If you’ve been reading my last few entries, it might seem that I hate every game I play. That’s not exactly true. I hate a lot of games that are lazy or otherwise poorly executed but there are some games that I do like. Games like Banjo-Kazooie.
The story in Banjo-Kazooie is a little convoluted, but the gist of it is this: Banjo, a honeybear wearing tight yellow shorts, and Kazooie, a ‘Red Crested Breegull’ that lives in his backpack, have to rescue Banjo’s sister, Tootie, who has been kidnapped by the resident evil witch, Gruntilda, for the express purpose of stealing Tootie’s cuteness.
Seriously.
To achieve your goal, you have to make your way to Gruntilda’s castle, but the way is blocked. To unblock the way you have to find golden jigsaw puzzle pieces, called ‘Jiggies’ to complete pictures of the various stages. Each stage has 10 Jiggies to find, and several of them are hidden pretty well. You have to solve the puzzles in each level to get the pieces, use the pieces to complete the picture that opens the way to the next level, and so forth.
Each level presents unique challenges. You have a level set on an island where you search for buried treasure, you have a level set in the woods where you have to climb trees, an obligatory ice level, a desert level, and so forth.
You also will get some help along the way in the form of Bottles the Mole who will teach you different moves that you’ll need to continue, Mumbo Jumbo the witch doctor with the ability to change Banjo into different animals to help you find some Jiggies in out of the way places, and Gruntilda’s nice sister Brenthilda who will tell you some of Gruntilda’s secrets (this comes in handy toward the end of the game).
The game is a solid package. It’s pretty entertaining, has a reasonably engaging storyline, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Makes it a winner in my book.
[...] ending of Banjo-Kazooie fairly strongly hinted that there would be a sequel. In fact, it outright showed some pictures and [...]