Banjo-Tooie Game Review - Xbox 360

OUR RATING:

GREAT

TANGIBLES:

Gameplay:		8
Visuals:		7
Audio:		7
Value:		8
Quality:		9

Why you should buy it: Great level design; dozens of new moves to unlock; Stop 'N Swap feature allows you to unlock exclusive content.

Why you should rent it: May be too similar to Banjo-Kazooie; still some issues with the outdated visuals and sound.

UNIQUE RATING:

SUGGESTION:

Buy It

Banjo-Tooie

Written by: Joshua Schwartzman | Tags: Banjo-Tooie, Xbox 360

May 8,2009 - Banjo- Tooie was recently released on XBLA and with it comes bigger levels, better moves, and an ultimately fulfilling experience to compliment last year’s port of Banjo- Kazooie. Although similar to the first game in nature, Banjo- Tooie got the makeover treatment, and Rare spent plenty of time improving the dated visuals, adjusting the layout for HDTV, and improving the Stop ‘N Swap feature. For anyone that enjoyed Banjo-Kazooie’s pleasurable charm and addicting gameplay, there is plenty in Banjo-Tooie’s 10-hour campaign to get you excited.

Before you can embark on your quest, however, you must drudge through a tedious (and often irritating) opening cinema which takes you through the events from the past game and the current one. It’s a long fifteen minute affair with no voiceover work or clear-cut affixed camera angles, meaning you will be watching characters grunt and shake wildly for a while. You can skip this cinema if so desired, but for a game that shines on its comedic dialogue and wacky situations, it is a shame that the first spark on the game turns out to be a dud.

The level design is just as spectacular as the first game with some truly interesting locales. Areas such as The Isle O’ Hags, Witchyworld and Glitter Gulch Mine are creatively designed and offer plenty of enjoyable adventures in each. Each world in the game is massive and players can expect to spend upwards of an hour or more in each one collecting jiggies, rescuing jingos and scavenging for music notes. The core style of gameplay remains the same, whereas you have to collect a certain amount of jiggies in order to open doors in order to advance, but the new set of levels helps break up the same-styled gameplay.

Players are equipped with all of the moves from the end of the first game right off the bat, so already Banjo knows how to double jump, beak dash, and perform other various abilities and tricks you otherwise would have to wait for to use. That doesn’t mean you can’t teach an old dog new tricks…because you can, and Banjo learns plenty of fun and exciting new moves to help you along your way of stopping Gruntilda yet again. Some of the more useful new moves include Pack Whack, where Banjo hits enemies with his backpack and Wing Whack, which sends Kazooie flying like a helicopter and smacking enemies with her wings.

Stop ‘N Swap allows you to uncover secrets within Banjo- Tooie to unlock special goodies in Banjo- Kazooie Nuts & Bolts. Perhaps this is a clever scheme to get more people to play Nuts & Bolts, but the feature serves its purpose well, allowing players to gather special items and increase their play time even more. For a game that is nearly a decade old, its age really shows, but you can’t knock Rare for trying. Many of the textures still look blocky and the landscapes are still adorned by one shade of green, but the game never once seemed to slow down or falter through the entire playthrough, something that plagued the first game because of its minimum-sized cartridge memory. The sound could have used some fine tuning as it definitely has not aged well, and the grunting and moaning sounds of the characters can really get old after a while (five minutes in, actually).

It is really hard to find anything to really gripe about in Banjo- Tooie except maybe how much it is TOO like Banjo- Kazooie. The same basic gameplay, moves, and story don’t really lend much to people wanting to spend $15 on a similar product. Banjo- Tooie does offer plenty of new moves and locations however that truly make this game a worthwhile purchase, and there is surely something here for anyone to enjoy given you enjoy the subject matter.

The first banjo was created hundreds of years ago by African slaves. Although the origins of the name are still under debate, many historians believe the name was originated by an African dialect of the word “bamboo,” which was used to make the first banjo instrument.