BANJO TOOIE REVIEW(IE)

In Banjo Tooie's prequel (if you will), Banjo and Kazooie triumphed over the malevolent Gruntilda, managing to bury her under a big boulder. The peace of Spiral Mountain is shattered with the appearance of Gruntilda’s sisters, Mingella and Blobbelda, who rescue their sister and start causing havoc. They developed a machine that sucks the life force out of living things and they hope to use it to restore Gruntilda to her original bulk. Banjo, Kazooie and, everyone’s favorite shaman, Mumbo Jumbo must team up to save the world, collecting Jiggies, Jinjos and music notes!

Banjo-Tooie is a good example of how to make a sequel: keep everything that made the first game so much fun and add features that people asked for. This feels like Banjo-Kazooie, but it's a distinct entity. There are a few little touches noticeable right from the start. For one, Banjo's backpack bounces up and down. This is a polish that many sequels would have overlooked. But, there are huge improvements in gamelplay and character control as well, such as the ability to control Banjo or Kazooie individually at certain times.

Thankfully, this time out Banjo has access to warp pads within levels and silos outside the levels that make getting around the Isle o’ Hags a simple matter. They are a huge improvement over the warp cauldrons of the first game, especially the warp pads within the levels. Some of the levels are really big and occasionally you’ll get turned around or lost. Finding a warp pad to reorient yourself is very helpful considering there’s no auto map. The camera has been held over from Banjo-Kazooie and acts fairly well 94% percent of the time. The remaining 6% of the time there’s something in the way, 1% of that at a very critical moment. This is about the same as the first game.

Also held over are the many moves that Banjo and Kazooie can perform. New moves are learned from Jam Jars, the brother of Bottles, who is a military mole. There are a lot of new moves. Banjo learns to (finally) grab onto ledges and pull himself up. Kazooie can perform the Bill Drill, a super-powered Beak Buster, which can obliterate rocks. 

Some of the moves are character specific since Banjo and Kazooie can now separate. For example, Banjo can fit into his own backpack and Kazooie can fly around on her own. Separating is handled well, much like the Fly Pads, or any other Pad. The separating pads are usually located in convenient spots so you don’t have to cross half a level just to complete a task. Remember trying to get each friggin’ Jinjo again and again? It’s in the past now. Once you’ve rescued a Jinjo (and you save your game), it stays rescued! Ditto for musical notes.

The most startling difference from its predecessor is the first person shooter sections. For gamers that experienced Goldeneye and Perfect Dark (both Rare games), getting into the groove is no problem, the controls are much the same. The newbie gamer may be left behind. During the FPS sections Banjo holds Kazooie like a gun, and instead of firing bullets Kazooie shoots eggs. There are different types of eggs to get, including a fire egg that provides some neat lighting effects in dark areas these eggs can also be used outside the FPS levels). The FPS sections aren’t difficult but it provides a little break from the usual.

Since Banjo-Tooie falls into the adventure genre, puzzles abound and most are very well executed. A lot of the puzzles require player switching. For example: in Mayahem Temple you must get control of Mumbo then head down the hill to a buried gold statue where Mumbo can employ a powerful spell to resurrect the gold man. Once the giant gold man has been activated you get to control him for a limited time. His moves are limited, jump and kick, but he’s essential to accessing other areas of the level. It’s all about teamwork! Also present is the chance to be transformed courtesy of Humba Wumba, a new female character and bodacious shaman on the Isle o’ Hags. The transformations range from wild to crazy. My favorite is the Daddy Rex. Make sure you’ve got your sound system cranked to get the most out of the roar.

SCORING

GRAPHICS: 7.5  The graphics are a minor improvement from the previous entry, which for the time was very well done. Still a few visible flaws, and the tendency to air-hump ledges and walls kicks the score down at least a point.

AUDIO: 8.5  The classic noises and music are just as amusing as ever, though not many improvements were made. Then again, why fix something that isn't broken?

GAMEPLAY: 9.0  Gameplay has definitely seen some improvement between entries. The vast array of moves would be enough for many players, but the inclusion of new egg types and even the ability to individually control Banjo, Kazooie, and even Mumbo adds so much more to the mix.

MULTIPLAYER/ONLINE PLAY: 8.5  No, the multiplayer isn't exceptional, but it is enough to be entertaining for a little while. After a small push from fans to include some type of multiplayer mode, Rare delivered. But, it will never amount to much more than an appeasements to fans.

DIFFICULTY: 9.0  In terms of collection, Tooie is not quite as lengthy as its predecessor. The baddies are the same for the most part, too. Probably the difference-maker keeping Tooie afloat from a comparitive perspective is the addition of boss battles, something Banjo Kazooie did not have (excluding the final fight). Overall, though, Tooie just isn't quite as difficult as the first installment.

MISCELLANEOUS: 9.0  No real changes or improvements on the original in terms of glitches and malfunctions. By no means do they make Tooie a worse game...if anything they make it more enjoyable. I mean, who doesn't love getting stuck to a wall like glue in midair? I know I do.


OVERALL 8.7

Overall, Banjo Tooie is a slight improvement on an already stellar game. From gameplay to collection, the Banjo series rivals and even surpasses Mario 64 in some cases. Rare definitely came to play with both of these entries, although it more than flopped in the Nuts and Bolts entry for the 360. Despite the competition for platformers at the time of its release, Tooie was still able to shine all the while bringing gamers like myself back for more even 12 years later.