Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts

Banjo-Kazooie, the game title brings back memories of playing the decade-old Nintendo 64 game. I would spend hours sitting in front of the screen, collecting Jiggies, fighting bad guys, and continually progressing through the nine levels. It was, and remains, my favorite N64 game.

When I first heard Banjo and Kazooie would return in a new game on the XBox 360, I was extremely excited- until I saw the square-shaped characters in the upcoming game that bared little resemblance to the bear and bird duo I remembered. Not only had the appearances changed, the whole game style was different. Similar to the Kingdom Hearts series, players would design and create their own vehicle to travel around the different worlds with. The accessories and gadgets placed on these vehicles replaced Kazooie's classic moves- Talon Trot, Beak Buster, ect.

Although Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts debuted in November of 2008, I didn't finally play it for myself until a few days ago- April 2, 2009. With low expectations, I placed the disc in and turned on the console. Microsoft's and Rare's logos passed before me, followed by an opening scene that swept around a highly-detailed Spiral Mountain, the opening area of the original game. Finally, I started to play, wobbling around as a fat Banjo. The game did not remain in this fashion, thankfully, as I was quickly transported to a brand new world known as "Showdown Town" (after the oversized Banjo returned to normal size, of course).

Showdown Town, to be brief, is spectacular. Its size, detail, layout, and complexity- all amazing. In fact, it ranks better than any world in the original Banjo-Kazooie. Like Gruntilda's Lair from the original game, Showdown Town is the portal to all other areas. Within it, you can also find a large collection of musical notes (currency), crates (vehicle parts to build with), and activities, including a personal favorite of mine- Klungo Saves the World, a classic arcade-style mini-game.

Showdown Town is also home to "Mumbo's Motors", the place you can build and modify vehicles. Although I didn't care for (or understand) the similar feature in Kingdom Hearts, I loved this version. I devoted much time to creating and customizing my vehicles, often starting from scratch to build a single vehicle for one challenge. The controls are easy and players can continually build up their collection of vehicle parts the longer they play the game.

The first level of the game is known as "Nutty Acres". With a variety of fields, hills, forests, beaches, and a large volcano, the diverse area features plenty to do and explore. Nutty Acres is also where you're met with your first challenge- to speed to a nearby "fire", only to learn it is actually Mumbo having burned his lunch. The game is stuffed full of these various challenges, sending you across lands to collect items, rescue characters, or race your opponents to the finish-line. Although different from the original style presented in Banjo-Kazooie, the method used in Nuts & Bolts proves just as enjoyable.

The game continues, having you build vehicles and doing various challenges to collect Jiggies. Like the original, Jiggies allow new worlds to open. Although less lands are present in Nuts & Bolts when compared to Banjo-Kazooie, there are over 30 more Jiggies to collect, resulting in much more game-time. Extra tasks presented by Jingos, the collection of all the musical notes and crates, and purchasing all of Humba Wumba's blueprints can also be credited for the extended game-time.

My favorite part of Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts is a throw-back to parts of the 1998 and 2001 games. The third level, known as "Banjo Land", is composed entirely of pieces of past levels from Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie. The whole Banjo-Land level is treated like a museum, many of the props in display cases. It's a very unusual experience, looking back at childhood memories of Banjo-Kazooie in a much more detailed and intricate title in the same series.

The game obviously surpassed my expectations, due in part to the amazing graphics, great game-play, and massive amount of fun and entertainment it offered. But just how does it compare to the original Banjo-Kazooie, the game that hooked me onto video games? It took hours upon hours of game-play before I finally decided where it stood when ranked to Banjo-Kazooie.

When compared to the style of Banjo-Kazooie, Nuts & Bolts proves very different. In fact, I often forgot I was even playing a Banjo-Kazooie game. Instead, it felt like a brand new game, one that could stand alone without prequels to join it. The differences between Banjo-Kazooie and Nuts & Bolts resulted in negative ratings from many classic Banjo-Kazooie fans. However, if you were to ignore the past games, looking at only the new title by itself, you'd find a mountain of positive things to say. Fueled by the desire to build the best vehicles possible, continually unlock different levels, and collect all the Jiggies, it was rare for me to put down my controller. The game is addicting and amazingly enjoyable. The pure genius put into this creation is responsible for not only its ranking above many favorite video games of mine, but also for my ranking of Nuts & Bolts' above even the classic Banjo-Kazooie.

Overall Rating-
10/10