Banjo-Kazooie

The Good
What an excellent game this has been. Set in Banjo-kazooie's fictional world, Banjo's sister, Tootie, has been captured by Grunthilda, the evil witch, who plans to steal her beauty. Now Banjo must rescue her or little sister is gonna be one angry bear!

This game is similar to Super Mario 64, in that you must go to 9 worlds in Grunty's deep, dark lair to collect jigsaw pieces (jiggies) to make new worlds appear. Musical notes can be collected to open up new doors in the lair. Tons of other collectables are set off the beaten path such as mumbo tokens, jinzos, and feathers, which all help you to get more jiggies and musical notes. Kazooie, the sarcastic bird in your backpack, is a memorable character and can help a number of different ways.

Like Super Mario 64 as well, Banjo-kazooie is mainly so superb because of its varying challenges and enemies. Levels are designed to open, and all of the jiggies can be gotten in any order. The first levels you mainly go in order, getting a handful of notes and jiggies to get to the next level. However, about halfway through the game, more levels become open to the player, leaving you to choose which levels to play.

Levels can vary as much as a cheerful beach, to a haunted mansion. Enemies very according to the level, and are very appropriate for whatever level they are in.

Not all of the jiggies are required to complete the game, but those who do get rewarded nicely, MUCH nicer than you did in Super Mario 64. This adds much more motivation to gameplay.

Graphics are excellent, and much thought was put in to game and level design. Character designs and details are well-made. Sound is done just as well. Sound effects are good, and the music is appropriate for each level.

The enemy AI is typical for a platform/ adventure. Goons with a typical AI are met throughout the game, however, newer enemies with a more indirect approach for killing you have been added since Super Mario 64. There are typically no level bosses (since the levels are open), but bosses that guard jiggies that must be defeated in a certain way. Other than that, the game has memorable characters that recur throughout the game.

Banjo-kazzoie is a great game that leads up to an excellent final boss at the top of the grunty's lair.

The Bad
Unfortunately, old habits die hard. The storyline continues not to stray from "get enough x to rescue y person". However, the added subquests and recurring characters in worlds seem to make up for the lack of twists in the plot (think Super Mario 64).

Other than that, collecting can get very annoying. Jiggies do not have to be recollected when you die, but musical notes do. This is very annyong, especially on levels you absolutely hate.

The Bottom Line
Banjo-kazooie is the sequel to Super Mario 64. With memorable characters and varying gameplay, this game is a must-buy for anyone with an Nintendo 64