Banjo-Tooie is an absolutely wonderful game and we have Rare and the prequel: Banjo-Kazooie to thank for this. Banjo-Tooie brings out a whole new adventure centered around evil Gruntilda the witch and her 2 sisters who help Grunty escape from certain death. This action packed adventure brings out a whole new set of moves you can learn, band new story, all star cast from the first game with new additions and the humor you enjoyed from Banjo-Kazooie. I recommend you play Banjo-Kazooie first if you haven't done so already because this game is a direct sequel to the events that happened in the first game. Playing Banjo-Kazooie might help you understand some of the events that take place in this game.

Graphics: 10
The graphics are absolutely amazing, even for the Nintendo 64. I'd have to say that the graphics put into this game are potentially the best, if not THE BEST. Graphics are clear, detailed and offer much to see. What's great about this game's graphics is how cool the game looked. Compared to Banjo-Kazooie (which was also great), Banjo-Tooie took this to a all new level. Each level or area presented great new wonders to explore and discover. To be honest, it kind of added to the excitement of playing. I remember as a child actually feeling nervous to play Witchy World because it was creepy and I couldn't figure out everything at the time. It made the game more challenging, fun and exciting all at the same time.

The animations are no joke either and like the graphics these too added to the excitement of playing the game. What's awesome is how many animations that were added into the game. There's also plenty of scenes where Banjo might walk into an area where the camera backs out and you can see how much there is just in that area alone. Compared to Banjo-Kazooie, this game went above and beyond what you'd expect from a sequel. I might even go as far as stating that this sequel could be better than the first. For the Nintendo 64 era back almost 13 years ago you would be forced to raise your expectations after playing this game. That's not something I can say for many games, even for our modern gaming we have now.

Sound: 10
Would you believe me if I said that anything that has to do with music and sound in this game is great? I mean, this game is all about running around and collecting music notes so why wouldn't this be great?

Banjo-Tooie brings out all new songs for the different worlds and like the last game, presents itself with ease. The music and sound is easy to listen to and none of this is annoying at all. The different songs for the different levels were composed perfectly for the levels they represent. It was clever, fun and also added to the excitement of playing the game especially as you made it further into the game. You can't expect anything from the Banjo games because it's all random but very fun.

What's cool about this game is the number of Mini-games you can play. The mini-games have their own music and that's pretty cool as well. I think that this also helps keep player's interests running at full power.

Addictiveness: 10
Honestly, you can't ask for a more addicting game. Banjo Tooie offers a lot to the players. Starting with the music notes, you have to search each world for the 100 hidden notes. If you're someone who loves to complete the game 100% like I do, you'll find yourself playing endlessly until you've found and discovered everything the game has to offer. Another addicting aspect is the mini-games. There are countless mini-games throughout the game that you need to play and win. What's cool about these is that they're actually fun and it's definitely not something you'd expect from the Banjo games.

The most addictive aspect of Banjo Tooie is the Multiplayer mode. That's right, there is a multiplayer mode in Banjo Tooie! I remember playing the multiplayer against my brother laying traps everywhere, finding secret passages and kicking some serious butt. What's cool about this game is that there are Netplay sessions here on Vizzed and I think there needs to be a Banjo Tooie multiplayer tournament. this would be so exciting and with being able to play against 3 other players, you can have some pretty amazing games. The best part is that the competition would be exciting and worth it. 

Story: 10
The one thing that really stands out in this game is that the story is an actual story. When you first begin the game it shows how Grunty comes back from her defeat in the last game. With it being a few short years later she takes her revenge on the Banjo gang while they're playing cards. Everyone except Bottles leaves and Bottles is literally obliterated. After that Banjo sets out searching for the witch. Along the way you make many stops and many things happen that continue to add into the main story. The cool thing about this is that the story continues throughout the game and it's a continuously flowing story. Some of the story is actually kind of funny too. I wish I could give out more details on the story, but I'll leave that up to you to discover. There's plenty of scenes to come across and you'll see for yourself if you play the game.

