Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Preview
Banjo and his bird are back!
by Vyle
previewed on X360
Banjo’s World
The main hub world, as always, provides access to the many themed levels and in this regard the game is easily recognizable as being from the Banjo series. It’s in these worlds that Banjo must beat challenges to either obtain a Jiggy piece to give access to another world, or to obtain a vehicle component in a crate. These crates must be taken to Mumbo who seems to have traded his witchdoctor role in for mechanic overalls. In his new guise, he can open the crates to allow Banjo access to the components within. While this game does make vehicle creation the star of the show, it is still a platform game at heart.
The Jiggy Pieces on the other hand must be taken to the Jiggy Bank in Showdown Town to be stored. When carrying the Jiggy piece, Grunty’s henchmen will be hot on your tail, forcing you to protect it from damage. If it takes too much damage, it will disappear and you will need to return to the start of the journey to try again. Of all the changes in the game, this one looks like it could be one that will become truly frustrating if too harsh. Time will tell.
Challenges
To give a sense of progression, there are rarer, one of a kind ‘Key Components’ that cannot be obtained through normal challenges and must instead be won by completing a Grunty Challenge. In these challenges, the despicable Gruntilda returns in the form of a vehicle that uses the Key Component’s unique ability. This obviously gives her an advantage, but defeating her will allow you to claim it for yourself, much like when defeating a boss in a Metroid game. These components replace Kazooie’s talents and give access to previously unreachable parts of levels.
While the game mechanics have gone through a severe overhaul, the actual storyline is more run of the mill. The plot centers around Banjo and Gruntilda’s struggle to determine the true owner of Spiral Mountain. Banjo wants to preserve his home, while Gruntilda wants to turn it into an industrial hell covered in shopping malls.
Tired of this eight year long conflict, the Lord of Games steps onto the scene to settle it once and for all by devising a series of challenges. He transports the characters to Showdown Town (his headquarters and the game’s hub world) and begins the contest with the terms that the loser will be forced to work in LOG’s video game factory for all eternity.
Multiplayer details
Not content with shaking up the single player mode, Rare have seen fit to include a number of multiplayer modes that will give the game a real sense of community. Alongside the usual scoreboards for challenge times, there is also a race mode, a challenge named ‘Queen of the Knoll’ and a sumo style mode where players must knock their opponents from a platform.
In all of these modes, players are able to bring their creations into the game to race, making it feel somewhat like Robot Wars. This way every contest is unique as you may never see the same vehicle twice.
Exciting
While Rare has kept a lot of its cards close to its chest, from what the online modes will entail exactly, to what they have in store for single player mode, it’s clear that they are bustling with exciting ideas for this franchise. While many may see the change in focus as a worrying step away from Banjo’s core principles, we’d be willing to bet that come November, Rare’s gamble will pay off big time.
