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BANJO-KAZOOIE: NUTS & BOLTS Posted by Joe Anderson on Nov 23, 2008 10:29 (Nov 23, 2008 10:29) |
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Banjo & Kazooie are back and this time they are trying to win a mountain, the difference this time though is that no longer are you trying to defeat Gruntilda with your nifty moves, no this time you are using the power of mechanics and a trusty wrench to help you win control of Spiral Mountain.
The story revolves around the Lord of Games, who has decided to stop the fighting once and for all by creating a contest with the grand prize being Spiral Mountain itself. The only problem is that Banjo and Kazooie aren’t as young as they used to be, they have no powers left and their stamina for a fight is lacking, Gruntilda is in even worse shape however so an interesting fight probably wouldn’t be forthcoming. The LOG however steps in to change the rules and proposes a new challenge in which Banjo has to work through the games six worlds using all manner of vehicles while Gruntilta has to do everything to stop him. The winner gets the ultimate prize, control of Spiral Mountain.
 The game begins in a world called Showdown town, from here you can compete in missions to win jiggies, which in turn will allow you to unlock later game worlds. Throughout all of the worlds you will also find musical notes spread around the land, these are optional to collect, however doing so will allow for you to further upgrade your vehicles as they act as the games currency, however you do win parts just by playing the game too, so it is not essential that you collect these, but it does add to the challenge.
The main premise of the game though is to build vehicles and thankfully the tools you have been given to do so are pretty impressive, your imagine really is your only limitation, so far I have built flying machines, tanks and all sorts of other contraptions, it is so easy to create great vehicles with the workshop providing the parts to quickly piece together your vehicle with ease. There is no doubt that creating vehicles is one of the most enjoyable aspects of this game, in fact sometimes you just seem to lose sight of the fact that you have a mission to complete such is the fun you will be having here. Should you not be a creative type then the developer have included some pre-built vehicles so getting through the game shouldn’t be affected too much. Once you have finished building your vehicle you can then test it to see how well it functions on the Test Track, this is a quick way to make sure that you have got the weight of your vehicle correct and that it isn’t going to tip over at the first sign of a corner.
To access any of the games five worlds you must place a globe on the appropriate plinth and collect the required number of jiggies (puzzle pieces) by playing and winning Jiggy games. The worlds within Nuts and Bolts consist of Nutty Acres, Logbox 720, Banjoland, Jiggosseum and Terrarium of Terror, the missions within these worlds comprise mostly of races and fetch quests, since the missions are structured in a certain way, you can build vehicles to complete them in all manner of ways, so in this respect both the vehicle creation system and missions work well together. The main problem with the missions is that there is little variety other than racing and fetching.
Graphically it is hard to fault Nuts and Bolts, the environments are very colorful and fun, also the ability to float on water using your vehicles or drive under it and see the effects from doing so should leave you noticeably impressed. If there is one problem with the graphics it’s that the frame rate can be a bit choppy occasionally.
 There is also a multiplayer mode included should you tire of the single-player adventure. The online modes are quite fun and allow you to use your strange vehicle designs in all manner of competitions, which range from racing to vehicle based fights, the only issue I had here was trying to find anyone online to play against, people must be too busy playing Gears of War 2 I’m guessing. One of the best aspects of the multiplayer is the fact that you are able to share your blueprints for vehicles with other players, this is great if you have designed a vehicle that you want to show off and gift to friends, and since they can send you theirs too this will allow for even more variety within the game.
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is a good twist on the series, building vehicles is great fun and really allows you to flex your creative muscles, add to that the fact you have huge worlds to roam around which are all brilliantly designed and this all adds up to a really fun game which most people should enjoy.
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