In Banjo-Kazooie, the NPCs and their wild personalities, highlighted by the way the developers at Rare wrote pivotal scenes around them, are some of the strongest examples of this. From Gruntilda's silly quips and constant rhyming which is very impressive on the writer's part to Mumbo's various comments about the creatures, he turns Banjo into, the game is wildly entertaining.
Fans even love discussing the interesting and somewhat personal secrets Brentilda reveals about her sister. Banjo's developers definitely chose quality over quantity with these NPCs. There isn't a massive cast of characters but the game takes full advantage of the ones it has by having them appear regularly and unexpectedly throughout the game.
This helps in making each of them extremely memorable. Fans of the Banjo series rave about how the music in Banjo-Kazooie is absolutely wonderful. The score, composed by the excellent composer who is Grant Kirkhope , has been touted by many as one of the most memorable in gaming.
The soundtrack has this strong sense of fun and whimsy. From the varied themes of Click Clock Wood that change to fit the changing of the seasons, to Gruntilda's Lair where the instrumentation matches whatever world the player is closest to. The creativity is astounding. It all builds to the grand spectacle that is the final boss theme.
The music never fails to capture the environment or the mood it wants to convey. However, the audio delight doesn't end with just the musical score. The sound effects are also creative and fun.
The comic voices the characters have whenever their text scrolls by are all really amusing and fun detail for all of the dialogue. The audio is further enhanced by the ambient sound effects that are woven into the environment in each of the worlds found through the game.
According to head designer Gregg Mayles in an interview with Retro Gamer Magazine , the solution was to just create a brand new character:. On Metacritic, Banjo-Kazooie earned the lofty score of 92 , cementing the game as a top contender for the 3D platformer crown despite releasing after Super Mario As of , it was also reported that Banjo-Kazooie had even managed to surpass 1. Success like that naturally brings with it a sequel, with Banjo-Tooie launching on the N64 in Not exactly.
It would take eight years for the next big Banjo-Kazooie release. Between the two, Rare was acquired by Xbox, and began developing exclusive games for the big green console, including the underrated Grabbed By The Ghoulies for the original Xbox, and Xbox launch title Kameo. What we want to do is retain all the elements that made the first two games so loved, but also try things that breathe new life into a genre that has sadly been neglected for many years. Some players yearned for a return to the classic platforming of the older games, while others grew to love the fresh perspective on the classic series.
Banjo-Kazooie were even given featured billing on the cover art and everything. Ultimate, bringing the iconic music of the series along with them. This one could go either way in all honesty.
The team were also keen on supporting the legacy of the series, making all the games backwards compatible with the Xbox One and now Xbox Series X S. On top of that, all the games in the series were updated to support 4K resolution on Xbox One X, so you know the Series X S versions will also look as good as they possibly can. I have a lot of respect for Rare and the work that they do. A lot of the developers that created those original games have departed Rare to form Playtonic, and even created spiritual successor Yooka-Laylee in Even if Rare were to have some of its developers create a new Banjo , the game could end up as something fans reject.
Microsoft and Rare have been quick to hand out the British studio's IPs to other teams in the past, so perhaps a new Banjo-Kazooie could be made in the vein of Perfect Dark , Killer Instinct , and Battletoads.
There are plenty of indie teams out there who have picked up where Rare left off in the '90s, producing exciting new games like A Hat in Time , Snake Pass , and Super Lucky's Tale. It does seem inevitable that Microsoft will try again with the popular bear and bird at some point, but for now it seems unlikely that Rare itself will be the main creative force at the wheel.
Alex Santa Maria is a writer, editor, and critic based out of the Sunshine State. Raised on a healthy diet of gaming mags at an Xbox LAN center, Alex is an enthusiast who loves shooters, roguelikes, and arcade-style games.
He has an unhealthy obsession with bad movies, a love of the s, and the skills to rack up a high score on your local pinball table.
0コメント