Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

"Let your creativity run wild!"

Background
Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts is the third game in the series made by Rare, and the first since 2000's Banjo Tooie. Banjo Kazooie was an amazing platformer for the N64 that many still love to this date. Nuts and Bolts (NaB) was subject to very mixed reviews for months after the announcement of the new gameplay mechanics, which is based around vehicles. Some hated the change, some loved it, and some were unsure.

Gameplay
As stated previously, the game centers around vehicle platforming. The "hub" world Showdown Town has many part crates that you can find and bring back to Mumbo Jumbo, who is now a mechanic, to open and put new parts in your inventory. You have to progress in the game to get to more parts of Showdown town as well. You can literally make anything you can think of. Speed racers, boats, planes, helicopters, Replica vehicles (I've seen a TIE Fighter, Arwing, X-wing) and any combination of these. The list is endless, along with the amount of hours you will spend making fun and funny concoctions. You can then use the vehicles for most of the game worlds challenges.
As for the collecting, notes are the games currency to buy more parts, and in some cases bribe or buy stuff off of other villagers. The challenges in each of the games 6 (Giant) game worlds are of a wide variety as well. There are races, fetch missions, delivery missions, fights with Grunty (obviously) and more. Some of the challenges get repetetive, and most of them are timed. You can earn a Jiggy and more by completing them fast enough, and you can come back later when you have better parts to try to better your time.

Story
The story is typical for a BK game. Banjo and Kazooie are fighting with Gruntilda again. But then the Lord of Games (LOG) steps in and creates a game for them to play (he states he has created every game ever) And thus the game ensues. This game is packed with hilarious humor from the very get go. Sarcasm is abundant, as they make fun of stereotypical gamers, a certain "Italian Plumber" "Master Chef" Xbox and how games are more FPS geared these days. They even make fun of losing Kazooie's moves! The script writers were definately on the ball with this game.
So you go to the game worlds, and collect enough stuff to progress to the end of the game. Typical Banjo game, just a different coat of paint.

Online
There are some Multiplayer options like races and team challenges. The part I like of the online the most is the leaderboards and photo sharing. Anytime in game, you can take a photo and upload it to banjo-kazooie.com. You can view pictures or videos of challenges, or just check out some cool vehicles. The leaderboards update whenever you complete a challenge. It shows you what number rank you are for each of the challenges you have done, all real-time.

Wrap-Up
If you go into this game with an open and creative mind, this game will deliver more than you expected. Take this game as a separate entity. It is still Banjo, with all the collecting, interesting characters, and hilarious sarcasm and one-liners. The vehicles are a fun and addicting new addition sure to satisfy Banjo fans of all kinds.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/17/08

Game Release: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (US, 11/12/08)