Banjo-Kazooie - XBLA (Review)

I loved this game when it was first released for the Nintendo 64 over 10 years ago. I haven't played the game much since then, but I was really excited to hear that Mircosoft was releasing the game for their X-Box Live Arcade service in conjunction with the franchise's recent game "Nuts & Bolts". I'm pleased to say that the game is just as fun as it was then. I personally think Banjo-Kazooie was better than Super Mario 64 (and I love Mario 64). The game takes the formula of that game and tightens it up. Like Mario 64 (and almost every 3d platformer since) you're still collecting a certain number of objects to gain access to other areas. It’s a formula which has been used many times before by platformers new and old, but that doesn’t mean it feels anywhere close to dated here – it’s still just as much fun to play, if not more than when it was released all those years ago.

The game keeps throwing new gameplay concepts just as you've come to master the last one. By the time you've gotten the hang of egg shooting, you're learning to fly. After you've learned to fly, you learn a dive bomb attack and so on and so on. This is a wonderful method of gameplay that I wish more games these days would adopt, it really keeps things from getting stale and repetitive. The best part is not the sheer number of moves, but how necessary they are in many situations and the ease and responsiveness at which they are pulled off. Many puzzles are designed to be solved with a specific move or combination of moves. . The game is very well-balanced in this respect, and since most moves are specialized with obvious purposes, it's never a matter of guessing to get past an obstacle.

Rare's talent for creating well written stories is still intact as the characters are charming and the dialogue is amusing, though it's not as clever as it thinks. The game was never as challenging as Mario 64 and this re-release actually makes the game easier by saving all the items you collect as you collect them (You would lost them if you dyed or quit in the original). The gaming world is littered with 3d platformers, but this game stands out from the crowd even 10 years later. I proudly admit that Banjo-Kazooie is a game I love.