you can play. I mean at some points kazooie turns into a gun and it goes all Goldeneye, at another time you race a bird on a clockwork mouse and ofcourse theres the Tower of Tradady quiz. Alot of these games put Mario party to shame!
Boss's wern't really "there" so to speak in Banjo-Kazooie, the ones that were didn't feel like boss's rather big enemys, but this time there bigger and bader than ever. The boss's in the game are unquie in there own way, each level has a boss and there actully quite challeneging. One time you'll be fighting a giant welding machines while another you'll fight a big infalatble thing while another time you'll fight a terminator Mumbo Jumbo! They defantly improved the boss facot here.
Remeber the Mumbo Jumbo? In Banjo-Kazooie he helped you by transforming you into diffrent objects and creatures, well this time around he gets his 5 minites of fame and actully becomes a main character. Mumbo controls the same as Banjo but has less health and one attack, so whats he used for. Well through the level's there are mumbo pads, stand on it as Mumbo and he'll perfom some sort of magic whether it be levitation or making it rain. So does this mean you don't get to turn into stuff? Not a chance! Theres a new shamen on the block, and her name is Humba Wumba, with a glowbow you can transform into a object or a creature, in every leval not just a select few as in the first game. They are quite more creative this time round because you'll be turning into a missle firring submarine to a underwear throwing washer.
Banjo-Tooie at a first glance may not seem that diffent graphically, but spend a little longer with it and you'll notice the diffrence. The biggest improvment is the drawback distance, it has been vastly improved and you can see from one side of the level to another. (As long as theres nothing in the way ofcourse, he hasn't got infared vision :P) And even from far away all of the great textures are still highly viable and better than ever.
First seen in Diddy Kong Racing, Rare's dynamic lighting makes a return. Many areas in the game will have different colored light sources, which will affect all of the characters that enter that area. In addition, a real-time shadow is now in place for the main characters that will bend and move realistically with the light source. Keep in mind that all of this is done without using the Expansion Pak. One thing that Rare as a whole are good at is making memarable tunes, well they've had a field day with Banjo-Tooie as we can blantly tell by the moement we begin. Each level has a diffrent theme to it, and even in a level it on ocassions seemlesy changes music depending on where you are.
Sound effects actully havent changed at all for the old items, which can be good and bad depending on your prefrence, Notes, Feathers, Jiggys, Honeycombs all have the same sound effects. And all of the new items have the useal sound effects that you'd expect, all good none the less. As the limitations of the cartridges voice acting is asmiss, so as with the 1st game its a jumble of grunts and groans and Mmms and Aaahs and burps and farts and every noise you could imagnge. Its not bad though and provides alot of the humor.
Equally impressive is the clever writing. In classic Banjo-Kazooie style, Banjo is still as thick as a rock and Kazooie is just as mean as ever. The dialogue, if you can swallow the limey humor, is very funny. For instance when you meet up with an old character Loggo the toilet you find he is all blocked up and he asks you to unblock him, Kazooie asks why don't you give Mario a call and Loggo says I don't think he does that stuff anywaymore. Thats a references to the fact that Mario dosn't do plumbing anymore. The game is also filled with lots of adult humor too that will keep the grow ups entertained, very solid writing.
The cast of characters is also as good as ever, each character has there own pacfic animation and there own noise and there own personalty. Thats incredably good for a N64 game seeing as theres so many of them, I wouldn't be made to say theres dozens and dozens and dozens of them each cracking jokes. New characters join the cast like the emmfemite frog Jolly Roger to the sexy bee Honey B. Old characters also make a return like the unlucky Gobi the Camel to Boggy the Polar Bear, who has taken to watching men in there underwear....
The game is quite challenging and if you have't played Banjo-Kazooie its even harder, as I said earlier there are more puzzles in the game and they require you to think more. So it is quite a tough challenge, if you get 100% you should feel proud. The main game is quite a hefty adventure as it features so much backtracking not seeen in most platformers. For instance in the first level there are some places which you cannot accsess because you havn't learnt that move yet and stuff like that which will require you to come back. so you'll be in levels more than once. The game will take the averge player 15-20 hours to complete.
