Mind you, this is my first review ever on Escapist (I have done reviews in the past for other sites), and I decided to start with one that has been an amazing game.
Banjo-Kazooie was originally released by Rare for the Nintendo 64 so many years ago, you may have forgotten about the poor bear-and-bird combo. I do have to say though, thanks to the later release of Banjo-Tooie, and now (years later), Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, many fans are back to wishing they can resume that Jiggy hunt for all 100. Fear not, for Microsoft has done us a favor by re-releasing it on XBLA for a mere 1200 MS Points!
If any of you players had amazing photographic memory (or just recall countless hours during the game), many will immediately recognize obvious differences in the text of characters, and even some graphics. Just to point out, the first change was seen in the intro: Mumbo plays a xylophone that normally harbored the RARE logo, and now sports a neat "Microsoft" logo. Yay for advertising. Obvious changes were the fact that Bottles now had to use Xbox controls, rather than the N64 controls, and a lot of the Xbox controller buttons were put in at the game select screen. Other changes were made apparent when dealing with Stop 'N' Swop items (but only the hardcore fans would know of these changes).
On the topic of changes, I feel the best catagory of review should start with the controls. When I first picked up my controller to play this, my head and my hands had two differing opinions on what to do. The hands felt comfortable with the dual-analog control, but my head still screamed out in agony for the C-Buttons. The controls had been altered, and whoever picked out button combinations, definitely knew what they were doing. The adjustment to the new controls were not painful, and pretty easy to get used to. I would have to point out a couple of complaints. To start with, first-person mode was as secretive to find as the passwords for the Stop 'N' Swop, in which the control screen wouldn't point out anything about it until you had already found out through a secondary source! It also doesn't helping making the swimming and flying remain on the "Invert Y-Axis" option. I recall countless hours of being angered every time Banjo decided to return to the surface when I wanted that last music note. Unfortunately, Microsoft decided not to make that optional.
Now, the game did supposedly release with Nuts & Bolts, but only for those who pre-ordered the game. Within the time that it was announced, and the time it was released, you would think Microsoft would have done a bit more tweaking to fix the more aggravating mistakes. This was not true. The camera still loves to sit in places just to see how well you can predict your walking path on the incredibly small platform, or how well you could clear a path in 30 seconds with the camera consistently changing angles. I found myself practically fighting the camera to get into angles I liked so I could perform the task properly. At one point, the camera COULDN'T move into a good position because objects sat in its way.
As for the rest of the game, I'd say it was relatively an exact port. The only further change was the achievements, which were somewhat ambiguous and strange. The "Get Jiggy", which required you to get 2 jiggies was slightly awkward (why two? Why not 1, or 5?), and a good percentage of the achievements involved another character being saved or killed. Of course, these jiggies were always optional, so these achievements are only possible if you knew how to accomplish the task. The final achievements were downright near impossible, and 2 of which I was surprised at the interpretation. Collecting all 900 music notes proved to be a challenge when it came to the final worlds, and finishing all 7 puzzles were tough, seeing as first person mode had slipped away. Then there was the "Chomp Chomp" and the "Jinjonatored" achievements, which both were vague. I didn't know what I was looking for until I returned to the swamp world to fight the red crocodile, and pull off eat the Yumblies. As for the latter achievement, I still have unsuccessfully earned it for some reason. And I definitely beat the game. It would have been nice to see a bit more challenging achievements get put in, for example, collecting all 100 jiggies, or getting Stop 'N' Swop items, or even maintaining a kill count or completing certain challenging time challenges.
As a final note on the Stop 'N' Swop items, Microsoft has made it a point in the game that entering any code that starts with CHEAT will turn off the save and leaderboard functions, which really turn some players off for trying to get the Stop/Swop items (like myself).
All in all, is this game really worth the 1200 points price tag, especially if you 100% completed back in the day? The replay value is significantly lower, but if you remember every nook and cranny of this game, chances are, you just want to pay for 200 more gamer points. Otherwise, this may very well be a pass, unless your wallet allows and you've just been reminiscing on games past.
Overall score:
Price Point: Too High.
