Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

"No, it's not a platform game. Yes, it is lots of fun."

Almost ten years after their latest game, everybody's favorite bear and bird are back for more gaming. This time, they've got quite a different game. Instead of another Mario-esque platform game, they're busy building planes, boats and cars to get their much-desired Jiggies, Jinjos and notes.

Gruntilda is back once again, and she's not happy. She has yet another evil plan, and Banjo and Kazooie are ready to stop her. However, L.O.G. (Lord of Games) appears and takes our duo and their antagonist away from Spiral Mountain, and into a completely new world. Apparently, he's had enough of their feud and proposes a new way to solve their differences. Banjo and Gruntilda must face off in different contests to see who will finally win this decades old battle. To win contests, you can design and build your own vehicles, which is an important part of the game. Most older gamers, who are familiar with the Banjo-Kazooie franchise, probably expected another platform game, like the previous two parts. Well, sorry to disappoint you, this game is nothing like that. Sure, there are a few platform elements, but I'd say it's like 10% of the game, if even that.

There are 6 different worlds in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (BK: N&B), not counting the HUB-world (Showdown Town, which is the main area and grants access to all the worlds). Each world has a different theme, and has a few “acts” (like chapters of a book). Each chapter will feature the same characters, the same world and the same music, so don't expect big changes there (except every act has a few Jinjos, only found there). The inclusion of different acts is understandable though, since the world would get too crowded if the people giving the missions (and the Jinjos) weren't separated by these acts. Each world has about 17-23 missions to do, which adds up to 107 different missions (every mission earns you a Jiggy, which are needed to unlock new worlds). These missions are quite diverse, luckily, and you really must master building vehicles to get good scores on them. Some will require a fast car to race in, for some you must have a helicopter which can transport items and other missions will ask for a big and heavy car to push opponents out of a certain area. While most of the missions can be done with the standard vehicles you can buy in Showdown Town, it's way more fun to build your own masterpiece and totally destroy the mission's target time. Besides, beating the target time of four missions rewards you with a Jiggy, so there's even more incentive to be creative.

As mentioned, Nuts & Bolts is all about the vehicles. Sure, you can collect music notes (the games currency) to buy blueprints, which allow you to use all sorts of vehicles without ever building one yourself, but it's more fun to use the vehicle creator to think up your own designs (or copy popular ones; I've seen Tie-fighters and Metal Gear out there). The creator works really well; you simply select the item you want to add (chair, weapon, gas, wheels, etc.), select where you want to put it and that's it. It's been kept simple, so for instance gas and motors don't have to be connected to work. You'll be able to create complex vehicles in no time. The more you play, the more parts you'll unlock, which allows even better vehicles. You can also paint them, name them and send them to friends over Xbox Live.

The problem with the vehicles is the controls of it. It's very easy to build a nice vehicle, only to have it steer like crap. Sometimes it's your fault, but even some of the game's own vehicles control really bad. If you even as much as touch an object or an opponent, you'll spin backwards and you can basically restart the challenge (a fast plane is especially hard to control). This can get very annoying, especially on the missions where you have to use the game's vehicles instead of your own. You can skip these challenges and move on to easier ones, but I still feel this part could be better, especially since the game really focuses on vehicles.

The worlds you do the challenges in are beautiful. It's fun to simply fly around and look at the different parts of the world. It has a cartoony look (like Mario 64), but is quite detailed, really smooth and gorgeous to look at. The music really completes the worlds, and you'll feel completely immersed in the Banjo universe. If you're a longtime fan of BK and/or Rare (the creators), you'll find tons of references to previous games and characters (I personally saw Clanker, Killer Instict, Humba Wumba, Viva Pinata and lots more). It's clear Rare spend a lot of time perfecting this game (even though the last world is a bit empty and only has 2 challenges, which is a bit of a shame). The penultimate level could've used some more time as well, as its design is simply not good. It's a big terrarium in outer space, and consists of a few areas. It's quite confined, and it can be hard to go from one area to another (which is exactly what mission will require). It also has some of the hardest missions (and by hard, I actually mean unfair). Then again, you could always call it a challenge if you're an optimist. I thought it was the weakest level, but the first world alone (Nutty Acres, which has been brilliantly designed) makes more than up for it.

The game is not very long; the main adventure will take around 12 hours. However, to really complete the game you will have to spend at least 15 more hours. There are 131 Jiggies to collect, there are multiple Jinjos in each level, there are notes to collect, Minjos to capture, and lots more. Even if you manage to collect every single thing, there's always the multiplayer, even if it has some flaws. You can play with friends, either offline or online. You can use the vehicles you build yourself, or use predetermined vehicles. One problem I had with the online part, is that you need at least 4 people to play. It's not possible to go one on one, which I really don't understand. It's hard enough to find people for this game, let alone 4 players. Let's not even get started on 4 players for the challenge you want to do (you can choose categories, like race, sports, team, etc.).Your best bet is basically to search without choosing something specific, which is too bad. The games you can play however, are fun and diverse, as they are simply slightly modified single player missions: for instance, there are races on land, water and in the air, there's waterpolo (use boats to push balls), darts (jump with your car and try to hit bullseye) and lots more. There's voicechat, you can create your own teams to play with and by using your own vehicles, it's not that hard to win. If you finished the largest part of the single player, you get access to the best vehicle parts, which basically guarantee a victory if you take the time to build a good vehicle.

So, in short, the newest Banjo-Kazooie is a wonderful game, with great graphics and music, which really help set the mood and a great atmosphere. It would've been easy for Rare to create a third platform game, but as they said their selves, it would've been more of the same. So, instead, they aimed for a platform/racing/building game, which is quite rare (pardon the pun) in today's game market. It's clear Rare spend a lot of time perfecting it, even though there are some small mistakes and annoyances. You'll be sure to spend a lot of time with this game, especially if you plan to completely finish it. The multiplayer isn't that great, but can be fun for a few hours. I highly recommend this game, just as long as you don't expect Banjo-Threeie.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/26/09

Game Release: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (EU, 11/14/08)