Banjo-Kazooie

"A totally great game."

And it's made by Rare, the best video game company of all time. If they made games like Goldeneye, Donkey Kong, Perfect Dark, and all those great games, everyone should have to have really high standards from them, and they certainly deliver! Let's go on to why this game is so great....

Story: 8/10

The story is pretty good. It's not THAT great, but you'll get some laughs, as this game is kind of funny. In the beginning, you see Gruntilda, the fat ugly witch, asking her cauldron who's the prettiest. The cauldron, of course, answers that it's Gruntilda. But, there is this one girl.... Tooty. This makes Gruntilda angry. Then you zoom out of her lair to spiral mountain, Banjo's beautiful home, right outside his house, you see Tooty, Banjo's little sister, talking to Bottles the Mole, a long time friend of Banjo and (Kind of) Kazooie. She complains that Banjo's too lazy to take her on an adventure. They pan in the house too see Banjo sleeping and Kazooie agreeing with Tooty. Then Bottles and Kazooie see Gruntilda flying in the sky. She kidnaps Tooty. Then you find out that her plan is to put Tooty in a machine that will give Grunty Tooty's beauty and switch her ugliness with Tooty. The calamity wakes up Banjo, and he grabs Kazooie, who somehow fits in Banjo's backpack, and runs off to save her. Obviously when you win the game, you do, but not before you beat up Grunty.

Besides the beginning, though, there's not much story.

I like the Characters a lot. There are four who I'd consider "Main" characters. I'm not including Tooty because besides the beginning and end, she doesn't appear much.

Banjo, the fat lazy big brother bear. He's kind of stupid, but very nice, and he's willing to take a lot of risks to save his beloved little sister. He's the biggest character in the game, as Kazooie's usually in the backpack.

Kazooie, the bird. Yes, Kazooie IS female. She's fresh and has a big mouth, but she's good at heart, and honestly some of her remarks are pretty funny especially when she's talking with Bottles.

Grunty, the witch. Her evil plot is to steal Tooty's beauty. She sends lots of minions and stuff to stop you coming up to the top of her lair. Whenever she talks, she speaks in rhymes. It's kind of annoying and funny at the same time.

Bottles, the wise Mole. Throughout the game, you can find Bottles in his various molehills and learn from him. He's always trading insult with Kazooie, although I think they're really friends.

Besides them, there are a lot of mini-characters that only appear in certain stages, like Congo, the gorilla, in Mumbo's Mountain, the first level. (In the sequel to this game, Banjo Tooie, he's a circus guy), or Clanker, the large mechanical whale who you help in Clanker's cavern. There's Brentilda, Grunty's nice sister, who tells you her nasty secrets, and Mumbo, the shaman. I'll get back to you on him.

Gameplay: 10/10
Ah, this is what makes the game so great. It's fun to play. It has all the basic aspects of a game. Jumping, Running, and such. Throughout the game, you can find molehills and bottles will teach you some moves. You can teach Kazooie to fly or shoot eggs out of her mouth or her... behind, you can teach Ban to how to swim, jump higher or forward roll, and lots of things. Kazooie does most of the fancy stuff.

To progress through the game, you have to go through levels. The levels are all pretty different. One is a mountain with little purple enemies, one is a bright sunny beach but with killer crabs and sharks, one's a cavern with a large mechanical whale, there's a swamp, a huge frozen mountain, a desert, haunted house... you get the idea. It's very creative. Anyway, in each level, there's ten jiggies, which are jigsaw pieces, and a hundred musical notes. Each of these has a special purpose. To open new levels, you have to find enough jiggies to fix the picture (Which happens to have puzzle-piece shaped missing parts) of the next level. Sometimes to get to the next area, you'll find a note door, which is an enchanted door. To get past it, you have to have a certain number of notes. These are all in Grunty's lair, which isn't a level; it's more of an otherworld in where you get to each level. There's a few Jiggies there but no music Notes.

In some levels, to get all the jiggies and notes, you have to learn moves from other levels and come back. More often then that, you have to transform into something. How can you transform? The answer is mumbo, the shaman. If you bring him enough mumbo tokens, which are hidden in various places, he can turn you into something. It can be one of many things, too, like a Termite or an Alligator.

There's other kind of items, too. There are eggs, which Kazooie can attack with, Gold and Red feathers, which can make you Invincible or Fly in that order, Boots, which let you go across certain dangerous area. Bottles teachers you how to use boots. There's also five Jinjos in each level, and when you find them all, they give you a jiggy.

Near the end of the game, Grunty gives you a quiz about the game and you have to pass. Some of the questions are personal questions about Grunty, and you can only know these things if you pay attention to her sister, Brentilda.

Music: 10/10
This is pretty good too. Each different level has its own music, and it usually fits its "Theme". For example, Treasure Trove Cove, the beach, has a pretty tropical theme. Grunty's lair has a pretty grim theme. It all revolves heavily on the xylophone. That might sound kiddy, but it's not really.

This isn't a major part, but when characters talk, they don't actually talk, they have text. But they make sounds that somehow sound like it'd come from them. Like the gorilla makes monkey noises and Kazooie sounds like a bird walking (Not singing, more like cackling).

Graphics: 10/10
These graphics are beyond anything I've seen on a Nintendo 64. The only games that I've played that can beat them are Banjo Tooie and Majora's mask. The bodies look like bodies, not like lines and polygons like in *ahem* certain N64 games. The colors are brilliant and the depth is great. It's all very detailed.

The replay value, while not stellar, is there. You can play this game through a few times before you get bored. The problem with it is that there's nothing you can really change. You'll just end up doing the same things over. But it's really fun the first time.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/06