Depth: 10
I've already discussed some of the features this game has to offer. What's cool is there is tons of things you can do. You have a world you need to explore while collecting different Jigsaw pieces to unlock more worlds. You also need to search for the hidden notes to unlock new moves for Banjo and Kazooie to learn. On top of that, you have to collect many different items, something that Banjo-Kazooie never really focused on. There's tons of mini-games throughout the game that you can rack up some pretty decent scores. You also have the multiplayer mode where you can play against 3 other players in the mini games or to battle each other. The list continues to go on... You can also fight any of the bosses you've already encountered once before. Lastly, there's cheats built into the game that you can unlock by collecting the different pages and on top of that there's cheats not listed in the game that you can find that do other things that wouldn't necessarily be cheating. 

Those don't even include the things about the main game. You can also change into different objects or animals that have special abilities for the levels they're in. What's cool is that it's like travelling around the level in a way you couldn't before. This was something that Banjo-Kazooie never did very well. To take things another step forward some of the different worlds connect to each other in different ways. You might be in level 1 and show up in level 8 for a moment to do something there and vice versa. I thought this was the most neat thing in any video game I've seen. The different levels require different moves and sometimes you're required to go back to a previous level to unlock things you couldn't do before. 

I've probably forgot to add things here but I'm sure that this is enough to show what this game has to offer. There's many different things to discover and find out on your own. This game continues to offer interesting things that keeps you entertained with little to no real effort involved. Each world is big and has many different rooms to explore, sometimes making things are to find or help you get lost.

Difficulty: 8
I ranked this an 8 because there are both easy parts to the game that require no real challenge but there are challenging areas that put some of your skills to the test. The whole game is almost like 1 master puzzle without being too difficult or too easy. Many things are hidden pretty well and it really only requires a little bit more of thinking and planning to accomplish your tasks. Some of the bosses can be challenging, especially the final boss where you have to put everything you know to good use. If it's your first time, you might find yourself dying several times before you finally get it right. Sometimes you find yourself dying because you made a few mistakes. It's easy to find your health get low or you misjudge a jump and take an incredible amount of fall damage.

When it comes to the easier aspects of the game, those would relate more to the mini-games you can play. These aren't at all challenging and can be pretty easy to complete. Other aspects of the game might relate more to the controls and your own misjudgments. The game has pretty big worlds you can explore so falling usually leads to death (Especially if you're fighting an enemy and you are smacked off the edge, that usually sucks lmao). 

Overall: 10
If you've read this far through my long review you should start seeing why I easily give this a 10. For starters, the games has so much to offer I can't even list them all. Reviewing the game is strictly from memory because I've played the game from start to finish many times. On top of that, there's many cool aspects of this game that kept me hooked to it. Furthermore, I love the music and the sound, although, I don't have any particular songs that I would favor on this game, not like I have in my other reviews. What I like best about this game is the number of things you can do. It was because I could play the different mini games or go on a boss run or play against my brother on the multiplayer mode that kept me playing even years after the release.

Banjo-Tooie is an all-around great game. Personally, I feel it is one of the best games ever put together, even better than Mario or Legend of Zelda in some aspects. I would have loved to see Rare stick to Nintendo and release the Banjo-Threeie that (If I remember correctly) was stated in the credits (Like how they were stated in Banjo-Kazooie for Banjo-Tooie). Unfortunately, Rare went to work under Microsoft and the sequel strayed away from the glory of this game.

For you Banjo fans out there... There was a rumor that Rare dropped the Banjo series altogether and that they are no longer creating games. This kind of sucks BUT! I also heard that Nintendo is picking up the Banjo pieces and making a new game to be released with the WIIU. I don't know if this is true but if it is, I would be more than happy to play this series again and see what Nintendo comes up with compared to the glorious Nintendo 64 versions of the Banjo games. I recommend anyone who reads this review to play this game. It's an absolutely great game in every category and you can't go wrong. It's fun, action-packed and if Davideo7 ever creates a Netplay tournament for this game, you will definitely be happy that you played. I firmly believe that Banjo-Tooie is one of the best games that ever came from the Nintendo 64 and I believe that it easily passed Banjo-Kazooie without a doubt.

Great job on the review, man. It reminds me of what I use to do. Well organized, and original.

I loved Banjo-Tooie when I owned it in my younger days. It was a bit different from the other games I had like Mario 64, but had that click to it that was saying "I'm different, but you'll love me" and it was right.

This is a really great review, and all i can say for now is keep up the nice work with this. You have been making them awesome lately .