"Banjo-Tooie" Non-Gamer/First-Time Gamer review

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When a 3D platformer adventure featuring a bear and bird takes the world by storm,
what do you do? Make a sequel, and somehow make it bigger and better.
Well, at least try to anyway, and stick to a 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' approach. The fact that
"Banjo-Tooie" is a great follow-up to its predecessor is quite an accomplishment in the games industry.
It is quite possibly one of the greatest sequels ever made.
The story of "Banjo-Tooie" takes place two years after the bear and bird duo thwarted Gruntilda the witch's evil plan of
'beautifying' herself. But she's not out of the picture completely, as her two sisters
Mingella and Blobbelda remove the boulder that's trapping her. Her two years of being trapped has reduced her to a skeleton and made her
hell-bent on revenge. She destroys Banjo's house
[and the mole Bottles in the process] and plans to steal the life-force from the Isle of Hags to restore her proper form.
Okay, so Banjo and Kazooie just have to stop the witch again – it is just the same old game again right? Well, yes and no.
First of all, "Banjo-Tooie's" gameplay is similar to its predecessor –
explore three-dimensional worlds,
utilise a variety of moves and collect items
[most notably jigsaw puzzles, or jiggies, to progress]. The duo can use essentially all the moves they learned in the previous game,
including jumping, attacking, swimming, flying and more. The graphics, sound, and even controls and camera are very similar,
, which is fine given how good they were previously...
except for the camera. But the game makes some surprising changes.
First of all, there is a new character: Bottles' brother mole Jamjars, who teaches the bear and bird all-new moves,
including grabbing on ledges, different types of eggs and most notably the ability to split up.
That's right, the red bird Kazooie who is as sarcastic
as ever can get out of Banjo's backpack and explore and do things on her own…
and the same thing applies to the bear Banjo. The concept of splitting up means there are more moves available
to the player. The shaman Mumbo Jumbo returns from the previous game to help you out
[and you can actually play as him, which is nice],
except his powers are different, resorting to very specific actions such as levitation,
enlargement, powering up electricity and more. And for those of you who happened to like the use of
transformations in the previous game, fear not – there's a new character, a Native American woman named Humba Wumba who transforms you into
into generally bizarre objects, which you need to utilize in order to progress.
In saying all of this, it goes without saying that the variety of
worlds [which include an amusement park, a prehistoric world and more] are bigger than they were previously…
in some cases, a LOT bigger, and
easier to get lost in. You may forget where things are in the world Glitter Gulch Mine,
and that's only the SECOND level. After some time, you will generally notice a pattern or sense of structure in most of the worlds,
but the time investment doesn't end there. You will have to split up, swap characters and transformations, sometimes multiple times
just to get one Jiggy. While there are thankfully warp pads
that almost make each world seem smaller than it actually is, the use of 'backtracking' may annoy some people.
But only some – for those of you who want to take your time and explore everything, you may be in for a treat.
A number of the challenges are actually quite fun and rewarding,
consisting of puzzles, mini-games and boss fights.
There is more of a focus on these elements
that the previous game almost never had. Many of the mini-games are actually quite fun, including a dodgems game, target shooting,
kickball matches and more. The boss fights are fun also,
but a large portion of them are lacking in challenge. With all of this being said, "Banjo-Tooie" is a more challenging game,
but thankfully not by a large margin.
There are first-person shooter sections
[which thankfully feature eggs instead of bullets and no blood] which are generally nothing more than potentially stressful
mazes, plus there are a series of button-mashing races against a strange character that resembles a canary
that are not really worth your time.
Despite such moments, the challenge is generally fair and is also there for those of you who thought the first game was a bit too easy.
There is also a multiplayer mode, where you can replay mini-games, first-person shooter sections and more with other people, which, while fun,
is only good for a quick thrill. Another contrast to the first game has to be noted, and that
is the game's tone. While the game's aesthetics and premise do seem almost too
identical, you will notice from the moment Gruntilda destroys Banjo's house
that darkness is the key word here. The colour palette is less, well,
colourful featuring more muted colours. The game is still very pleasing on the eye.
However, the quality graphics, combined with the size of the levels and action that happens in them
can reduce the frame-rate and slow down the game a lot.
The game is still very playable,
but people who are older than my childhood self will notice this technical aspect
[which is fixed in the Xbox 360 version].
The music is also somewhat different, with less of an emphasis on charm and whimsy. The music is still very well done,
and complement each world. With the amount of time you can invest in this game, you may find yourself humming the music a lot.
Again, the music changes slightly
in the world depending on where you are, and the transitions somehow seem more seamless due to the increased memory space there was to work with.
"Banjo-Tooie" is certainly the result of trying to make 3D platformer adventures bigger and better, and
for the most part the developers at Rareware succeeded.
The game is an improvement on the first game in many ways, and it is usually in the small details.
The frustrating recollecting of items should you die is gone. You actually put together the jigsaw puzzles instead of standing on a panel and pressing a
button. The worlds are actually connected via secret passages and train tracks,
which makes for great world-building and exploration.
And while some may miss the dance that occurs after collecting a Jiggy, its
removal seems to help with pacing. This game is very similar to before [and even features references from the past],
which is fine, but the darker tone as well as the bigger scope is a great contrast that can really be appreciated.
In fact, this game is roughly equal to its predecessor in terms of quality, and
that is a testament to the developers of Rareware back in their prime close to the turn of the 21st
century. With all of the comparisons drawn between "Banjo-Kazooie" and "Banjo-Tooie", the sequel is an exceptional game for non-gamers/first-time gamers,
especially if you like the ideas of exploration and solving puzzles and so on.
If you have an Xbox 360, or even an N64 or Xbox One,
you have no excuse to miss out on discovering or replaying this game,
and of course its predecessor as well – many hours of adventuring await you.
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"Banjo-Tooie" Non-Gamer/First-Time Gamer review

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