Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts - X360 Review

‘Have you been playing for a while and still don’t like the vehicle based gameplay? Maybe you need to download Banjo-Kazooie from Xbox Live Arcade instead.’ Believe it or not, that statement actually appears on a loading screen in Nuts & Bolts, immediately creating the impression that Rare are edgy about what people will think of their newest Banjo creation. Their doubts, sadly, are not completely unfounded.

Instead of making the traditional platformer that just about everybody was hoping for, Rare decided to make a game all about vehicle customisation. One can only guess as to why they thought this would work, maybe they were afraid of letting the fans down with a substandard effort. However, some simple research would show that the 360 is overflowing with driving games, and has not a single worthwhile platform game to offer.

The gameplay basically consists of doing the same few quests over and over again in slightly different vehicles. Most missions are either ‘drive from A to B’ or ‘fetch things and return to starting point’, and this gets old really quickly. Sure, there are a staggering amount of possible vehicles to make, but it doesn’t make that much difference, especially early on when all you have is essentially a shopping trolley. Finishing quests rewards you with Jiggies, which unlock new areas and more quests, in the traditional Mario 64 style. The hub of the world here is Showdown Town, where you will find crates with extra vehicle parts to ‘pimp your ride’ (sorry).

The game does have immense possibility, but there’s no real motivation to see it all. The driving feels horrible, the quests are tedious and the constant gaming in jokes thrown at you are pathetic. The most enjoyable aspect of the gameplay was running over innocent animals, in a weird cross of Old Macdonald and Grand Theft Auto. The graphics here are good but unspectacular, and the sound is suspiciously similar to Viva Pinata, as if Rare couldn’t be bothered to change it up a little. Overall, this cannot really be recommended to anyone. There are far better driving games out there, and Banjo purists will most likely be more offended by this than everyone else. A shame, as this was a genuine opportunity to create a quality traditional platformer on the 360.

[Out of Five]

[Originally Published in Forge Press:Issue 5]