A Hoffy Review:
Banjo-Tooie
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: USA: November 19, 2000, AUST: April 12, 2001
Genre: Platformer, Action/Adventure
Rating: E (ESRB), G (OFLC)
Platform: Nintendo 64
Players: 4Back in the fifth generation of gaming, UK-based game developer Rare was outstandingly popular for their massive contribution to not only Nintendo's home console, the Nintendo 64, but to Nintendo gamers worldwide. They were the developer second to Nintendo; when gamers weren't fishing for the Hylian Loach in
Ocarina of Time or finishing the last few missions in
Super Mario 64, they were going ape with Rare's
Donkey Kong 64 or shooting down their friends in
Goldeneye 007. But perhaps Rare's most outrageous, most creative, most critically acclaimed Nintendo 64 game would have been
Banjo-Kazooie. Released in 1998, Rare challenged Nintendo's 3D Mario masterpiece by cleverly pairing up a bear and a bird in a adventurous and sometimes humorous fairy tale. In many ways, and much like Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie refined the 3D Platforming genre. Unlike Super Mario 64 however, it received a sequel...
Gameplay: 9.5From the word go, Banjo-Tooie is a vastly different experience to it's predecessor. Not only have Rare taken extra special care in cutscene work, but they've obviously taken into account just how capable the Nintendo 64 is, and how to really produce an enormous quest. Possibly one of the more noticeable changes from Banjo-Kazooie is the level design. The worlds in Banjo-Tooie are humongous, and they only get bigger as the game progresses. One of the later stages, Grunty's Industries, features five massive floors as well as an outer area and rooftop. All up, that level would have to be the size of about four or five Mumbo's Mountains, and it will take you around two hours just to explore all of it. But that's just the icing on the cake - even the first world is reasonably large. Of course, given the increased scale of these worlds, the Jiggies (the game's primary collectible - ten in every level) take more and more effort to collect as the quest goes on, meaning you can't simply find the Jiggy and approach it, you need to complete a large amount of tasks. Some of these tasks might even involve doing something in another world and then finding out how to cast this effect across multiple game worlds. Also new to the series is the inclusion of a real boss battle in every stage. These bosses require you to use moves acquired in the stage, and while they are big, scary and sometimes funny, their weak spots are pretty obvious and they don't provide much of a challenge. But when it comes to collectibles, players will want to find all one hundred notes, all three empty honeycombs, all three Cheato scripts, all ten Jiggies and much more across all nine worlds. The amount of work that needs to be done is almost intimidating. In other words, it's obvious Rare has taken careful consideration and an unbelievable amount of planning in order to get all of the jigsaw pieces of this game to fit smoothly. And, they've succeeded.
There are also several new features to Banjo-Tooie that prove just how flexible the franchise is. You start with all of your old moves from the other game, but new moves can also be learnt. With Bottles absent from this quest, players will be learning new moves from his brother, Jamjars. Such include the Split Up, which basically breaks up Banjo and Kazooie for some solo missions, a wide variety of new eggs to fire from Kazooie's beak (or behind), and there's also two new pairs of shoes to try on. Not only that, but there's now a transformation in every world, meaning you'll be able to morph Banjo and Kazooie as a monstrous T-Rex or, if you will, as a Submarine. One feature that came as a large shock to me was the inclusion of some First-Person Shooter missions in which Banjo holds Kazooie out in front of him and then fires eggs like Joanna would in
Perfect Dark. The tasks involving this new feature are few, although this doesn't come as a large shame as the control scheme for this FPSing isn't quite as refined as Perfect Dark, or any other FPS on the system. As if that isn't enough, you can also call up to three friends to join in on the FPS action with the help of a well implemented multiplayer mode. This mode also feature several other minigames you can play with your friends, all of which were featured in the singleplayer adventure mode. A very welcomed feature indeed. Oh, and let's not forget that you can play as the old shaman, Mumbo Jumbo.
"Players will really need to use their noggins this time around."As if Banjo-Kazooie hadn't perfected 3D Platforming well enough, Banjo-Tooie goes a few more steps forward by offering some of the best tasks the genre has to offer. The controls have been very much improved since the bear and bird's last outing, having been tweaked slightly for some tighter platforming. Most of the controls remain pretty much the same, with the A button providing the jumps and the B button supplying some offensive skills. Camera control is also very well done, as there's never a blind moment to be had, and never a camera angle that's not good enough. Veteran players will also find just how much harder the main quest is compared to the original. The answer isn't always clear in Banjo-Tooie - players will really need to use their noggins this time around. Combine this with the fact that you have all of the moves you learnt in Banjo-Kazooie straight up, and it can almost be said that Banjo-Tooie is an expansion of the original. Of course, even if you didn't play the original, the sequel is very appealing to platform and action freaks alike. Clocking at about around 20 hours without collecting everything, and towards 40 hours with, Banjo-Tooie will have players hooked for weeks upon end.
