A solid hit and great addition
A good chunk of us have played a Banjo-Kazooie game before and we all remember just running around, collecting whatever it told us to, and destroying anything in our way to beating up that annoying witch of a boss.
So needless to say when I put in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, I have my expectations. But not high ones. These games have never been about perfect graphics and new features, but instead and mixture of comedy, adventure, new innovations, and lovable characters. And thats what Rare got perfectly right.
In this Banjo game you play through the game with a different view on the series, instead of collect this, defeat witch, a new character (the Lord of Games or LOG) introduces a whole new world for our Banjo adventures. The game has a healthy amount of comedy, never shying away from making fun of itself, past Banjo games, and even other Rare properties. But what always stays the same is how things change and Rare also knows this. So no more collecting well everything, instead you enter into these "sub-worlds" from the main world created by LOG and complete missions given to you my memorable characters in which you earn the coveted jiggys. The really fun part comes right before you begin any mission because of what it gives you to do. Each mission has different objectives, reach a certain speed, race these racers, protect this dude, carry this item here, all within a certain time limit.
All along this game you are also collecting parts, and like I alluded to, this is the fun. You take these parts and can make any type of vehicle you wish, a boat that flies, a racers that swims, a place that blows shit up, whatever you want. The strategy occurs when you sitting at a mission screen, knowing none of the pre-rendered blueprints will help you, you are forced to construct a custom one. And by forced I mean I stopped looking at blueprints and just build my own. The construction screen is easy to learn and master, even if you don't enjoy legos (and who doesn't?) this will still be enjoyable to you.
All around this game is an awesome add on for any old school Banjo fans. This is a definite must rent, and if like me you get addicted, a must buy. For perfectionists you will find yourself going back over levels to get every ounce of chalenge and collectable out of it, and for causal gamers it provides plenty of gameplay to entertain you. Now if you will excuse me, I need to build a helicopter that floats.
