Tried my best to get into it but it just didnt do it for me, Banjo Kazooie and Tooie hold a very special place in my heart and I had to see what their next adventure entailed but sadly this just isnt it

Looking at this as a continuation of a long dormant franchise(8 years the time of release and now going on 16! years since this game came out) it's pretty insulting, going from the gold standard in 3d platforming to a Lego-style car creation sandbox just didnt work especially considering there was little to no vehicle sections aside from a minecart in the previous Banjo games, I guess Banjo Pilot was used for inspiration? LOL Physics in this game just don't work

Now judging the game on it's own merits, I found it boring at it's best and tedious/frusterating at it's worst, nothing beats the feeling of spending 20-30 mins creating the perfect vehicle just to have it get smoked in the following mission. I did give this game a try a total of about 4 diffrent times and always ended up dropping it

I enjoyed the levels provided, the level in which you are inside a game system is a highlight and it is good to see our favorite characters come back, but most of the new characters are either annoying or unmemorable and the character design is very hit or miss, thank God they used Banjo's old design in Smash Bros

Hopefully we will see the bear and bird make the triumphent return they deserve outside of the driver's seat next time

2/10

Very cool concept that just has aged horribly, I find it very hard to believe someone nowadays can beat this one without a guide/online map, everything just looks too identical. Atmosphere, music and graphics are on point and introducing Samus to the gaming landscape is worth praise alone but it's just a tough sell in 2024

Innovative and ambitious for it's time, just hard for me to go back to, awesome to see where it all started however

5/10

Awesome visual novel that kind of falls apart towards the third act at least for me while I did enjoy the ending, all routes were interesting imo but does drag in the middle and gets a bit too trigger happy with unloading information onto you all at once

Starts out as a horror game that unfortunately the game dosent hold for too long as it becomes an occult detective game with a horror backdrop almost immediately that not being a bad thing

The chess match style tension that occurs when making some choices in this game are fantastic, really makes you think what you would do in the same situation, Harue Shigima being a standout character and the route I was most invested in

Fantastic artstyle and creepy vibe, hope to see Square make a follow-up someday, defintely going to go down as a cult classic if it hasnt already, extremly memorable experience and a great surprise, reminds me of those smaller DS/3ds titles that try new things

9/10

Incredible remake of one of the greatest games of all time, beautiful graphics, perfect recreation of the gameplay, great showcase of the 3d effects at the time (it was the first 3ds game I played so it was one of the few games I played almost entirely in 3d LOL) great QOL features (great gyro controlled aiming, a hint system, easy touch screen item management)

Still need to try out the master quest included in this version, age hasnt slowed this one down a bit

10/10 masterpiece that no one should miss, probably the definitive version of the game and the version I come back to

Beautiful character designs and world, charming story as well, but this game proves positive why old school point and clicks opted to not include death as this one is pretty punishing

Although with the art style you would think this is an approachable game for kids, it's punishing difficulty states otherwise, had to shelf this one as a kid due to that fact and came back years later to clean up and even then it gets downright brutal at the end. it's environments and graphics just beg to be explored though and beg you to come back but I have to admit I felt immense relief after the credits rolled

Dated motion controls also hold it back a bit especially considering you have a very small window for certain actions later on

Overall, an awesome game that I wish could make a comeback with some tweaks to controls/difficulty but it's niche nature unfortunately shows why it didn't make much of a splash back in the day

7/10

King of the genre in my eyes, excellent varied environments, a simple story with a fantastic cast of heroes and Villans, and iconic voice lines and appropriate voice acting, especially innovative for it's time

The ability to go down different routes adds insane replayability, when I was younger I thought only the easy route existed and the other planets on the map were just there for decoration, finding out about the hard route years later blew my mind

Gameplay is fantastic, I think even non rail shooter game players would find joy in this game, beautiful graphics as well for the N64, remember watching the old N64 ad for the rumble pak that was included with this game and the hype was unreal

Excellent game that I come back to all the time, it's short length, insane replicability and tight satisfying gameplay keep this one a classic in my eyes and still hasn't been topped. Nintendo keeps trying to chase this high but hasnt come close except with some stages from Assault

9.5/10

Played on Xbox

Cool detective point and click game with some impossibly hard puzzles typical for the genre, had to use a guide frequently but the story kept me invested enough to get through it, always knew where to go next as well

Excellent story with some jarring cuts during important moments and a total dud of an ending

Both protagonists are likable and interesting as well as the settings they inahibit, may give Post Mortem or Still Life 2 a try but havent heard much good things about 2 unfortunately

8/10

Played on N64/replayed on Xbox One(Rare Replay)

Classic in every sense of the word, great graphics and tight, varied gameplay, a staple for both Rare and the N64 as a whole .

Grunty's castle just begs to be explored to it's fullest, every stage brims with life and interesting characters and is sharply written overall, with Grunty being a standout villian you love to hate, music is also fantastic and iconic

Minor complaints would be having to recollect musical notes on death (remedied in the Xbox version) not a big fan of the end game quiz section and the final boss does ask alot of the player in regards to collectables but I didnt mind as that's kind of the point of the game, final boss really tests your skills which is appreciated and very satisfying to complete

Maybe someday we will get a true successor to this franchise but this is one I love to return to time and time again, a must play for any N64/Xbox owner and an example 3d platformers should strive to follow

10/10

Made me want to watch the anime this was based on as soon as I finished, awesome little game reminiscent of Castlevania symphony of the Night almost plagiaristic in some ways but great nonetheless

Short, sweet and a blast to play, recommend this to any metroidvania fan, just wish it was a bit longer, beautiful pixel art and plays great

9/10