Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

"A great concept damaged by uneven controls"

Upon hearing about Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (N&B), I was automatically hooked and interested. Even after seeing the first few preview images showing a transition from traditional move-based adventure to a vehicle game, I wanted to play it. I picked up N&B a few days ago and, although was happy with it at first, did not feel the same enjoyment I did when playing through the first two games the first time. It all comes down to one major flaw: controls.


Gameplay: 4.5/10
In N&B, you build vehicles using over 100 parts to complete small time-based tasks. Like most platformers, you will start in a "hub" like world that connects to other worlds. In the overworld you may only use basic, game-given vehicles, but you can use any of your creations in the actual levels. When you enter a level, you use your map to find a character with a Jiggy (a golden puzzle-looking character) over their head, talk to them, create a vehicle that will help you beat the challenge, or use a pre-assigned vehicle if necessary. Depending how long you take to complete the challenge, you'll win either Notes, a Jiggy, or a Trophy. The process of getting a single Jiggy is just overly complex. Each world has six acts, each with their own sets of Jiggy quests and Jinjo challenges.

Notes are still scattered around both the overworld and levels. Notes are used to buy vehicle parts from Mumbo, vehicle Blueprints from Womba, and pay off the police chief to keep his officers off your back.

Now for the vehicles. It's a good idea, but poorly executed. Many of the Jiggy tasks recycle ideas (such as driving through gates or taking one item to another area in the level) over and over again. Building vehicles can also be insanely frustrating. It can take a good five minutes to build a vehicle for a 30 second task. One small mistake will make the vehicle useless, and it may take you a while to figure out what you need to do. The vehicle builder was designed quite well, however. Building vehicles is simple (having them work, not so).

The game has been targeted at a younger audience, but most young kids will not be able to figure how to make the perfect vehicle for a certain task. Many of the tasks are also frustrating. It seems no matter what vehicle you build, you'll still have trouble. Even controlling well build vehicles is a pain. Car-based vehicles work quite well, but controls for air craft are horrible. They will either turn too sharply, or take forever to turn. Hover-based vehicles aren't too bad, but still suffer turning faults. Since most tasks require precise control, yeah, you can see where this is going.

You will spend time out of your vehicle, but not much. Rare's original statement of 20% out of vehicle and 80% is true. You can exit your vehicle whenever you want, but you'll only use Banjo to get across tight ropes (which is unusually difficult) and into small areas vehicles can't get to. When out of your vehicle, you can jump and perform a basic attack with Kazooie; no more special moves. Kazooie's main purpose is to use a magic wrench that allows her to pick almost any object up in the game (including enemies and even trees). Being able to interact with pretty much everything minus the terrain is fantastic, although mostly useless since you never really need to move trees or blocks around.


Graphics: 9/10
N&B does not disappoint here. BK transitioned into High Definition perfectly. You can see individual blades of grass, there are beautiful lighting effects, metal looks shiny, lava looks goopy and hot, etc. The graphics are cartoony (as they have been in past BK games) but beautiful. A highly realistic Banjo game wouldn't be... Banjo.

The character models are also quite nice. Most characters, especially Banjo, have a "blocky" design, but still look quite nice. Edges are very smooth, and I'm very impressed with the water textures. Vehicle parts are also very detailed.

My only complaint takes place during night in the overworld (the time of day in the overworld changes as you enter and leave levels). The places is too dark, even after turning up the brightness on my T.V.


Sound Effects and Music: 7/10
The music in N&B consists mostly of highly remixed tunes from both BK and BT. It is orchestrated and sounds better than ever, but there aren't many new tunes. The remixed stuff is awesome and very epic (think Jet Force Gemini), but some new stuff would have been nice. Music changes depending where you are in a level. For example, in the first world, when you are on a beach, a remixed version of Treasure Trove Cove from BK plays. Although dynamic music is not new, it works very well here, bringing back many memories.

Sound effects are quite nice, too. Crashing sounds are a bit glitchy but not bad. There is no voice acting. I like this, but others may not. Vehicles don't sound "realistic" so to say, but the sounds they output are crisp.


Unlockables & Game Length: 9/10
What's a platformer without unlocking stuff? The Achievement system naturally works with an adventure game such as this. Achievements are fairly basic (such as collecting a few Jiggies, lots of Jiggies, beating people in multiplayer, etc) but still gives you something else to go for. Around the overworld are crates, some hidden quite well, that you must bring back to Mumbo. Doing so will unlock more parts for your vehicles. There are many of these that will take hours to find.

Since there is so much to do, and the levels are so huge, you'll be spending a lot of time here finding everything. I can't give a set time for how long it'll take to beat the game or get everything (it depends how long it takes you to build the vehicles and if you've played platformers before).


Final Thoughts
I don't buy into people not wanting old-style platformers anymore. I think many Banjo veterans wanted a platforming game, and those who don't follow platformers probably do not care about this game anyway. Therefore, I don't understand why Rare thought they should change the formula what made the first two games icons. The best part of this game is finding Notes and Crates in the overworld. Seriously.

Pros:
+ Many vehicle parts to choose from. The vehicle builder is vast, easy to use, and fun at first.
+ Many of the old characters are back. There are scenes all over of the past two games. The game is highly nostalgic. This means nothing if you haven't played the first two, though.
+ The levels are designed very well.
+ Orchestrated remixes of past BK tunes sound great
+ The game is massive. You won't have a lack of things to do.

Cons:
- Controls, especially for air vehicles, are very sloppy. Turning, regardless of how good your vehicle is, tends to be dodgy.
- The physics are not realistic. If a crate falls, it will not bounce 20 meters. Really, it won't.
- Building vehicles gets old, fast. Spending minutes to build a vehicle for 30 seconds just doesn't hold up for me.
- The task of having to cart Jiggies from outside levels to the Jiggy Bank in the overworld is stupid.
- Using Notes to pay off the police chief makes it impossible for you to buy all of the vehicle parts from Mumbo or Humba (hence why you should never pay him off).
- Kazooie is mostly non-existent. Using a vehicle 80%, while a good idea...
- ...does not make this a Banjo-Kazooie game.


Buy/Rant/Even Bother: Rent then Buy:
To me it seems Rare came up with this idea of a vehicle-platformer and, worried it would not sell, decided to slap Banjo and Kazooie in the title. I even wonder if this concept was Rare's. Being original is good, but only if the idea works. This is a must rent, especially if you are a fan of the first two games. Rare, if you make a fourth in the series, stick to the original template.

Final Score: 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/07/09

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