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WOW!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 22
Date: November 26, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game was horrible. I liked the first one better in every way, except for the graphics.

Nothing Like "Banjo-Kazooie"

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 19
Date: November 29, 2000
Author: Amazon User

There are plenty of bad video game sequels. Remember "Simon's Quest", the sequel to the original "Castlevania", or "Zelda 2" for the NES? Why is it that so many sequels are botched? I'll get straight to the point: "Tooie" is a disappointment--a big one. All the fun gameplay from the first game has been replaced by stupid search-and defeat puzzles, and "Doom"-like mazes. Gosh, if I wanted to play "Doom", I'd go play it! And caveat to those who get "motion sickness" from playing video games (I don't know how else to explain it). I can't play "Banjo Tooie" for more than fifteen minutes without getting sick to my stomach--really, I'm not exaggerating! The worst part is, is that I adore "Banjo Kazooie"; it's such a shame that they had to ruin the possibilities of what could of been a good sequel. Gosh, I waited two years for this?

A badly tuned "Banjo"

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 8
Date: January 02, 2002
Author: Amazon User

OK, sorry to burst all of your bubbles, but this game is not all that it is cracked up to be. I do love Banjo-Kazooie, and have played it completely through over 10 times, but the sequel is just not up to speed. The graphics and handling are better, but most of the other aspects are sadly inferior to the first game. I honestly cannot remember a game in which I spent so much time frustrated or irritated because of the badly designed layout, tedious games, and pointless excuses for playtime extension.

First off, the views are HORRIBLE. Too many times I was caught/killed/or just badly annoyed by the clumsy, backward view controls that do not allow you a view of where you are going, but rather show you where you have been. I kept having to stop and spin the controls around just to see what I was doing - not a good idea when fighting a boss or walking a cliff-edge.

Also, all the minigames are the SAME! When you enlarge a game, give the player a whole arsenal of new weapons, and design 8 new worlds, don't any original games go with it? Banjo-Kazooie had a nice selection of minigames that players encountered - Tooie only has one that you play over and over, with different trappings and characters! *SNORE* To contrast this monotony, some of the jiggy-hunts are incredibly involved and tedious, but at least original.

I do like the idea of allowing you to play: Banjo-Kazooie, just Banjo, just Kazooie/the dragon, Mumbo, and the magic characters, but it turns out idiotic. You are required to spend valuable time changing in between these characters, for maybe 5 minutes of play time before you have to change back - and most of the actions could easily have been taught as regular moves. Also the handling (which is a great improvement from the first game for the base characters) is horrendous for the magic characters - all of whom are mechanical characters; there are none of the animals that you were changed into in B-K.

One final note: most of the reviewers on this site talk about the fun characters that you encounter. Hmmmmm. The insults are childish, and the jokes are stale. Also, there are a pair of 'questionable' frogs that elicted many raised eyebrows in my household - one has a very deep throaty voice and wears a bikini, while her 'partner' (their words) has a high voice and acts exceedingly feminine. That's fine by me, but not so fine by some parents I know. One good thing is that most of the characters that Banjo and Kazooie encounter were created for the game, and were not just recycled from the first in the series.

If you want a action-adventure game or two that will give you hours of non-irritating pleasure, complete with intelligent minigames, beautiful music, and sweeping graphics, buy Zelda: Ocarina of Time and its sequel, Majora's Mask. I guarentee you that they will stay with you long after Banjo-Tooie has faded into cutesy-N64-game hell.

Good Yet Done

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 14
Date: January 14, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Banjo Tooie is a good game i'll give it this much being a 13 year old gamer. But The Review on the buy details page is right it borrows from DK64 which stole its format from Jet Force Jemini only adding more characters and worse graphics. Now Banjo Tooie uses that formula with better graphics, has a huge adventure,and is really slow. Banjo is horrendously slow even using talon trot! The speed shoes help but well they only last 10 - 15 seconds. Get this game if u want to i sorta liked it but theres better options out there folks

Not like Banjo Kazooie..

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: January 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I really really liked Banjo-Kazooie and I guess I expected a game as good as that. Banjo-Tooie seems like an ok game. But it's NOT like Banjo-Kazooie. It's much harder and the graphics are nice but they make the game a little slow. And the fun gameplay from the first game is gone. I haven't played Tooie that much so maybe I'll like it better when I've played more.. But I'm just saying don't expect another game like Banjo-Kazooie.

