It has been a long time since we last saw Banjo, Kazooie and Gruntilda in a console video game, but the simple fact is that this new spin on the series almost single-handedly revives a long dormant genre, spins it on its head and brings you along for the ride. At $40, this game should not be missed particularly if you have kids.

The game opens up with Banjo and Kazooie lounging around after beating Grunty in Banjo-Tooie. They’ve become pretty lazy since there is nothing to do. Banjo sports a portly belly and Kazooie lounges around in a backyard inflatable pool. Grunty’s disembodied head gets out of its trap and the standard Rare collect-o-thon begins with the duo in a race against Grunty.

As Banjo is running, he and Kazooie find that they are going pretty slow given Banjo’s new weight gain. Along comes the Lord of Games, or L.O.G. for short. He decides to continue the epic battle between the two groups via the various video games he has created. There is even a joke in there from Kazooie wondering if he also created Grabbed by the Ghoulies since it was such a bad game, showing that nothing is taboo in this name as Rare is basically ripping itself.

L.O.G. changes Banjo back to his svelte self and gives each team a vehicle. Grundy of course takes the big fast one while Banjo and Kazooie are left with a four wheeler with a container in it and they are whisked off to Showdown Town, the game’s main hub area.

Kazooie is given a wand and complains about not being able to do special moves like she had in the other games. The wand serves mostly two purposes. The first is it can lift and move objects so you can drop them in the tray on your vehicles. The other purpose is as a weapon to defeat enemies. Banjo still has a health bar, although it isn’t readily seen via the HUD.