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Aussie Ben's Banjo-Kazooie Review
It's the year 2001 and I popped in my Banjo-Kazooie cart to have a go of it (for review purposes, naturally) and dammit, the graphics are just as great as they were four years ago. Everything looks great, from the dank, filthy sewer-like areas of Clanker's Cavern to the immense tree in Click Clock Wood which spans four different seasons. As everyone has mentioned (it has to be mentioned again because it is just so amazing), the water effects used in Kazooie are excellent. Run through shallow water and Banjo will kick up droplets of water behind him, scattering in various direction. If that's not cool enough, these droplets hit the water and make their own droplets - each one sending ripples in the water. A very complex effect, but it's done so very well.
The characters in Banjo-Kazooie are also well animated and detailed. Main characters like Banjo and Kazooie have heaps of personality. Stand still for a few seconds and Kazooie will peck Banjo on the head and quickly duck back into the backpack. Gruntlings look surprised when they spot you and lumber towards you, and other secondary characters such as Blubber, Nipper and Tanktup (just to name a few) each have a unique look and personality of their own. It's really quite amazing how good this game looks, even after this long. Well done, Rare.
9.5
I love Banjo-Kazooie's music, so I'll be horribly, horribly biased here. But this game has such a great, detailed and immense soundtrack, and the poorly made CD of it no way near does it justice. (There are only about 14 tracks on the CD - the entire game consists of over forty, I'd say.) The impressive thing about the music is that not only are all the tunes extremely catchy (Treasure Trove Cove and you know it, baby!), but they all mingle together with each other. Wander round Rusty Bucket Bay and you'll have the main tune with its deep horns and whistles and other mechanical noises, but dive into the oily water and the music will change to a xylophone-like version. Swim along in Rusty Bucket Bay to rescue the Jinjo there, and Snacker will discover you, with the music changing to a Jaws-like panic-stricken tune. Excellent.
Sound is done just as well, with the now-famous sampling of various noises instead of actual speech. Kazooie has her "wakka-wakka" when she talks, and some of the more interesting ones include the "squish-squish" of an orange, the many, MANY sampled burps and belches of Captain Blubber, and everyone's hero (second only to Klungo) Loggo, who speaks with various gaseous samples. Back in old day, when we had to walk fifteen miles for silicon, this proved to be a very effective way of talking instead of actual speech. And it makes you read. See? Banjo-Kazooie is educational. Um.
9.9
There's not really much to be said here - Banjo has excellent play control. If you've played pretty much ANY other 3-D platformer since Super Mario 64, you'll have no trouble getting used to B-K. B-K, however, improves on such areas as flying (simply press the A Button to ascend, and the Control Stick to move) and learning new moves as you go, which gives you incentive to search the whole level to find and talk to Bottles. The only trouble I find with B-K (every time, I might add) is that I have trouble swimming. Kazooie is fast but out of control, and Banjo is far too slow. Not to mention that I'm all over the place. However, this was fixed in Banjo-Tooie.
9.5
This is where Banjo-Kazooie got slammed, being called everything from a Mario 64 clone to a CRASH BANDICOOT clone. ...the HELL? That hurts. However, the one thing that I must agree with was that the storyline could have been anything better. The old "villan kidnaps insert victim here" story has been done to death (read:entire Super Mario series) and something more original could have been concocted with the teaming up of a bear and a bird in a backpack.
Aside from the story, B-K was great in the way that it was made. Full of unique characters loaded with personality - in particular Bottles' and Kazooies' constant insults (well, actually, Kazooie and ANYONE'S constant insults...), Gruntilda's constant rhyming, and the the addition of a cameo character or two.
7.5
Banjo-Kazooie is quite simply, one of the best 3D platformer games I've ever played. Not simply because of how it plays, but because of the character's personality and wit. It's got it all - great graphics, sound, challenge and a fun explorathon to boot. If you own an N64, liked Mario 64 and you haven't played this...then there is seriously something wrong with you. Go out and buy it now, because it's a great game, and a Player's Choice title at that. How can you go wrong?
9.5
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