Banjo-Tooie starts a couple of years after Banjo-Kazooie (also on Arcade and well worth a look) with our heroes relaxing and playing cards. Unknown to them the witch Gruntilda's sisters Mingella and Blobbelda have freed her from her boulder prison and now, sans skin, Grunty wants revenge and her skin back.

 

 

The main game hub separates off into different worlds, the more puzzle pieces you collect and puzzles you complete will open up the next world. Each stage is an open world affair where you can run around and search for collectables to further your quest and meet loads of new characters. Each world has its own theme like forests, mines and fields and they are huge, they do however have warp pads allowing for easy navigation. Each level has 10 puzzle pieces to collect, some are nice and simple and require some platform skills or to defeat a boss whilst others are sneakily hidden away and require lots of puzzle solving.

 

Banjo-Tooie looks similar to the last instalment but there are some improvements in character animation, giving them a cartoonier look. A lot of the harsh edges that the N64 was so good at have been smoothed out, making the game look so much better than the original, plus the colours are more vivid and bounce off the screen.

 

All of the moves from the previous game are available straight away and the teamwork element between the bear and bird is used even more with loads of new moves to unlock and master, with each move having relevance in either defeating bosses or opening up in-game secrets. On top of the inclusion of splitting the pair up, ledge grabbing and sights for your egg throw, on certain levels you can hold Kazooie like a gun and run around specially made first person shooter levels. Mumbo also returns but this time as a playable character who can use his magic staff to unlock more puzzle pieces. The morphing is still there and this time includes another shaman called Humbo who can turn you into a fun selection of characters including a statue, submarine, T-Rex and of course a washing machine.

 

 

As with any 3D platformer you have collectables and Banjo-Tooie has maybe gone a bit overboard here, you have jiggies to unlock levels, glowbo's to morph, notes to unlock new moves, cheato pages to cheat and mystery eggs which when used at Heggys Egg Shack will give you secrets like gamer pics, themes and blueprints for Nuts and Bolts. The achievements also offer something different as they are more based around hidden parts of the game that require deep exploration rather than just completing levels.

 

As a fan of old games it was real fun to play this hard to get classic. There is no doubt that this remade version will please fans wanting to revisit this top series and newcomers alike.