Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

"From hater to lover. A demo turned me on to a truely enjoyable game."

Banjo Kazooie, Nuts and Bolts is a departure from the series old game play tradition. In the old games, You controlled the bird and bear duo to solve a variety of puzzles and do a lot of plat forming action. The new style however, much to the initial dismay of many long time fans, has changed.

The focus on the game play this time is vehicles. But not just ANY vehicles, vehicles you yourself make, and THAT is where the game really shines.

I'll admit. When I first heard of the game before the demo was released, I was a bit shocked. Maybe appalled even. It seemed like an utter travesty that they took away the core elements that made the series great. I was thinking “Okay…So they took away all of Kazooie's moves, gave her a wrench, and made Banjo a wheel man. What the heck were they thinking?” I am sure many people felt similar if not the same.

Then came the demo, and a lot of my fears were dismissed. It has been a long time since I had so much fun with a demo. it's also a long time, since a demo actually changed my mind, and convinced me to buy a game I would have missed. Let me tell you, the demo turned me from a naysayer to a believer. Kazooie may not have her moves anymore, but there is still plenty of plat forming to be found in Showdown Town.

Showdown Town is the games “hub” world. The area you spend time in between the different stages. Showdown Town is filled with buildings to scale, granted, it may not be enough for long time fans of the series or fans of plat formers in general, but it is really nice that there is some. There is one huge building you can climb right near the very start of the game, taking you to some very impressive heights, allowing you to look down on the hub world and enjoy the view. It might not be the same, without the talon trot or using Kazooie to fly anymore, but that's where the vehicles come in.

While in Showdown Town, you can only use the default vehicle, and as you complete boss battles later on, you earn new upgrades that let you explore more. And what does this exploration yield? Crates of parts.

Scattered throughout the town, are creates you take back to Mumbo Jumbo, everyone's favorite wise cracking shaman. Finding these allow you new parts, which when you amass enough of, you can build anything you can think up. They don't really limit you too much. At least not for the basic gamer like me. The more creative types might feel a bit more limited, but I have still seen some pretty impressive things. Replica's of spaceships and cars from movies, the truly talented will have a field day, trying to arrange parts and gadgets to replicate some of their favorite vehicles, or maybe just something awesomely original.

The less inspired like myself, will still have fun making pretty standard looking cars, planes, and boats, something with really more function than form. It is still a blast, and I don't find it hard to create things that can win the challenges. They may not win any contests, and I might not be in a hurry to take photos (with the in game camera feature) and share them with friends, but you know what? I created them, and I can take satisfaction in the fact I made something that got me to my goal, or for the rare times it happens, even to the leader boards! (each challenge has its leader board where you can try to have the highest time or score)

For those who totally lack ambition, the game provides plenty of blueprints for ready made vehicles. Just select what you want to use and your ready to go. More are unlock-able as you play, and you can even load these in the workshop to tweak as you like, adding weapons or engines.

The parts themselves are great in variety. Weapons, Wings, Propellers, different kinds of seats and a few different body building blocks, everyone should be able to have fun making spring loaded cars, or all in one's that have fold-able wings and propellers for when you just want to drive, that can also function as a boat thanks to inflatable flotation devices.

Thanks to the demo, I was converted. I had been one of the ones that wouldn't have gave this game the time of day. But it is totally engrossing. I love to just tinker with vehicles, changing spacing on wheels to see how the new physics. Finding uses for the less obvious parts are a blast, like detachers which drop what ever is attached to them. You could use this to make a base station, with an airplane on it, that after you rev the engine, you hit the button and detach it and it takes off. Or you could use it to drop wings and become a motorbike. OR you could just haul stuff behind you, and drop it in a person's way or use it to depress a switch for you. I really feel like I am only limited by my creativity.

The important thing many of you are probably wondering. Does the series retain it's charm? They may have stripped Kazooie of her moves, but they didn't strip the game of its soul. It still retains it's trade mark humor, and many characters return from the series. It feels very much like a Banjo Kazooie game, but at the same time, something of its own. Something…Awesome.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/02/08

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