Great, Yet Not as Good as the First

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: February 26, 2001
Author: Amazon User

There is no doubt that Banjo-Tooie, the anticipated sequel to Banjo-Kazooie, is a great game. But instead of babbling about the strengths of the game (you can read other reviews for that), I'd like to explain why, in my opinion, this didn't live up to the original. For one, Grunty's rhymes are gone. Unforgivable. Secondly, the overworld, which had multiple secrets and nooks and crannys in the original, is now a just limited to level entrances and exits (although being stunningly beutiful at the same time). And if you're expecting a final boss as brilliant as the last game's, you will cry right there in front of your TV set in agony. But the unforgivable comes in the form of there being only 90 jiggies in the game (as opposed to BK's 100). The ending isn't half as good either. Don't lose hope, though, because rumors have been circulating the net about a BK-BT secret connection that may unlock more goodies in Tooie. But until that secret is revealed, I am forced to give this game four stars. By all means, buy this game. Just don't expect something as exceptional as Banjo-Kazooie.

good but hard

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game for my 8 years old child. The game is really good. People who made it definately have a lot of imagination. However I believe that this game is hard for little kids and I would not recomend it for children under 8-9 years old. Moreover, if you do not plan to play together with your child make sure your child can read and read fast because this game involves a lot of reading.

A fine game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 31, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is great! It has great graphics, plenty of stuff to do, and it contains some humorous spots. It also has plenty of secrets that have very interesting outcomes. But, it does have some bad areas. There is some very noticeable slowdown, especially in the last 2 worlds. Also, the levels are so big that sometimes it can get very tedious collecting everything. This game is very good, and I would strongly suggest buying it.

Good for only so long, then it gets repetitive.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: March 26, 2001
Author: Amazon User

When I first turned on the game, my initial thought was "Wow, what great graphics". Then came the slowdown. I was able to overlook that easily, as it's not that bad. As I got more into the game, the puzzles got harder, and the characters were getting cutsier and cutsier, of course. But also, it was all the same thing. Find the mole, learn moves, collect stuff, fight a boss, turn into something, get jiggys, etc. It gets pretty monotonous after a while, and it all feels the same. If you are into and collecting items and saving cute little critters and everything, this is your game.

Feels different from Banjo-Kazooie

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Even though this is the direct sequel to the Rare 1998 classic Banjo-Kazooie, and features much of the same gameplay and similar characters, I think that it just feels like a different game. It seems almost as different from Banjo-Kazooie as Donkey Kong 64 or Conker's Bad Fur Day does. The game just emanates a completely different atmosphere. I guess it's a combination of very different music, different moves, and new characters. Kudos to Rareware on that. People usually like a game that play the same as another game but feels different. I mean, it's a different game, isn't it? Who likes a game that plays AND feels the same?

Ah well. Banjo and Kazooie's final N64 adventure takes them to the world beyond the valley in which they live in. It's a large world, larger than the cavern that Gruntilda calls her lair. The levels really aren't that much larger than the mammoth world featured in Banjo-Kazooie or even Donkey Kong 64, but it's amazing how Rare has fresh ideas even after creating over a dozen massive levels for the two aforementioned games. Ah well. The difficulty level of Banjo-Tooie seems to be tougher. It's sometimes harder to figure out what the heck to do for certain Jiggies, and there are so much more stuff to find this time around. Not only are there jiggies, but there are also: Jinjos, Cheato pages, honeycombs, and everybody's favorite notes! The massive amount of extra moves can also get overwhelming. Boss fights, which were MIA in Banjo-Kazooie are now here, and in every stage. The extra modes of play are a nice change to the typical Banjo-Kazooie formula. I haven't had a chance to play as Kazooie without Banjo, but I did get to control Mumbo. It wasn't really as I had expected, but fun nonetheless. The 1st-person shooter mode was obviously a chance to cash in on the successes of GoldenEye and Perfect Dark, but they were actually well done. The 1st-person shooter level in Mayahem Temple freaked me out, but hey. It's all about atmosphere.

Rare has always been good at having distinct "tastes" to their games. I suppose what helps them are their awesome musical staff. Although the music in Blast Corps got on the nerves of some people, it definitely added to the feel for it. The somewhat-like-variations of the Bond theme in GoldenEye gave that game a unique feel. So on and so forth. Banjo-Tooie had good music that adds to its different mood, but it just didn't feel as excellent as Rare's fantastic score for Banjo-Kazooie. Maybe that's a good thing. Having the Gobi's Desert tune stuck in your head for hours is not exactly a pleasant experience. As far as sound effects go, Banjo's deep utterance for every jump is JUST NOT RIGHT! Argh! I can't stand it. Oh well. It's a good game nonetheless.

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