Banjo-Pilot

"The Banjo series gets a revival after Grunty's revenge"

Introduction

My first thought on seeing the front cover of this game was: "What? They left out Kazooie?", but I needn't have worried, as my favourite character in the series is one of the many characters included in this new addition to the Banjo series.

Gameplay - 7/10

The game owes a huge debt to games such as Super Mario Kart, Sonic Drift and Diddy Kong racing, as all racers go around a number of tracks in planes. The controls are simple to understand, and there are a number of cup challenges with four tracks each.

As with Sonic Drift, the courses are mainly set around levels from the previous games. The addition here is the inclusion of fights against the "champion" in order to cliam your trophies. This adds the novelty of actually having a fight between Banjo and Kazooie for the first time ever.

The only problem I had with this game is that is just seems too easy, even for a beginner like myself. I've often found myself going swiftly from last place to first place with not a vast amount of effort. The boss fight format gets a little repetitive, and is rarely hard to beat. To make it easier to get a gold cup, a little too easy, maybe, the computer players' performances will vary considerably, so one character may place 2nd in one race, and then come in last in the next.

Despite this, there are a lot of good track designs, and weapons to use that make the game fun to play. There are a few tracks where I have actually got lost on my first few attempts because of the number of branches and forks.

Graphics - 9/10

Good graphics, especially for the Gameboy Advance. The character models are very good, including Banjo and Kazooie, and also Grunty in her original style from BK (apparently she's now been revived from her state in more recent Banjo games). The only caveat for me is Mumbo, whose design looks more like Kryten from Red Dwarf. For some reason, the "Mumbo's Head" item used in the game looks more like Minjy Jongo from Banjo Tooie than Mumbo. The backgrounds seen here are awesome, often including familiar elements such as the giant snowman from Freezeezy Peak; even worlds from Grunty's Revenge are made over in an impressive fashion.

Sound - 8/10

I like the sound, especially the great character voices used in the game (Klungo has, rather appropriately, been given a freakish, Gollum-esque, voice). Great background music too, especially on the Witchy World course.

Replay Value - 7/10

You'll want to replay this a few times, even if it doesn't take a long time to beat everything. There are a number of unlockables, including extra characters (although this was the first time I heard that Jolly from Banjo Tooie was "popular").

Final Verdict

Although Grunty's Revenge was something of a disappointment, the racing game format of this game is one that actually works will in 3D, and on the Gameboy Advance. This is well worth buying.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/07/05