Unlike the 1st game this one features a multiplayter mode which keeps you coming back. You can play all of the minigames again with up to 4 players chosing from a cast of characters from the main game. Some of the games are better than others, you'll spend most your time on the Goldeneye style games and The Tower of Tradagay quiz. It isn't Goldeneye but its better than nothing.
Banjo-Tooie is a revolotionary adventure that should not be missed, if you own a N64 you should already own this game, if not then shame on you. Banjo-Tooie may not be the best tittle in the world, but it dosn't come far off the best game in the world.
Thanks for Reading
The game takes place 2 years after the events of Banjo-Kazooie and Gruntilda the Witch is still where she landed and Klungo is trying ever so despratly to release her from the boulder's grasp. On a dark and spooky night Banjo and Kazooie are playing a game of cards with there old friends Bootles the Short Sighted Mole and the Magic Shamen Mumbo Jumbo. there card game is going well untill a tremor disturbs the game and the whole house shakes from top to bottom. Mumbo goes to investigate whats causing the disturbance, which gives Kazooie an oppertunity to steal his money! Anyway so Mumbo is outside and finds out that the disturbance was made by a huge digger machine, two witches come out of the digger known as "Hag 1", Mingella and Blobedda, Grunty's sisters. Mumbo watches the two witches as they free Grunty from the boulder with the aid of a spell, however what comes out is not what went in. Grunty is not the green old hag she used to be, now she's a bony old hag, her flesh has all rotted and been eaten by worms because she was under there so long. The girls devise a plan to make Grunty how she once was, they have a machine that sucks up the life force of anything that is in its path. Grunty decides to suck up the life force of the whole island, but this will take some time. The girls are about to leave and head back to there castle but Mumbo is spotted by one of the witches. Grunty gives chase but Mumbo is alot faster and less fat so he gets away, but Mumbo leads Grunty to Banjo's House. Grunty finnaly has the oppertunity to take her revenge on the bear and bird and son't waste anytime, she fires a deadly spell heading straight for the house. Mumbo rushed in and warns everybody of the incoming spell, Banjo and Kazooie dash out to safety but Bottles thinks its a wind up and stays put. Grunty and her sisters make there way to the castle and set minions (Including Klungo) apon Spiral Mountin to destroy whats left. The following morning Banjo, Kazooie and Mumbo wake to find Spiral Mountuin destroyed, including the house, and then shortly after Bottles staggers out of the house, and then die's infront of the trio. Mumbo sets off to stop the witch, kazooie can't wait to peck some witch butt again, but I don't think it's going to be as easy this time round.
You are given more options to begin with than Banjo-Kazooie, you can copy game saves and erase them. Replay boss's and minigames that you've encounted in the game. Watch the cinimatics in the game, adjust the screen brightnes and size and much much more. There is also an multiplayer mode for up for 4 players which we will go into more depth later. The game also saves onto the cartridge with up to 3 game saves at one time.
As with Banjo Kazooie the controls are solid, moving Banjo is very easy and you'll never find yourself moving in a diffrent direction from where you want to go. When in flight the controls are also solid and when your underwater. The movement is very fluid and makes it look like Banjo and Kazooie are actully in the world not just characters playing ontop of the world. By the end of the game you'd think that with 40 moves under its belt you'd need to write them all down or jam them into your head, but the moves are so simplistic to use and most of all they feel natural. To crouch for instance you just press and hold down the Z button, then from that position you can fire eggs, do a little charge, go invincable for a short amount of time or do a backflip.
The camara is used using the 4 C buttons which is again resposnsive and reliable. Firing eggs has never been this easy, this time around you can fire eggs in First Person mode and even use them in water or in air. this opens up alot of new possiblitys.
In Banjo-Kazooie there were instances when you would enter a small room and the camara would go kinda crazy and you wouldn't beable to turn it round to where you wanted to see. That has been remastered for Banjo-Tooie and now you will have hard to no probelms with the camara. There are the occasional moements when the camra would be in the wrong position, but with the simple press of the R button it will get back to where its meant to be.
Without good controls even the best looking game would be bad, the same can be said about the level design. Banjo-Kazooie had some levels that put Super Mario 64 to shame, I mean who didn't love the design of the season changing Click Clock Wood? But Banjo-Tooie takes it to a whole new level.
