Pilots, start your engines! If you're looking for a racing game that veers away from the typical fancy-car formula, Banjo Pilot is worth checking out! This game, which is available on Game Boy Advance, stars Banjo the bear and his buddies from past games like Banjo-Tooie, such as Kazooie, Mumbo Jumbo, Bottles, Humba Wumba and Jolly Roger, and others, many of whom you must unlock by winning races and collecting items as you go. Each character pilots a low-flying propeller plane, and must race through twisting, turning courses to get to the finish line. Along the way, there are countless items to collect, as well as obstacles like floating cinder blocks to avoid, and special rings that you want to fly through in order to boost your speed.

The game contains four modes of play, including Grand Prix, Time Trial, Jiggie Challenge, and QuickRace. In Grand Prix, you compete in a season of races in order to win the right to race the champion. Time Trial provides you with the opportunity to race against the record time. In Jiggie Challenge, you must collect six jigsaw pieces throughout the race and beat your opponent in order to win a trophy and move on. Finally, QuickRace is a simple race against all of the opponents, best for when you just want to get in one or two races, or don't feel like competing in a season of races. Throughout the game, as you win more and more, you can unlock new challenges, new characters and new courses on which to race.

The graphics in Banjo Pilot are cute, but since it's a racing game, it is hard to identify your opponents in the thick of a race. The music is pretty plain, with no memorable tunes to get stuck in your head after your complete a race. The game is on the difficult side, as the controls are quite tricky to pick up. Pressing up on the directional pad brings your plane down, and pressing down on the directional pad brings your plane up, so until you get the hang of the controls, you'll probably find yourself crashing into the ground more times than you prefer. In addition, there is no turbo button, so your character can only go so fast until they hit a Speed-Up Ring. This gets very frustrating, especially when racing as Banjo, who moves a lot slower than the other characters. During races, your opponents can crash into you from behind and cause you to crash down to the ground momentarily, so you have to constantly be on the lookout for that, and to make sure that you are far enough ahead of the other competitors that it won't set you back too far. To add to the fun and competition, there is a multiplayer option through the Game Boy Advance Link Cable, so friends can play together to make a more enjoyable experience.

In all, Banjo Pilot is definitely a nice change of pace for racing game fans who are tired of the same old racecar game. Unfortunately, due to the difficult controls, it's not a game you can pick up and play without some level of practice. If you don't mind taking the time to perfect your control skills, Banjo Pilot is definitely a game that has earned its wings!