Banjo-Tooie

"The name's Banjo. Uh... just Banjo. (Kazooie starts complaining about not getting mentioned)"

PROS: Graphics still amazing; better story than BK; much longer and more difficult; plenty of new offerings; amazing worlds; funny

CONS: Some bad music; darker than BK

Two years after Gruntilda's fall from her tower, she's still buried under that rock, trying to budge it. It appears that she took some Elixir of Life or something… Anyway, her loyal servant, Klungo, is still trying to help her. It's then that Grunty's sisters show up and send the rock to oblivion. Grunty, down to her bare bones, wants to kill something… something like Banjo and Kazooie, who pecked her butt off that tower. She succeeds in destroying their house, but Banjo, Kazooie, and their shaman friend Mumbo Jumbo make it out alive. Unfortunately, Bottles the mole doesn't. He's the one that taught all the helpful moves on Banjo-Kazooie, and, of course, the survivors aren't happy. They set out on a personal vendetta to peck some more witch butt, and their journey will take them all over the island.

Banjo and Kazooie control the same way as they did in the first game. There are new moves here, for which musical notes are used for, taught by Bottles' older brother, Sergeant Jamjars. This guy is funny. He's a military mole that likes to rhyme and sometimes he'll hit his head on his molehill entrance. These new moves are very helpful, and you'll be using the new split-up pads often. That's right, Banjo and Kazooie will have to separate at times and work together to get a door to open. Sometimes it'll be just one, but each will learn new moves as they go along to make these quests easier. In addition, Banjo can use Kazooie as a rifle, there's actual egg aiming that can be used anywhere, even in the sky or underwater, a torpedo attack, and shoes that make you jump 50 feet in the air. In addition to the regular blue eggs, there are fire eggs, ice eggs, grenades, and wind-up bombs that Kazooie can launch.

And here, Mumbo doesn't transform you into anything. Humba Wumba, a Native American, does. You get to actually control Mumbo and beat up bad guys with him. This is awesome. You need to give him a Glowbo and he can use his magical power for one use on each world. He can summon giant statues, oxygenate water, levitate rocks and trains, and even enlarge his rival's wigwam. You see, Mumbo and Wumba hate each other. When Mumbo goes into Wumba's hut, she gets angry and threatens to turn him into a toad or something, but she really can't do that because it's not in the game's programming. Wumba does transform Banjo and Kazooie into several things. These transformations range from a TNT detonator to a washing machine, which can use an underwear attack. These transformations are very helpful in each world, and all of them can actually attack, something that was clearly lacking in the first game's transformations.

The worlds here are all amazing. There's a Mayan ruin, a mine, a theme park for ghouls, an underwater empire, a factory, and more. These worlds are all gorgeously done and have unique puzzles to them. Also, they all have a boss fight. These bosses are not pushovers, and most require using your head and a new move you just recently learned. These bosses are also creative and you won't find many others like them. I won't spoil what they are, but all of them are pretty cool. Defeating each boss will earn you a Jiggy, one of the ten that are still in each world. These Jiggies aren't just sitting there this time. You have to do a lot more in order to retrieve them so you can get back into The Temple of Master Jiggywiggy (yes, that's his name).

This game will easily consume 20 hours of your time, likely more. This game is longer and harder then its predecessor, which is necessary because you could blow through Banjo-Kazooie pretty quickly after you already beat it. This game is different because you really can't. Even though you know what you're doing, it will still require challenging yourself.

The graphics haven't changed, which is good. These are still amazingly done, and are worthy of awards for “best of N64”. The music, however, has changed… for the worse. The music in Banjo-Kazooie was a lot better than this. A few of the tunes here are dreadful to listen to, and you'll be flipping the MUTE button on those pretty quickly. Some of the music, but not much of it, is reminiscent of Banjo-Kazooie, but most of it reflects the game's darker feel, and several of them suit the worlds pretty well. Overall, the music isn't that bad, but some of it is abysmal. This game is not the lighthearted Banjo-Kazooie, which was amazing for its time. This game is amazing, too, but just not as amazing.

Overall, this is a very entertaining game. You can travel between the worlds here, making backtracking a necessity but much easier than it could be. Also, the gibberish voice acting fits nicely with the game's sense of humor. There are enough elements here to make you enjoy yourself the whole way through. This is an amazing game, but it just doesn't feel as magical as its predecessor. Don't get me wrong, this game is worth hunting down, just as the last one was. Banjo-Tooie is awarded a 9 out of 10.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/08/06