After having a ton of fun with Banjo Kazooie, and going so far as to name Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts my personal Game of the Year for 2008, I can’t explain why I waited so long to finally start Tooie (hereafter referred to as BK2, because my spellcheck already hates this sentence). I bought it early on Saturday morning from XBLA, and spent (in-game clock) no less than seventeen hours playing it over the weekend. I think I only took breaks to shower, eat, play Dungeons and Dragons, and attend a birthday party, but all I remember is collecting shiny golden jigsaw pieces and birds, bears, witches, sentient ice cubes….
The Nintendo 64 put out some stellar titles, including several in Metacritic’s all-time high for best games. BK and BK2 rank 92 and 90, respectively. Having never touched the games back when they were on that system, I have to say that they have really aged well. I’ve often heard reviewers and gamers calling Rare out for including so many shiny objects to collect, but I have to say that it really soothes the consumer whore in me for a game’s sole purpose to be hording baubles. The naysayers have used the term “collectathon,” and it’s no less apt here, but I don’t use it pejoratively.
The second game in the series includes something that I’ve never seen in a game before. When starting, the Bird and Bear team retain ALL of their moves earned during the first game. The sequel introduces lots of new moves to keep it fresh, all while keeping the controls simple enough to still be enjoyable. New things include new types of ammo (ice, fire, explosive, homing and remote-controlled), new footwear (wall-climbing, super-mega-ultra-hyper jumping), and transformations (washing-machine, armored car, two sizes of T-Rex, submarine) and still keeps up with all of the fourth-wall breaking jokes.
I haven’t yet finished the game, so I’ll hold off on scores or anything else (in case there is a totally bullshit end boss like in the first one), but if you ever enjoyed Mario 64, you owe it to yourself to try out a game that beats Mario at his own game.
