Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Review
Banjo and Kazooie are here to pimp your ride.
by AlmightyMax
reviewed on X360
A Bird in a Backpack is Worth Two in a Bush
Thankfully, the challenges are a lot of fun, and forced me to think of new and unique ways to use my vehicles. For example, one challenge had me knocking down as many dominoes as possible. To get the highest score, I could build a really wide plane to sweep the area clear. Or, I could attach a detonator to my plane and blow it up in the middle of the board. Another level had me cooking an egg for Gruntilda’s somewhat dim ex-assistant Klungo. While I could go the long route and fly it to the volcano, I also had the option to attach a flamethrower to my ship and cook it then and there. The challenges all have imaginative solutions, and I really had to think critically to complete some of the tougher ones. However, there are too many “L.O.G.’s Choice” challenges, in which you will be forced to use a vehicle pre-made by the game’s creators. Making your own vehicles is the best part of the game, and every time the game shies away from it, it hurts the overall experience.
Nuts & Bolts’ awesome vehicle creator makes for an equally great multiplayer mode. It takes activities from the single-player mode and pits you against up to seven people. You will be racing, sumo-wrestling, and the like. There is one thing that separates multiplayer matches from single-player ones – you have the ability to control time. By holding the Back button, you can rewind your vehicles actions. Being able to undo your vehicle’s actions adds yet another layer of strategy to an already ridiculously deep game. The great thing is, no matter how much you play online the experience will always be fresh. Since it is impossible to know what kind of vehicles opponents will bring into the game, you will never know what to expect from the next match. It is fun to go online just to see what other gamers have come up with, and being able to view and trade vehicles online has birthed a great online community. While not LittleBIGPlanet caliber, the community provides enough to make Nuts & Bolts worth far more than its $40 price tag.
Graphics and sounds
Whether you are traveling by land, sea or air, Nuts & Bolts is quite the looker. Each of the game’s worlds has a distinct visual style: LOGBOX 720 takes place inside a gigantic, ‘next-next-gen’ gaming console, and Banjoland is a museum filled with relics from the franchise’s past. Even if you don’t like Rare’s trademark bright, cartoony visuals you will at least be impressed from a technical perspective. All the worlds are humongous and well-rendered. The occasional bout of slowdown isn’t enough to stop this from being one of the best looking games on the XBOX.
The score is equally excellent, with both brand-new tunes and remixed ones from Banjo’s past. As per series tradition, the song dynamically changes depending on where you are; adding or removing instruments as you go into new areas. Also following in the footsteps of predecessors each character speaks with a gibberish, grating voice clip which get aggravating after a very short time. Thankfully, the game gives you the option to turn them off. In terms of presentation Nuts & Bolts is simply top-notch, with more humor and charm than Rare has ever been able to cram into one of their past games.
Grin and Bear It
It has been hard to review Nuts & Bolts, and even harder to attach a score; this is a game that will do different things for different people. If you spent your youth in front of an open box of LEGO, Nuts & Bolts is probably a game for you. However, the instant-gratification types should likely look elsewhere. This is a game that requires a large investment of your time. In the end, you are going to get out of it what you put into it. If you are willing to put in a lot, you will find Nuts & Bolts is one of the most ambitious and consistently fun games released this holiday season. It may not be the Banjo-Threeie fans have been clamoring for but if you ask me, it is better than that ever could have been.
8.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