Replay Value: Low to Moderate.
Controls: Simple.
Final Score: Pass
Banjo-Kazooie was originally released by Rare for the Nintendo 64 so many years ago, you may have forgotten about the poor bear-and-bird combo. I do have to say though, thanks to the later release of Banjo-Tooie, and now (years later), Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, many fans are back to wishing they can resume that Jiggy hunt for all 100. Fear not, for Microsoft has done us a favor by re-releasing it on XBLA for a mere 1200 MS Points!
If any of you players had amazing photographic memory (or just recall countless hours during the game), many will immediately recognize obvious differences in the text of characters, and even some graphics. Just to point out, the first change was seen in the intro: Mumbo plays a xylophone that normally harbored the RARE logo, and now sports a neat "Microsoft" logo. Yay for advertising. Obvious changes were the fact that Bottles now had to use Xbox controls, rather than the N64 controls, and a lot of the Xbox controller buttons were put in at the game select screen. Other changes were made apparent when dealing with Stop 'N' Swop items (but only the hardcore fans would know of these changes).
On the topic of changes, I feel the best catagory of review should start with the controls. When I first picked up my controller to play this, my head and my hands had two differing opinions on what to do. The hands felt comfortable with the dual-analog control, but my head still screamed out in agony for the C-Buttons. The controls had been altered, and whoever picked out button combinations, definitely knew what they were doing. The adjustment to the new controls were not painful, and pretty easy to get used to. I would have to point out a couple of complaints. To start with, first-person mode was as secretive to find as the passwords for the Stop 'N' Swop, in which the control screen wouldn't point out anything about it until you had already found out through a secondary source! It also doesn't helping making the swimming and flying remain on the "Invert Y-Axis" option. I recall countless hours of being angered every time Banjo decided to return to the surface when I wanted that last music note. Unfortunately, Microsoft decided not to make that optional.
Now, the game did supposedly release with Nuts & Bolts, but only for those who pre-ordered the game. Within the time that it was announced, and the time it was released, you would think Microsoft would have done a bit more tweaking to fix the more aggravating mistakes. This was not true. The camera still loves to sit in places just to see how well you can predict your walking path on the incredibly small platform, or how well you could clear a path in 30 seconds with the camera consistently changing angles. I found myself practically fighting the camera to get into angles I liked so I could perform the task properly. At one point, the camera COULDN'T move into a good position because objects sat in its way.
As for the rest of the game, I'd say it was relatively an exact port. The only further change was the achievements, which were somewhat ambiguous and strange. The "Get Jiggy", which required you to get 2 jiggies was slightly awkward (why two? Why not 1, or 5?), and a good percentage of the achievements involved another character being saved or killed. Of course, these jiggies were always optional, so these achievements are only possible if you knew how to accomplish the task. The final achievements were downright near impossible, and 2 of which I was surprised at the interpretation. Collecting all 900 music notes proved to be a challenge when it came to the final worlds, and finishing all 7 puzzles were tough, seeing as first person mode had slipped away. Then there was the "Chomp Chomp" and the "Jinjonatored" achievements, which both were vague. I didn't know what I was looking for until I returned to the swamp world to fight the red crocodile, and pull off eat the Yumblies. As for the latter achievement, I still have unsuccessfully earned it for some reason. And I definitely beat the game. It would have been nice to see a bit more challenging achievements get put in, for example, collecting all 100 jiggies, or getting Stop 'N' Swop items, or even maintaining a kill count or completing certain challenging time challenges.
As a final note on the Stop 'N' Swop items, Microsoft has made it a point in the game that entering any code that starts with CHEAT will turn off the save and leaderboard functions, which really turn some players off for trying to get the Stop/Swop items (like myself).
All in all, is this game really worth the 1200 points price tag, especially if you 100% completed back in the day? The replay value is significantly lower, but if you remember every nook and cranny of this game, chances are, you just want to pay for 200 more gamer points. Otherwise, this may very well be a pass, unless your wallet allows and you've just been reminiscing on games past.
Overall score:
Price Point: Too High.
Replay Value: Low to Moderate.
Controls: Simple.
Final Score: Pass