Banjokazooie
Nintendo 64 £49.99
Mario and Luigi, Sonic and Tails, Donkey and Diddy Kong and now Banjo and Kazooie. What chance have the evil hordes in the gameplay world? In this 3D platform adventure, Gruntilda is the nasty piece of action and Banjo (a banjo-playing bear, oddly enough) and his buddy the heroes.
Banjo's sister (Tooty) has been kidnapped by wicked witch Gruntilda and taken to her lair after the ugly one found out that she wasn't the fairest in the land.
You begin the game from ouside Banjo and Kazooie's house and from here you'll bump into Bottles (a mole) who'll show you all the moves you need to know before you begin the adventure. Before you've advanced too far, you'll certainly have a sense of deja vu because there is no denying that Banjo-Kazooie borrows from Mario 64 in more ways than one. Both are cutie-pie 3D adventure platformers; they have almost indentical control methods; and while Mario collected stars Banjo and Kazooie collect jiggies (jigsaw pieces to me and you).
However, Banjo's world is bigger, more detailed and is filled with interactive characters. Another addition is the save-game feature and Rare, the game's developers, have seen fit to include three separate files for this. There are nine levels plus one huge world called Gruntilda's lair which connects them all. Levels are represented by unfinished puzzles and you must collect those jiggies to gain access. On each level you have to complete a number of set objectives and you will have to use our two heroes' seperate attributes to complete many of them.
Later in the game things do get a little hectic and it can become nasty but no one said it was going to be easy. The game, in fact, isn't limited to platform action - there is a host of other mini games that need to be solved.
All in all, Banjo-Kazooie is beautiful. It features the best graphics yet seen on the N64 and some of the gameplay is nothing short of stunning. Move over Mario 64, there are new kids on the block.
Graphics: 96% Gameplay: 98%