Banjo-Kazooie
Reviewed by Mbschrider@cs.com
If you're tired of the same old boring 3-d adventure game, and if
you're a fan of the N64 Zelda games, Banjo-Kazooie is the game for
you! This masterpiece of a game was introduced by Nintendo and Rare,
two super kickin' game companies, in 1998. Also, there's now a sequel
out called Banjo-Tooie, but the original will always be my most favorite
3-d platformer ever.
Gone in this game is the repetitiveness synonymous with most games.
The adventures and puzzles are extremely diverse, and of great variety.
In the game, there are a ton of characters you must help or defeat, and
the dialogue is done very well! The voices are done by goofy animal
sounds, sometimes grunting, squawking, or mumbling, but it's always
hilarious! Some of them are just darn cute, too.
There are nine levels to complete, and thankfully, you don't actually
have to go through all of them to finish the game. However, it will be
much to your advantage to do so, as this game rewards good seekers.
If you find all of the Jigsaw pieces (a total of 100), you'll be rewarded
with the best ending. I won't spoil it for you, so you'll have to find out
yourself! Also, beating Gruntilda at the end will be quite a chore if you
don't get enough musical notes. This game is just chock-full of secrets.
For instance, there's a book called "Cheato" that'll open a few tricks
for you if you know where to find him. To make a long story short,
find all you can! Unfortunately, though, there's no prize for getting
all 900 Musical Notes, other than permanent bragging rights.
Another of the factors that makes me like this game so much is the
humor factor. In fact, one of the bosses is actually a huge board game!
It's actually pretty fun, but you'll have a rather hard time if you didn't
listen to Brentilda's hints throughout the game. So, it's very advantageous
to be attentive while playing!
There's so many little side quests in this game, I couldn't possibly name
all of them. Finding all the Jinjos, solving a musical puzzle inside of a
huge turtle, fighting a mean crocodile named Mr. Vile to see who can eat
more Grumblies, and much more. Also, if you can collect enough skull-shaped
Mumbo Tokens, a shaman named Mumbo Jumbo will transform you into
several different kinds of creatures, such as a termite, a bee, and even
a pumpkin! You'll have a ton of fun aside from the basic quest.
Oh, man, I haven't even started on the graphics! The graphics are very
well-done and detailed. There's NEVER any fog whatsoever. You can
actually see a very great distance ahead. This allows for easier location
of places, so no more looking around blindly for areas you forgot the
locations of. The only drawback, if any, is the sometimes lagging framerate.
Another pinnacle addition to this monster title is the monster soundtrack!
The music is not only very catchy, but very orchestral. The music even
changes throughout each level, depending upon what you're doing. For
instance, when you start swimming, the music becomes muffled, as if
the instruments are underwater and you're hearing them from above.
Never in this game has the music annoyed me. In my opinion, the best
music in here is that on Freezeezy Peak! It just makes you feel all
Christmasy! Thank you again, Rare!
This game is very remniscient of classic titles such as Super Mario 64
and the Donkey Kong Country series, so that's another reason to get it
right there! If you're a fan of adventure games, your life will not be complete
without this title. Get it!! I promise you won't ever regret it.
Overall: 10 out of 10