Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts

Rating: E10+

Score: 8.0/10

The Banjo series is one that many gamers first encountered on the good, old Nintendo 64. Banjo-Kazooie (the first in the series) was a groundbreaking and fun game that almost everybody enjoyed immensely. Its sequel, Banjo-Tooie, was just as great, if not more so. Years later, gamers finally get there anxious hands on the latest in the series, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. This game is only available for the Xbox 360.

Getting into the story, gamers will get a blast of nostalgia. They’ll be presented with a slideshow screening previous games in the series, and their endings. This leads up to Banjo (a calm, brave bear) and Kazooie (his friend the bird) eight years after the adventures of Banjo-Tooie. In that time, they’ve put on a few pounds, and lost some adventuring abilities. They discover Gruntilda's (the villain from the past games) detached head. They prepare to fight when they’re interrupted by the “Lord of Games”. L.O.G. (for short) is a floating TV with Pong paused, wearing a robe. To end their conflict, he gives Banjo and Kazooie their old physical fitness back, gives Gruntilda an artificial body, and sends them both to Showdown Town. They’re both given a vehicle, and the classic objective to collect as many Jiggies (Jigsaw puzzles) as possible. Gruntilda’s objective is to stop you. It’s an old formula, but calling it “classic” might be stretching it.

You’ll spend a lot of time in your vehicle. Director Gregg Mayles even stated that roughly 80 percent of Nuts & Bolts involved the use of vehicles. He’s not wrong. The ground vehicles are fairly hard to control, but air and water transportation work well. You only get, by default, a shopping cart like vehicle, so making good use of the vehicle making option is important. Using Lego-like pieces, you can completely customize a vehicle to suit any need, be it racing, pushing, or attacking. You get all kinds of wheels, seats, guns, fuel tanks, motors, and other goodies for your vehicle. Once you have a vehicle, a mission is the first step.

Your missions range from fetching something, destroying something, or racing somebody. There’s little in between. Fetching will require a vehicle with a large tray. Destroying will require a good weapon, and a powerful body. Racing just needs a fast vehicle, that’s quite obvious. It’s repetitive, but again, “Classic”.

As you might be able to infer by now, nostalgia is a heavy part of this game’s charm. The game is not incredible fun or a revolution anymore.  It is, however, an excellent blast from the past.