Banjo-Pilot

"Finally, a racing game that rivals Mario Kart!"

I personally found this game more fun than Mario Kart and I hope they make a sequel. This was originally going to be Diddy Kong Pilot, but when Rare moved to MS, they could no longer use Nintendo characters like Diddy, so they made it Banjo, my favorite series of all time.

Gameplay: 10/10
Its a lot like Mario Kart only with planes. Of course its fun. You can get items to throw at the other 8 players. All 9 characters are from the BK series. The levels are very varied and the other players actually hinder you. In one turn I went from being first to last because of other players. The tracks, all of which are based of the BK series, are very fun and challenging. Their are also more tracks in this than other kart/pilot games. What makes this game unique is its battle system where you and the computer(or a friend) battle it out in a dogfight.

Graphics: 10/10
Just like Grunty's Revenge(the other GBA BK game) Banjo Pilot pushes the graphics of the GBA to their limits. Everything looks very clear for a GBA game. Kudos to Rare for always including good graphics in every game they make

Sound: 4/10
The music and sound aren't bad, they are just not BK style. You can tell for most of the stages they didn't change anything but the backgrounds and characters for BK. The music/sound still seem like Diddy Kong Pilot! Rare is known for making good in this category, but in this category it fell apart because it wasn't BK

Value: 9/10
This game will last you a long time to come, and it has a good multiplayer if you have 1-3 friends who have the game.

Tilt/Fun Factor:10/10
There are really no flaws with this game, save the fact that you can't make shortcuts because invisible walls stop you, which is most people's complaints. What most people don't understand is that that would be hard to code for the GBA, so they had to do it.

Rare's last of its 4 games originally announced for GBA at the beginning is finally out, and it does not disappoint. I hope Rare continues working with Nintendo handhelds even though they can not do the GCN anymore.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/28/05