Banjo-Tooie

When you have one of the best platformers of your generation in your hands, how do you build a sequel? At Rare they chose the answer „more, bigger, more interconnected" — and Banjo-Tooie is exactly that. The bear Banjo and the bird Kazooie return in an adventure that takes everything good from the first game and stretches it to epic proportions.

The biggest change from the original Banjo-Kazooie is the very construction of the world. Whereas the first part offered neatly separated levels, here the individual worlds are huge, linked to one another by tunnels and passages, so you often have to carry an item or ability from one world into another. This shifts the game closer to an open adventure with an emphasis on puzzles spanning the entire map.

The duo have learned a host of new tricks — besides an expanded arsenal of abilities, Banjo and Kazooie can split up and be played separately, which opens up entirely new ways of solving obstacles. There are also more elaborate battles and, in some sections, even first-person shooting, giving the game a more grown-up, action-oriented tone than its predecessor.

Rare kept its trademark humour — chatty characters, self-deprecating quips and quirky ideas are everywhere, backed once more by superb music that breathes the distinctive atmosphere of each place. Visually it is one of the more ambitious Nintendo 64 titles, wringing everything it could out of the console.

That enormous scale is at once its greatest asset and its biggest demand on the player — anyone who prefers focused, compact levels can occasionally get lost in the intricate worlds. But anyone who loves the feeling of discovery and interconnected puzzles will find an exceptionally rich experience here, one that crowns the era of 3D collect-a-thons on Nintendo.

Why play it: A grand, interconnected sequel to a cult platformer — more worlds, more abilities and humour just as infectious as the first game's.