Straying away from the series' roots doesn't stop Banjo Kazooie: N&B from being a fun game in its own right.
The main plot of the game is that Banjo and Kazooie have not been on an adventure in ten years since the events of Banjo-Tooie where Gruntilda was just left as a head. Since then, the duo had let themselves go and had become fat, while Gruntilda was still alive under a bunch of rubble and sets out revenge. After a meeting of the two, they are intervened by a figure called L.O.G. (Lord of Games) who claims to be the creator of every game that one can imagine. He comes to them to help them settle the battles once and for all by a competition: Winner gets to stay, and the losers must work in his factory. While this may seem like something we have already seen before, some of the game's references and humorous writing tend to help make up for it.
Unlike the original two in the series, jiggies are collected by completing several different challenges by entering several different (yet quite subtle) variations of worlds via the hub world of Showdown Town. Some challenges will require you to use already made vehicles created specifically made for them, while some will allow you to use your own vehicle in order to find interesting and creative ways to complete them, giving power to the player to find a way to complete the objectives.
The graphics in the game are great. The detail in the worlds is entertaining to looks at, textures go well with the world, and they suit the environments very well. Some minor complaints from fans happen to be the character designs, which are more often than not a hit or miss deal for the fandom. However the characters to me look detailed and for the most part satisfactory. Some characters may not have changed too much (such as Bottles) and some have changed quite a bit (such as Humba.)
While many fans of the original games will simply dismiss the vehicle creation system, it happens to be surprisingly deep and simple at the same time. I have spent hours upon hours just making vehicles to see which one is the most satisfactory for challenges. However, you will frequently be demanded to make revisions to vehicles if your current ones are not up to snuff with the requirements for completion of a challenge, which may be tedious to some. Speaking of tedium, sometimes the controls of some vehicles (land vehicles on wheels especially) demand you to erase/pack on some items off of your current creation to handle in a non-slippery manner. However, this tends to be more of a problem with four-wheeled cars more than anything after a little bit of experimentation, but it still means several bits and pieces of experimentation are required to perfect a vehicle.
The online play works surprisingly well, with there not being much lag if not any (from my massive amount of playtime with it at least) and it can be quite fun to show off your creations with others online. Activities range from sports, racing, battles, and even going around on the Test-O-Track with multiple other people at a time. One thing I do not like though is if someone rage quits in any way regardless, they are not penalized in competitive matchmaking, which means if someone does not want to be downed in rank they can just leave the lobby with no penalty at all.
For the music of the game, the soundtrack of the game sounds mostly orchestrated in some way or another depending on the area, combined with other elements to help fit the mood with the world (such as The Jiggosseum having a loud tone along with bits and pieces of Hailfire Peaks to fit with it being a parody of the Olympic Games, and Banjo Land having several orchestrated arrangements of the original game to connect on how the level is pretty much a Banjo-Kazooie museum.)
When it comes to replay value, Grunty can be reached within twenty hours of gameplay without rushing through it, and can be extended even farther if the player were to go on pursuit for all 131 jiggies. Along with online play can extend it as well, as it is mandatory to play through it if somone wanted to get all of the achievements that the game has to offer for players.
With all of these, Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts suffers from its flaws like many other games. Some considerably minor and major.
One of the main problems I had when beginning to play this game is that the text can be too small for a standard definition television. While the game had an HD play in doubt, it's a bit of a pain for people with SDTVs to read the text. Speaking of the text, sometimes it scrolls way too fast, and can cause frustration for some who tend to like to read slowly.
Another problem I found in the occasional slippery controls for land vehicles. It seems to be dependent on wheel placement, type of wheels, and the overall weight and size of the vehicle to get it right. This can easily lead to player frustration due to the need to cut off several chunks of the vehicle can be time consuming to get it right. This tends to not be a problem with any other type of vehicles, unless it has excessive weight and not enough parts to keep it running logically efficient, which tends to be infrequent anyway.
One more flaw I found was that the game's overall replay value can easily decay over time after the completion of the main game, and making so people who like to stop playing a game only after achieving one hundred percent completion will want to keep playing the game afterward, along with people who want to play the online modes, which tend to be dead nowadays anyway.
Bottom line, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts feels like a spin-off title and thus should be treated as such. The overall concept of the game may be disappointing and angering to fans, but I believe one should not bash unless the give it a fair, open opinion chance. However the game does tend to tap into an uncommonly seen and (in my opinion) a very overlooked concept, and it's done well, and I applaud Rare for that. Those looking for something completely different should pick it up, along with people seeking to at least give the game a running chance before bashing it.
Presentation: 8.0/10
Graphics: 8.5/10
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Sound: 8.5/10
Lasting Appeal: 8.0/10
Overall Rating: 8.3/10 (8.5 rounded)