Banjo Kazooie

Yeah, I know I'm getting sick of the cutesy characters too. The first question I posed when I originally caught a glimpse of this title was; why in the world do we need a Banjo-Kazooie? A gruff, dumb but loveable honey bear and a petulant, squawking and resourceful breegull (your guess is as good as mine) are not the first two choices I'd pick for Nintendo characters. With a surplus of cute n' cuddlies already plaguing the N64, the last thing I'd want to do, as a publisher, is aid the flooding of the market. Apparently, Nintendo, Rare and I don't see eye to eye on this matter.

From what I can gather, Rare Entertainment's business plan over the last couple of years has been reworked to read "anything they can do, we can do better!" As evidenced by the incredible Diddy Kong Racing, the superlative Goldeneye 007, this amazing cartridge, and the upcoming Conker game, the company seems hell bent on distinguishing itself as one of the preeminent action/adventure developers in the world, second only to Nintendo in terms of quality and consistency.

Or perhaps Rare's goal is to overcome even the mighty Nintendo itself? How else can you explain the bombardment of triple A games coming from the English code house? Certainly even Nintendo hasn't had a track record this successful since the launch of Super Mario 64 and Wave Race 64. I mean, Starfox 64, Mario Kart 64, Pilot Wings 64 and 1080 Snowboarding were all good games but they sure weren't as fun as the first two N64 megahits. Rare, on the other hand, is releasing great titles like clockwork and continually impresses the pants off of everyone in the industry.

The only problem is, first with Diddy, now with Banjo-Kazooie and possibly soon with Conker, the brand new character creations that Rare is presenting the videogame world are so half-baked and overtly cliched they almost sabotage the ingenuity of the titles they belong to.

IT'S THE STORY, STUPID! (or IS THE STORY STUPID?)

Don't get me wrong, I think it's terrific that the only real complaint I have with Banjo-Kazooie, is the fact that I don't like the characters. It says something. Firstly about the quality of the game play experience in this cartridge (which is fantastic!), but also, secondly, and most importantly, it says something about how far we've come with interactive fiction.

Banjo-Kazooie is the finest, most polished, most complex and satisfying action-adventure videogame I've ever played. It is not, however, my favorite. That distinction still belongs to Super Mario 64, a game that captured my imagination like no other because of its inherent freedoms and utterly unique style. Banjo-Kazooie, on the other hand, blew me away because I was still swept up by its fairy tale-light, Disney-esque, bogusness, in spite of all my resistance.

The story line for this game is insipid. An ugly, old witch (which, by default, also makes her evil), named Gruntilda, is obsessed with her beauty (or apparent lack thereof) and kidnaps the younger, cuter Tooty, who happens to be the little sister of Banjo. Gruntilda's nefarious plan is to throw Tooty into a beauty-sucking machine, which will steal the baby bear's good looks and give them to her. Then, presumably, Gruntilda will rule the world as the hottest looking old witch Cosmopolitan magazine has ever seen.

Now, this kind of preposterous homage to obsessive female vanity might have been acceptable in the 1950's, when Disney's Snow White was the state of the art in animated storytelling. But now, this regurgitated, ill conceived, and down right offensive tale has no place in the landscape of children's literature circa 1998. Suffice to say, after the many references to Gruntilda's obesity and unattractiveness, I was thoroughly unimpressed by the work of Rare's writing department. I was expecting to be charmed by some truly witty English entendres and non-sequitors but instead, I was bludgeoned by fat jokes and lots of silliness about Gruntilda being a nose picker.

Of course, as a player of the game, it's fairly easy to ignore the ridiculous story and characters in this cart and just move forward exploring and beak bashing the baddies. Once you enter into this mindset, Banjo-Kazooie takes on a whole new level of sophistication. This is the kind of game that haunts your dreams with its intense imagery and challenging puzzles.