Visit a circus... in a game!Graphics: 7.5Here's the good: Banjo-Tooie is quite possibly the prettiest game on the Nintendo 64. Rare really outdid themselves when it came to the texture work in this title - landscapes look fantastic thanks to some bright and varied colours, cute animation and outstanding model execution and design, all of which were evident in Banjo-Kazooie. New in Banjo-Tooie are real-time lighting, some sweet particle effects and improved draw distances, each of which definitely goes a long way. Whether you're exploring the underground shafts in Glitter Gulch Mine or carefully trekking the treacherous slopes of Hailfire Peaks, the game never fails to look gorgeous. But here's the bad: the framerate is an inconsistent dog-of-a-thing. More often than most times you'll find the framerate will drop below 30 frames a second... sometimes it will even hit 15. In larger areas this will harshly affect your gameplay experience. There's just no excuse Rare - Banjo-Kazooie looked just as good but it's framerate was satisfactory. Perhaps Rare should have taken more time to compress and optimize; maybe cut down on the real-time lighting or lower the texture detail. There really isn't an excuse Rare, the game shouldn't be so beautiful it should ruin the essentials.
"The MIDI medleys played throughout Banjo-Tooie top even those of the Zelda duo."Sound: 10.0There's no doubt about it, Banjo-Tooie has one of the best soundtracks Rare has ever composed. You shouldn't really expect much else from the creators of Banjo-Kazooie; Rare do know how to compose vastly different themes for vastly different worlds. You can approach Banjo-Tooie with the expectations of circus-esque themes for Witchyworld, a deep-sea orchestra for Jolly Roger's Lagoon, as well as the prehistoric Jurassic score for Terrydactyland. The MIDI medleys played throughout Banjo-Tooie top even those of the Zelda duo. Sound effects are also as comical as they have ever been, from cute cries, bellows, winces and squeals for a broad list of characters, to the grown-up voice of Banjo himself. There isn't a more immersive game on the Nintendo 64. Oh, and promise me you'll stop to listen to the awesome Isle O' Hags theme all the way through - it really is brilliant.
Not shown: Mumbo sleeping. HWAT?Story: 8.0Two years have passed since the brave Banjo and the bad-mouthed Kazooie invaded Gruntilda's Lair, messed up the place, and kicked the butt of the evil witch herself. On a dark, stormy night, during a poker game, Banjo, Kazooie, Mumbo Jumbo and Bottles the Mole hear a strange noise outside. Chivalrously, Mumbo Jumbo leaves Banjo's house to investigate. He sees a large vehicular drill blast its way through Spiral Mountain, approaching the boulder under which the mean, old witch is buried. Two other witches emerge from the vehicle, revive the witch Gruntilda into skeleton form and watch her as she fires a blast of a dark magic at Banjo's home! Banjo, Kazooie and Mumbo Jumbo barely escape - but Bottles succumbs to the witch's evil deeds. Naturally, it's up to Banjo and Kazooie to follow the trail of Gruntilda and her sisters and stop her from retrieving her body and reaching full strength! It's obvious from the opening cinema that Banjo-Tooie isn't really the fairy tale that it's predecessor was. Banjo-Tooie is slightly more grown up, with darker themes, light sexual references and "toilet humor". It's almost like an E-rated
Conker's Bad Fur Day, if you will. But this is by no means a bad thing, this title still features clever dialogue, advanced cutscene work and some very memorable characters. The plot itself is just rather bland, it doesn't really evolve until the final stages of the game, and even then it isn't really the "fairy tale epic" that Banjo-Kazooie was.
Overall: 9.0Banjo-Tooie is one of Rare's swan songs for not only the Nintendo 64, but for the company of Nintendo as a whole. It was one of the last games released on the system before Rare defected to Microsoft, and it definitely stands as a memorable sequel and terrific game. While the framerate is generally unbearable and the story isn't much to hoot at, Banjo-Tooie features one of the best soundtracks on the system, tight platforming mechanics, a huge amount of collectibles and things to do, diverse worlds to explore and a reasonable multiplayer mode. It's good to know that Rare care, but maybe they should have thought a little harder before they decided that they should pass the Nintendo 64
beyond it's graphical limits. Better than Banjo-Kazooie? Some might say so, some might not. It doesn't really matter. Banjo-Tooie is Rare magic. Just don't give up on the difficult quest half-way so you can get an office job and make games. Look out for the Mario reference!