Banjo Kazooie XBLA

The story of one bear and his bird, Rare's Banjo Kazooie borrows a lot of tricks from its platform brethren, but the whole thing just exudes charisma and polish, you would be forgiven for thinking they came up with its ideas first. First appearing on the Nintendo 64 in 1998, this re-release, ported by Scottish developer 4J Studios, may look dated, but is still as fun as it was back then.

It all kicks off with evil witch Gruntilda kidnapping Banjo's sister Tooty, the cutest girl in the land, as part of a diabolical plot to trade looks with her. Typically, lazy bear Banjo sleeps through the whole thing and is woken up by his best friend, a red bird named Kazooie. The duo must work together to save Tooty and put an end to Gruntilda's schemes once and for all.

One of the first great three-dimensional platformers on any system, this is a game that doesn't do things by half. There are several colourful and imaginative worlds contained in jigsaw puzzles inside Gruntilda's castle. Within each world, several objectives must be met to obtain new jigsaw pieces, ‘jiggies', and use these to complete new puzzles, unlocking new stages.

Your quest starts out with a tutorial from a friendly, but confrontational mole named Bottles. He helps you learn the many moves you will have to master to succeed. Many of these are platform staples, such as the double jump, gliding and punching attacks. However, because Banjo carries Kazooie around in his backpack, she can help him perform other abilities, such as using her talons to climb up steep slopes, dive bombing onto pressure pads and throwing eggs at enemies.

The range of moves at your disposal can be overwhelming at first, but if you get stuck, simply walk up to any mole hill you find and Bottles with give you tips on how to proceed. The characters here are all charismatic, with weird shaman Mumbo Jumbo perhaps being the most useful.

For example, early on you are tasked with climbing a tall ant farm, but the platforms inside are far too slanted for you to walk on. Collect enough Mumbo tokens and cash them in at his shack and he transforms you into an ant, whose spindly legs have enough grip to let you proceed.

This game feature an overwhelming amount of collectibles, from musical notes  that give you extra lifes, throw able eggs, infant Kazooies, Mumbo tokens, red feathers and more, there is plenty to see and do here. While the asking price of 1,200 MS points may seem steep, it is well worth the price of admission. Also, unlocking certain items in this game will award you with special vehicle parts in the recently released Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, which is a nice touch.

Rare have created some iconic titles in their time, Some have been ropey, while others are great achievements. Banjo-Kazooie definitely falls under the latter category and it's often baffling to see many modern, three-dimensional platformers fail to get it right when the developer has been doing it for just over ten years now. Other developers take note.