LUGGAGE DECALS

The various worlds in Banjo-Kazooie are so finely crafted and expertly realized you really will have the sensation of actually traveling somewhere during your playtime. The most amazing thing about this game is the vast size of the overworld. This is the area that leads you into each of the game's main levels. As you'll discover when you pick up this game (and I suggest you do), the overworld is a large game unto itself.

You start your adventure in the cartoon-hued lair of Banjo, a house outfitted with billowing curtains, book covered shelves and a traumatized goldfish aching to be free. Once outside, you enter the realm of Spiral Mountain, or as we like to call it, the testing grounds. This is the place where you'll have lots of freedom to tool around and get used to your character's various moves. In the panorama around Spiral Mountain, there are beautiful waterfalls, cobbled bridges, neatly tended gardens and a huge spiraling mountain that leads into the mouth (and I mean that literally) of Gruntilda's Lair.

Once inside the cavernous lair of the wicked old witch, you will be beset by glorious textures and lighting effects the likes of which were thought to be impossible to create on the N64 hardware. You'll walk up steep grassy slopes, you'll bounce down giant stone steps, you'll jump into glassy water, you'll shoot through rusted pipes, rip into cobweb encased archways and carefully tiptoe over tiny rock bridges that glow red from the pulsing lava below. And that's all before you enter into any of the game's levels.

The various worlds of Banjo-Kazooie don't disappoint. Make sure you get your passport stamped as you play through this enormous cart. It won't take long before you'll have easily bounced your way through Mumbo's Mountain; this is the home turf of the helpful witch doctor that transforms you into various nifty critters throughout the game. Next, you're off to stomp on giant crabs and rescue wailing pirates in Treasure Trove Cove.

Clanker's Cavern is filled with some of the most impressive imagery in the game. Clanker, himself, is a giant metallic shark who is bursting to be free of the grungy, grimy, goopy water that he's been chained up in.

Another breathtaking level in Banjo-Kazooie is the wintry Freezeezy Peak. In this world, you'll have mad toboggan races, you'll rescue frightened Christmas tree lights, and you'll square up against some of the baddest snowmen you've ever seen, all to the happy, homey tinkle of Christmas bells.

Of course, there's much more of the good stuff to see in the game. You'll travel to an ancient cartoon Egypt in Gobi's Valley, you'll visit a fantastic haunted house and church in Mad Monster Mansion and you'll battle greedy 'gators in Bubblegloop Swamp.

FLYING IS FOR THE BEARS!

Now, all of these terrific locations would be pointless if the developers of Banjo-Kazooie didn't let you explore them in style. Well, you'll be happy to learn that the artists and programmers at Rare have been faithfully studying at the Shigeru Miyamoto Institute for years, so their videogame-ese is some of the most fluent in the world.

New to this adventure is the concept of dual character simultaneous control. After all, the game's called Banjo-Kazooie for a reason. Banjo carries Kazooie around in his backpack. This allows the duo to be big, strong and stable, as well as nimble footed, fleet and, with the help of Kazooie's wings, floatable, all at the same time.

The first move you'll have to get comfortable with is switching control between Banjo and Kazooie. At the simultaneous press of the Z trigger and the left camera button, you'll be able to shift Banjo from the carrier position to the carriee. Now Kazooie's in the driver's seat and you'll quickly discover how much faster she is and how much easier it is to get up inclines.

Combating the enemies in the game takes a little practice but Mario 64 vets should pick it up right away. At the press of a button, or a simple combination of buttons, you can have Banjo barrel through the baddies, attack them with Kazooie's lightning quick pecks, leap into the air and dive bomb them, or, you can perform a double whammy beak barge which thrusts Banjo's shoulder and Kazooie's pointy schnoz right into the midsection of any opposition. To compliment all of these hand to hand fighting moves, Rare also threw in the ability to use projectiles. Finding blue eggs to shoot at your enemies will prove not only to be very helpful in protecting your valuable energy points, but you'll also discover many sticky situations where the eggs are your only solution.

