Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts n Bolts – Reviewed – Xbox 360
While the original games were your straight-up platformers (not that that's a bad thing), this next title changes everything up somewhat by introducing as well as focusing on building and using vehicles to complete missions and explore new areas.... I never had the chance to play any of the franchises previous titles but in all my time as a gamer I had always heard such great things about them so when I got my hands on a review copy of the game I was quite excited to see what all the fuss was about.... From the word "go", Rare make it very clear that they had decided to approach the game from a rather different angle by taking us into the gameworld where game characters live and introducing us to the "Lord of Games" or "L.O.G" who basically runs the show.... The game is very self-referential and the humor is quite bizarre as the L.O.G explains to the (now fat and lazy) washed up video game characters that he has decided to scrap the original concept of the games and change things up a little by having them build and utilize vehicles to complete their objectives. All in all it's kind of funny although I find that the self-mockery gets to a point where you actually start believing that the characters are in-fact useless, which isn't a good thing. While the game is going to be played by a whole horde of new gamers who never played the originals, I think that a lot of the jokes are just going to fly over their heads.... This sort of thing may have been acceptable when the original games came out but this is the "next-gen" folks, people don't want to sit and read dialogue all day long anymore, especially kids.... What you do is use your vehicles to complete missions, ranging from races, to tasks such as collecting items, dropping items off or even just getting somewhere within a certain amount of time.... You are given access to a workshop to build your own vehicles in a way not unlike that of a Lego set. You slowly get access to more and more parts that allow to build the most weird and wonderful contraptions to use in your missions. On the whole the system may feel quite basic at first but once you get into it, the building can be quite fun, especially when you later get to tear around in your very own creation.... Multiplayer is included with the game and can be played over Xbox Live as well as splitscreen and while most of the modes are quite fun and the ability to use your amazing contraptions are there, I don't see it as being anything that will add a significant amount of playtime to the title.... It's too much for children and at the same time, too little for adults so I really don't see who Rare expects to play this game. It really is a shame because if there is anything that the Xbox 360 lacks and has always been lacking was a decent library of fun platformers on the lines of something like Super Mario or even Crash Bandicoot.... With hard-hitters like LittleBigPlanet on the PS3 and the wealth of platforming franchises on the Wii, Microsoft and Rare have really done themselves a disservice by falling short on a game that could have really pulled a lot of younger and more casual gamers towards their console. Scoring: Gameplay: 7/10 [ Missions lack a certain fun factor ] Presentation: 6/10 [ Framerate and boring load screens hurt a decent looking game ] Sound: 6/10 [ Decent sound but there is no excuse for the complete lack of voice work ] Value: 7/10 [ There is a lot to do and collect in the game, so it could keep you busy for hours if you enjoy what it's offering ] Overall: 6.5/1 0 [ Children will feel disappointed and so will adults.