In the game there are 8 creative and imagnative levels, and what makes the level design so good is that fact that they don't feel like levels, the game feels like one whole big one. Each level one way or another connects with another leve, for instance. The first level Mayham Temple connects to The 5th level and the 7th level, how cool is that. This gives lots of oppetunitys for some intresting gameplay. The levels themselves are also much bigger than banjo-Kazooie's levels, and each one has been carefully customised to make sure each one is it's own adventure. The levels are so big infact that in the levels there are warp pads which will take you to other parts of the level, now thats just cool!
Banjo-Kazooie was heavy on the "Collect Stuff" gameplay mechanic and it the same this time around aswell. The main focus of the game is ofcourse collecting golden jigsaw pieces called Jiggys. Jiggys is what opens levels so if you haven't got Jiggys you can't progress, so by collecting Jiggys you can open up more levels which house 10 more Jiggys which will be used to contuine your adventure untill finnaly you have enough to open the door to Grunty's Castle. Jiggys are alot more harder to collect this time around as the game focus's quite alot of the puzzle element, the game requires you to think this time around and not just run up and grab it.
Another thing to collect are musical notes, they are not as heavy as there were in the first game mind you. Instead of spending ages seraching round the whole leval for them indivudually there in bundles of 5's and also theres a treble clef which holds 20 notes. These are not used to open doors this time around, you use them to learn moves by giving them to a character called JamJars. In exchange for notes he will teach you some moves. And thankfully the biggest improvement with the notes is that when you leave a level they stay gone and don't come back, so unlike in Banjo-Kazooie when you leeave a level with 95 notes you don't have to collect all of them again just to get 100, makes it much easier.
The Jingo's are back and seem to have got themselves lost again, but even the though the concept may have changed its the same plan. Instead of having to find 5 Jingo's in each world to gain a Jiggy you simply must find all of the same colour Jingo to gain that colur Jingo's Jiggy. For example, in the 1st level you may come across a Red Jingo. In his family there may be 5 members, so untill you find those other 4 members which could be scattered across all of the levels you won't be getting his Jiggy. Some familys only have 1 member while another may have 9, so as I said, the concept may have changed but its pretty much the same thing.
Other things to collect include Cheato Pages. Cheato has lost all of pages from Banjo-Kazooie and needs you to go and find them, once you've found 5 pages bring them back to him and he'll reward you with a cheat. You also must find Glowbo's, they replace the Mumbo Tokens from the 1st game. theres two in each world so keep an eye out. There are also as in Banjo_kazooie Empty honeycomb pieces to collect and when you collect a certain amount you can increase your life bar. (Which is as in BK) Honeycombs which fall out of enemies as they die) And in levels you may have certain objects to collect like eggs, seeds, fish ECT.
Bottles is dead, but that dosn't mean your not going to learn any new moves, oh no. In the 1st leval you'll come across his brothr JamJars who claims to have a far greater knoledge of moves than his stupid brother. So you'll learn lots of new and exciting moves in the game, one of the most important in your Jiggy hunt will be the split pads. The Split Pads will allow Banjo and Kazooie to split up and beable to move about feely without there companion, this allows each character to do things they can't do toegther. Banjo will learn how to get in his backpack to fit into tight spaces, Kazooie will learn the art of hatching eggs ect. Eggs also are vastly improved here, you have your standard blue eggs from Banjo-Kazooie ofcourse. But prepare yourself for fire eggs, grenade eggs, ice eggs and clockwork bomb eggs. Each eggs can be used in diffrent situatios which again opens up more possibiltys.
The wellys and the speedy shoes are here aswell but they've got company as two new types of footwear come out. The Spriny boots which allow you to jump Reaaaaaaaaaaaaaly high and the suction boots which allow you to walk up certian walls and surfaces. its a shame though that the speedy shoes and wellys arn't used once, infact you don't even need to use the wellys at all. Mini games were lacking in Banjo-Kazooie, there were a few but they were far an few between, well in Banjo-Tooie Minigames gallore! there are just so many diffrent things you can play. I mean at some points kazooie turns into a gun and it goes all Goldeneye, at another time you race a bird on a clockwork mouse and ofcourse theres the Tower of Tradady quiz. Alot of these games put Mario party to shame!