Expect to climb up tons of pipes and ladders. You'll also have to become proficient at swimming using each character - Banjo's slow and steady, Kazooie's quick and a little more difficult to steer. There are plenty of ledges and platforms to reach, so you'll have to get used to basic jumping, extended flap jumping (just keep holding down on that A button) and of course the infamous crouching flap-flip, which you'll need to be able to reach higher ledges.

The most rewarding move in the whole game, however, has to be the ability to fly. By finding hordes of red feathers and then locating the appropriate flight pads (red are for flying, yellow are for boosted jumps), you'll be able to take to the skies and look down on the world you've just been toiling to traverse through. It's truly a magnificent sensation. Best of all, once you take off, you accumulate one more offensive move in your arsenal. Now you can point your beak at an enemy target and missile into them � this is incredibly fun!

To say that all of this freedom of mobility adds a tremendous amount of dimension to the game play experience would be an enormous understatement. This movement flexibility is the heart and soul of Banjo-Kazooie. I'm not certain that two individual characters were needed to justify all of these moves (a certain plumber we all know and love did all right by his lonesome) but it is a winning idea nonetheless. After being completely turned off by the kiddie-cute context of the game, however, I couldn't help but think how a gritty, more mature, Hawkman-like character would have been a cool direction for this platformer to go in.

Interestingly, you cannot perform all of Banjo-Kazooie's various moves right out of the gate. Befitting the "endlessly collecting" nature of the game, the addition of these moves hinges on your ability to locate and grill a certain helpful critter named Bottles the Badger. Once you spot one of his telltale molehills in the dirt, you have to amble up and pester the guy until he offers up the required info you'll need for each new move.

A TREASURE CHEST OF STUFF

If you're going to enjoy playing Banjo-Kazooie at all, collecting stuff better not be on your list of "10 Things I Hate About Platform Games." This is the great grandmaster game of collecting stuff. There's so much stuff to collect in this game you're going to know what it feels like to be a part of the Central Park Trash Collection Unit.

Let's start with the gold Musical Notes: 100 of these on every level. The more notes you collect, the more note doors open up for you. Note doors allow you to find new worlds to explore.

Then, there are the gold Jigsaw Pieces: 10 of these on every level. These are used to fill up unfinished jigsaw portraits of the various worlds you'll be entering. Just so we're up to speed, you have to find notes and jigsaw pieces if you want see the different levels in the game.

Also be on the lookout for Jinjos, these are hapless little creatures that are trapped in various unique spots in every world. There are five that have to be rescued in each world. Once you've found the fifth Jinjo, he will give you a jigsaw piece. You see how it all works? Coincidentally, you'll be able to easily spot a Jinjo by their alarming similarity to our dear old friend Alf the alien.

Other pickups are generic to the videogame world. Red feathers will help you fly, gold feathers will help you become invincible, eggs are your projectiles, Mumbo tokens are necessary for getting Mumbo to transform you into different creatures, there are extra life statues, energy honeycombs, as well as useful wading boots and running shoes. One other important object to gather is the Extra Honeycomb Piece. This useful item will actually aid you in adding more honeycomb pieces to your energy bar.

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING?

It's almost a little overwhelming isn't it? That's how I felt. It was as if Rare decided to make the mother of all platform games and threw in every conceivable collectable they could imagine. Not only that but the sheer vastness of the title will be intimidating for many players. Gamers who were blown away by the size and scope of Super Mario 64 will be shocked to discover that it takes ages just to get from one level entrance to another in this game. This is one game that you definitely will not be finishing in a weekend. Expect to be lost, expect to be confused, expect to be frustrated and dammit, expect to be addicted and entertained. Banjo-Kazooie, despite what your better judgement may tell you about cartoon cute action adventures, is gold medal gaming all the way. It is, unquestionably, another smashing success for the Brits known as Rare. Now, if we could only get them to hire some more clever story-tellers�

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