Rare’s reputation as a brilliant second party developer to Nintendo has always been one set in stone. Never known to produce poor games, the company has released many classics, some of which have even rivalled Nintendo’s own. One such title, dubbed by some as a Mario 64-beater, is 1998’s Banjo-Kazooie. Three years later, and on a slowly dying Nintendo 64, the much-vaunted sequel, Banjo-Tooie, is complete.

After being banished underground by Banjo and Kazooie in their last adventure, Grunt ... more >>

Rare’s reputation as a brilliant second party developer to Nintendo has always been one set in stone. Never known to produce poor games, the company has released many classics, some of which have even rivalled Nintendo’s own. One such title, dubbed by some as a Mario 64-beater, is 1998’s Banjo-Kazooie. Three years later, and on a slowly dying Nintendo 64, the much-vaunted sequel, Banjo-Tooie, is complete.

After being banished underground by Banjo and Kazooie in their last adventure, Gruntilda has returned, she is without a body, and she is extremely angry. Her devious brain eventually leads her to create a device that will suck the life force out of everyone in the land, giving her a new body in the process. But Banjo and loud-mouthed Kazooie can’t let this happen, and so another epic adventure begins.

After a lengthy introduction, presented in a similar fashion to a cartoon animation, experienced players of the first title will be pleasantly surprised to discover that all Banjo and Kazooie’s abilities are already available. However, new to the sequel is a series of new moves that must be mastered, taking the grand total to forty. Collectibles remain the main driving point of Banjo-Tooie, with hundreds more Jiggies and Magical Notes among other things, to collect. Progress cannot be made unless a specified number of some of these items has been collected. The requirements are specified throughout the game.

Masters of the Nintendo 64 hardware, Rare has once again demonstrated its capabilities here, with some lovely textures and a high level of attention to detail. Environments are again highly varied, in which there are now a massive 125 new characters featured. But your ultimate goal is probably the only thing to remain constant throughout the adventure: to destroy Gruntilda for all eternity. And although speech is completely lacking in Banjo-Tooie, both literate and not so literate players shouldn’t have a problem keeping up with events in the game.

Banjo-Tooie is, unsurprisingly, another classic to be found in the solid gold portfolio of one the greatest video game developers ever. Brilliant.
<< less