Boss's wern't really "there" so to speak in Banjo-Kazooie, the ones that were didn't feel like boss's rather big enemys, but this time there bigger and bader than ever. The boss's in the game are unquie in there own way, each level has a boss and there actully quite challeneging. One time you'll be fighting a giant welding machines while another you'll fight a big infalatble thing while another time you'll fight a terminator Mumbo Jumbo! They defantly improved the boss facot here.
Remeber the Mumbo Jumbo? In Banjo-Kazooie he helped you by transforming you into diffrent objects and creatures, well this time around he gets his 5 minites of fame and actully becomes a main character. Mumbo controls the same as Banjo but has less health and one attack, so whats he used for. Well through the level's there are mumbo pads, stand on it as Mumbo and he'll perfom some sort of magic whether it be levitation or making it rain. So does this mean you don't get to turn into stuff? Not a chance! Theres a new shamen on the block, and her name is Humba Wumba, with a glowbow you can transform into a object or a creature, in every leval not just a select few as in the first game. They are quite more creative this time round because you'll be turning into a missle firring submarine to a underwear throwing washer.
Banjo-Tooie at a first glance may not seem that diffent graphically, but spend a little longer with it and you'll notice the diffrence. The biggest improvment is the drawback distance, it has been vastly improved and you can see from one side of the level to another. (As long as theres nothing in the way ofcourse, he hasn't got infared vision :P) And even from far away all of the great textures are still highly viable and better than ever.
First seen in Diddy Kong Racing, Rare's dynamic lighting makes a return. Many areas in the game will have different colored light sources, which will affect all of the characters that enter that area. In addition, a real-time shadow is now in place for the main characters that will bend and move realistically with the light source. Keep in mind that all of this is done without using the Expansion Pak. One thing that Rare as a whole are good at is making memarable tunes, well they've had a field day with Banjo-Tooie as we can blantly tell by the moement we begin. Each level has a diffrent theme to it, and even in a level it on ocassions seemlesy changes music depending on where you are.
Sound effects actully havent changed at all for the old items, which can be good and bad depending on your prefrence, Notes, Feathers, Jiggys, Honeycombs all have the same sound effects. And all of the new items have the useal sound effects that you'd expect, all good none the less. As the limitations of the cartridges voice acting is asmiss, so as with the 1st game its a jumble of grunts and groans and Mmms and Aaahs and burps and farts and every noise you could imagnge. Its not bad though and provides alot of the humor.
Equally impressive is the clever writing. In classic Banjo-Kazooie style, Banjo is still as thick as a rock and Kazooie is just as mean as ever. The dialogue, if you can swallow the limey humor, is very funny. For instance when you meet up with an old character Loggo the toilet you find he is all blocked up and he asks you to unblock him, Kazooie asks why don't you give Mario a call and Loggo says I don't think he does that stuff anywaymore. Thats a references to the fact that Mario dosn't do plumbing anymore. The game is also filled with lots of adult humor too that will keep the grow ups entertained, very solid writing.
The cast of characters is also as good as ever, each character has there own pacfic animation and there own noise and there own personalty. Thats incredably good for a N64 game seeing as theres so many of them, I wouldn't be made to say theres dozens and dozens and dozens of them each cracking jokes. New characters join the cast like the emmfemite frog Jolly Roger to the sexy bee Honey B. Old characters also make a return like the unlucky Gobi the Camel to Boggy the Polar Bear, who has taken to watching men in there underwear....
The game is quite challenging and if you have't played Banjo-Kazooie its even harder, as I said earlier there are more puzzles in the game and they require you to think more. So it is quite a tough challenge, if you get 100% you should feel proud. The main game is quite a hefty adventure as it features so much backtracking not seeen in most platformers. For instance in the first level there are some places which you cannot accsess because you havn't learnt that move yet and stuff like that which will require you to come back. so you'll be in levels more than once. The game will take the averge player 15-20 hours to complete.
Unlike the 1st game this one features a multiplayter mode which keeps you coming back. You can play all of the minigames again with up to 4 players chosing from a cast of characters from the main game. Some of the games are better than others, you'll spend most your time on the Goldeneye style games and The Tower of Tradagay quiz. It isn't Goldeneye but its better than nothing.
Banjo-Tooie is a revolotionary adventure that should not be missed, if you own a N64 you should already own this game, if not then shame on you. Banjo-Tooie may not be the best tittle in the world, but it dosn't come far off the best game in the world.
Thanks for Reading
