Nuts and Bolts may seem surreal at first, but its unique gameplay mechanics and clever challenges are just plain fun.
Nuts and Bolts begins with Banjo pigging out on pizza and Kazooie playing her own suspiciously familiar video game system. Suddenly, Gruntilda (who is still only a skull after the events of Banjo-Tooie) appears and challenges the duo to another battle. Just as the fight breaks out, a mysterious Pong-faced stranger known as the Lord of Games (LOG) appears. Saying he is the creator of all video games, LOG creates a brand-new world called Showdown Town for Banjo and Kazooie to battle Gruntilda. LOG introduces the Banjo-Kazooie crew to Showdown Town, a hub world where Banjo and Kazooie can build vehicles to battle Gruntilda. Thus, Banjo and Kazooie begin their latest fight against Grunty. Other characters make appearances with some new looks as well. The story is self-referential at every opportunity; LOG constantly references other games and scenarios (even going so far as poking fun at the shooter genre). Rare has always managed to spice up a Banjo-Kazooie storyline with their own brand of fourth-wall-shattering, self-referential humor and Nuts and Bolts is no exception. Prepare for some hilarious writing and plenty of inside jokes from LOG and the many characters. And don't worry; Gruntilda rhymes return as well.
Once LOG drops Banjo and Kazooie into the game hub Showdown Town, the player is quickly introduced to the vehicle construction aspect of gameplay. While many other driving and racing games have included incredible amounts of customization, few of them have made the customization rather intuitive and simple. Fortunately, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts manages to make building your own vehicle easy. There are a degree of rules when constructing; engines need fuel, weapons need ammo, and similar ideas do add structure to the gameplay, but aside from these types of regulations, there really aren't too many barriers. You can pretty much create whatever type of vehicle you want. Creating your dream car (or plane, or boat, or whatever) is intuitive and very addictive, something that few vehicle-based games have been able to master. The game does have a bit of a problem concerning the controls, which take getting used to, especially in the crowded labyrinth of Showdown Town. However, once you get the simple mechanics together, creating, editing, and designing your ride can be very fun.
Nuts and Bolts starts in the hub of Showdown Town, but you'll quickly find Banjo and Kazooie being tossed into one of the game's expansive worlds. Each world offers a number of Jiggies to collect and objectives to complete, each one in episodic "chapters". Different chapters become unlocked as you progress through the game, along with brand-new challenges. Completing challenges can net you Jiggies, musical notes to spend on items in Showdown Town, or if you're particularly skilled, Trophies to spend on Jiggies. Completionists will find the Trophy challenges to be a bit difficult, but it's nothing that some stronger parts or new designs can't accomplish. The overall challenge design is generally inventive, as you'll see some great utilization of the different vehicle creation opportunities. One objective may demand a quick race around a level, another may demand a quick fetch quest. While some of these challenges have a tendency to feel alike, you'll no doubt be impressed at their design. There usually isn't one precise way to accomplish a task, making the challenges as diverse and versatile as the vehicle customization itself. Even when the game poses a few similar challenges, you'll quickly be impressed at other obstacles, like the stellar boss fights, which are a blast to complete. There isn't a huge amount of diversity in the actual objectives, but thanks to a very detailed and customizable vehicle creation engine, you'll quickly find yourself trying new ideas to complete the challenges.
Even when exploring the hub, there's plenty to do in between the different levels' challenges. You can earn new parts and blueprints with musical notes, but you'll also find Mumbo Crates throughout Showdown Town that house new parts. There's also Jinjos to liberate, abilities to strengthen, hidden Jiggies to find, and notes to scour rooftops for. There are even a few laughs to encounter, as can be seen in ex-Grunty lackey Klungo's own video game, a weird jumpfest featuring Klungo that seems to be a homage to classic Atari games. Once you earn new abilities, you can travel throughout the entire city to encounter its secrets. While the hub doesn't match the challenges seen in the actual worlds, the expansive amount of things to do in Showdown Town is very impressive, at least when it comes to occupying your time between challenges or tuning up your ride. Along with a great single-player, the ability to battle and share blueprints with friends over Xbox Live is a fun diversion. The gameplay in Nuts and Bolts is comprehensive and versatile, resulting in a fun and addictive title with plenty of options whether alone or with friends.
But to address this as a Banjo-Kazooie fan from the start, Nuts and Bolts really isn't a platformer. Banjo's moves are incredibly slimmed down, with only jumping, climbing, walking tightropes, and grabbing ledges available. The rest is almost all based on the vehicles. While there's plenty of Banjo-Kazooie references and such, the nostalgia tends to run annoyingly deep. One of the levels, Banjoland, is a museum featuring Banjo-Kazooie memorabilia. It's interesting, but it can grow annoying. While Nuts and Bolts is definitely a good game, as a Banjo-Kazooie game, it's pretty average. The nostalgia feels tantalizing, almost as if Rare was teasing us with all this Banjo-Kazooie fan service instead of releasing a traditional platformer. But if you can forgive Rare for shoving all this Banjo-Kazooie nostalgia in your face instead of making a dedicated platformer sequel, Nuts and Bolts will satisfy fans with its constant knack at not taking itself seriously.
Presentation-wise, Nuts and Bolts is technically proficient. Once the opening cutscene rolls, you see the new art style, which parallels the older Banjo-Kazooie look with fantastic realism and unique character design. Shimmering waters, beautiful skies, and plenty of unique level design round out a visual masterpiece. Sound consists of familiar Banjo-Kazooie games' themes of past. Each level contains some great themes or remixes of themes. Banjoland, for instance, features a great medley of themes from older Banjo-Kazooie games. The classic Banjo-Kazooie gibberish remains entertaining, albeit a bit different from past games, but it's still a great inclusion, making conversations really funny. The overall presentation of Nuts and Bolts is stellar whenever possible, always pushing the technical limits, but never forgetting the classic presentation elements that made Banjo-Kazooie such a creative hit.
Pros
+ Vehicle creation is simple, but remarkably deep
+ Mission objectives are challenging
+ Lots of replay value
+ Plenty of hilarious dialogue and inside jokes
+ Sharp presentation
Cons
- Controls depend too much on vehicle stats
- Some mission objectives can feel too similar
- Tends to rub nostalgic value in your face
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts isn't Banjo-Kazooie 3; in fact, it really doesn't try to be. Instead, we get a great mix of skill-based objectives, an addictive vehicle creation element, and classic Rareware humor. While some objectives don't pan out as well as they could've been, and there are a few control issues, it can't be denied how downright inventive Nuts and Bolts manages to be. It isn't what many gamers were expecting in a Banjo-Kazooie game, but Nuts and Bolts stands as a remarkably creative game with plenty to do and create. With plenty of customization available in the vehicle construction, completing the many challenges ultimately comes down to how you want to complete each objective, something few games have accomplished to this degree. Containing a huge hub along with dynamic and interesting levels, it's pretty safe to say that Rare did know what they were doing in making this remarkable twist on the Banjo-Kazooie franchise. If the vehicle-customization doesn't hook you, the challenging objectives and laugh-out-loud humor will. Don't denounce Nuts and Bolts as a gimmicky platformer, because that couldn't be further from the truth. It's not flawless, but Rare's spin on the Banjo-Kazooie universe is one of their most unique games yet and worth any gamer's time.