There is nothing less than high praises for the bear and bird in this epic adventure game. Similar to the Super Mario 64 game, Banjo and Kazooie go on an adventure to save Tooty by collecting numerous new moves, Jigsaw pieces, music notes and battling through epic worlds. This platform is a masterpiece of humor, excitement, adventure and puzzles, literally puzzles. We have Rare to thank for creating such an awesome game and collection of ideas. Like I said before, there's nothing but high praises for this game. You would not be disappointed by playing this game and it is literally one of the best I've played in my youth.

Graphics: 10
Simply stunning. When the Nintendo 64 released with this 3-D world that we could explore, it was just all around awesome. These graphics were fascinating because it took other adventure games to a whole new level. Compared to it's main competitor, Mario, Banjo could have easily become a threat. These graphics were great, everything from the opening scenes, title screen to the credits, everything about the game's graphics just pop and you see everything so perfectly. It's unique, exciting and very enjoyable.

Taking Freezee Peak as an example, the graphics are cool. The Christmas tree is all decorated really nicely, the Snowman is dressed with a scarf and top hat and just really nice to see creativity as pure as this without ripping off any other games. What's cool is that you are able to explore most worlds from top to bottom and the programmers made use of everything, even the buttons on the Snowman. Another great example is the last level you adventure to before climbing the lair to the final boss. in this level, you are able to explore the same level through the 4 seasons and it changes enough to where each season almost creates a new level aside from the main paths. The animations just add humor and fun on top of the graphics.

Sound: 10
The only annoying sound might be the Talon Trot you use a million times throughout the game, but it's faint and never bothered me. The rest of the sound effects almost add to the on-going music in some cases. The music is rather enjoyable. Each song really belongs in the levels they're played in. Some of my favorites would be the opening theme, Rusty Bucket Bay and the last level before meeting the witch face to face.

What's unique about the sounds is that some of the character sounds were done by the idea of taking select words or phrases and distort or warp the words into a mumble that characters would speak in the game. What you hear is a mumble when that mumble began as saying some profane word. I know this was also done in the sequel Banjo Tooie.

Addictiveness: 10
If you're a true gamer who runs through the entire game collecting everything and realize that there are some components that you can not collect, you will keep returning to the game trying to get them. I did this for years and it drove me nuts. Those items in question were the legendary Ice Key and those colored Easter Eggs. It absolutely held total control over me and ate at me day in and day out. I literally played the game 25 times from start to finish trying to see if I was missing something. The sounds, graphics, controls and just how fun it was overall just kept me coming back.

Story: 8
This story is pretty good. It begins with a bear and bird who climb the evil witch's lair to save Banjo's sister. With the help of their friends, Bottles and Mumbo, they learn new moves and turn into unique creatures. While you're on the adventure, you're constantly spoken to by Gruntilda who will rhyme everything. The rhyming must be something buried deep in the genetics haha. Anyway, the story expands on into the sequel, Banjo Tooie.

Depth: 9
Overall, the game is pretty in depth and takes time to play and win. First and fore most, each level is large and takes time to explore. There's a lot to see and a lot to do. You must collect 10 Jigsaw pieces while collecting the 100 hidden notes. The Jigsaw pieces open new worlds while the notes open the paths to those new worlds. If you fail at collecting all 100 notes and leave the world, you will be required to go back through and collect them all again. You don't need to do that with the Jiggies.

Another advancement is the sudden pop quiz you must take to progress further. You must pay attention to the sounds of characters, to the details of each world, even the world's names, names of other characters and more. This quiz really sucks if you don't remember everything like I did haha.

I also wanted to make note of the number of new moves you can earn. You can fly around most worlds and see how detailed or huge the world is. You can also learn to use different shoes that do various tasks. This all helps lead you to the secrets of the game.

The secrets of the game also expand the game. There's hidden codes used to enable access to the Ice Key and the 6 hidden Easter Eggs. What these do is still a mystery. Rare never wanted to release this information because they had big plans for it back on the Nintendo 64. Unfortunately, this drives me nuts because I can't stop thinking about what these could do for you to make your game better. The legendary Stop N Swap with no real answers; sad.

Lastly, the names of the characters were taken from the designers and programmers of the game. I believe that each character was given a name by each other programmers. That's pretty cool.

Difficulty: 7
Banjo Kazooie is not a very difficult game, it just requires a good chunk of time to collect the 100 hidden notes in each level and the 10 hidden Jiggies. Overall, there's a lot to do but it isn't too difficult to play. The most difficult parts of the game might be the Quiz game and the final boss. It's also pretty impossible to know some of the answers, it's not like the game actually tells you some of the answers. That adds a little spice of challenge if you're looking to pass with a 100%. 1 bad move might send you falling down a long way and into your death, but the controls aren't bad at all.

Lastly.
Banjo Kazooie has surprises and it's very fun. If you're looking for something different and tired of the same old Mario Bros. I'd recommend giving this game a try. Surprises, comedy and puzzles in this adventure platform makes for an all around unique and fun game. Whether you're a kid or an adult, it doesn't matter because the game is fun and worth the time either way. Try it out and see for yourself.

Fireproof : Well, very good review! Very detailed with spacing to make it easy to read!

Nothing else I can say except keep up the great work!