This is one of the most addictive games I have ever played and definitely one of the most entertaining.
The storyline isn't very different, but then again, you don't play a platformer for the story. Banjo, the main character in the game, has got his sister, Tooty, kidnapped by an evil witch named Gruntilda. Gruntilda is planning to use some sort of device to steal the youth of Banjo's sister, Tooty. So it's up to Banjo and the bird that lives in his backpack, Kazooie, to venture into Gruntilda's lair to stop her evil plans.
Once you start playing the game, you'll find a vast open world with a total of nine levels to conquer. Your goal is to find 10 puzzle pieces per level called "jiggys" which allow you to continue on to the next level. You'll also have to collect 100 of these things called "notes" to progress through the game in general. On top of these collectible items, you'll also be able to collect birds that if you collect all 5 of them in a level will earn you another jiggy puzzle piece. So in total, you'll have to collect 10 jiggys, 100 notes and 5 birds per level.
One of the first things that you'll notice is the vast open world of Banjo-Kazooie. The world in general is humongous and the individual levels are spread far apart from each other. Usually the jiggy that you require to move on to the next level isn't even near the level, sometimes even located in the opposite direction.
The gameplay of Banjo-Kazooie certainly follow the formula set by the Super Mario 64 game, but Banjo-Kazooie have a bigger arsenal of fighting moves compared to Mario. The game makes sure to teach you about the basics on how to fight and move during the beginning of the game. You'll learn the rest of the moves that you can learn as you progress through the game and require them. Although Banjo's move set is great and varied, you'll never really need much more than his basic attacks to take down most of his enemies.
When it comes to graphics, Banjo-Kazooie creates visual magic. Banjo-Kazooie keeps all of the great graphics presented in games like Super Mario 64, but includes a lot of textures instead of just flat, shaded and polygonal shapes. You would think that the amazing graphics would slow the game down, but the game runs really smooth.
The camera is just as amazing as the one in Super Mario 64, but does have its troubles here and there where it makes the game difficult to play. You might end up missing some obvious item you've been looking for because of a bad camera angle and you might have to control the camera a bit more than you would normally want to because it doesn't track Banjo and Kazooie as well as it should.
The sounds and the music in the game is also as amazing as the rest of the game. The soundtrack that plays throughout the game will certainly get stuck in your head...in a good way and the character voices sound really funny. Their gibberish-like rambling will remind you of Charlie Brown's teacher and make you laugh even if you never saw Charlie Brown.
This game will definitely appeal to any person that played Super Mario 64 and any other great Platformer RPG game. Banjo-Kazooie may be a bit of a clone when compared to Super Mario 64, but that certainly isn't a bad thing since Super Mario 64 was a revolutionary Platformer RPG game.
This game can certainly hold its own when compared to other games and is one of the best games on the Nintendo 64, which can be played by child and adult. This is one of the most addictive games I have ever played and definitely one of the most entertaining.