More than your average sequel. (ADD sufferers beware)
Nuts & Bolts picks off eight years after Banjo-Tooie. With Gruntilda defeated, Banjo and Kazooie have been living the high life. The duo has grown fat and lazy, and so when the rhyming wench finally returns, they're in no condition to fight their battle. Cue the Lord of Games (L.O.G.). He's grown tired of their constant fighting, and has devised one final test to determine ownership of Spiral Mountain. However, instead of winding up in another platforming adventure, Banjo, Kazooie and Gruntilda find themselves somewhere very different indeed -- a world of vehicles.
That's right - Banjo-Kazooie is now almost entirely vehicle-based. Though you'll still be collecting Notes and Jiggies to access new levels and worlds, you'll be doing most of it from behind a wheel. The big hook here is every vehicle, whether it's a car, boat or plane, can be totally customized to your liking. Thankfully, Nuts & Bolt's creation tools are very strong. It's not hard to get into - after a quick tutorial you'll be able to create any car, boat or plane you can dream up. The left stick moves pieces on the x- and y-axis, and the triggers control z-axis movement. The rest is entirely up to you; your imagination is the only real limit to your creations. You've got a seemingly infinite number of parts at your disposable, including weapons, propellers, floaters, detach points, engines and fuels, seats... There are over 1,600 parts in all, so the same vehicle will never be seen twice. The vehicle creation is a ton of fun, and was enough to keep me hooked on the game for hours on end.
The creator has one major flaw, though. Nuts & Bolts' physics are excellent, which doesn't bode well for some of the more outlandish vehicles I've come up with. Vehicle handling is iffy; it changes depending on how you distribute weight and where your engines are located. It really hurt when I designed a vehicle that looked stellar, but thanks to one small design quirk, refused to run. And it happened a lot. It's amazing that the engine can so realistically deal with all the possible vehicle combinations, but it's also a shame. To really excel with the creator you have to be both artistically inclined and have a good head for physics. If you can't get your head around it you can buy ready-made vehicles, but that rather defeats the game's purpose.
Once you've made yourself a working vehicle, you're free to explore the game's numerous worlds. Nuts & Bolts' structure is similar to past games; complete levels to earn Jiggies, which get you access to new levels with new Jiggies to be won. It's an old formula, but it's definitely one that works. However, Nuts & Bolts is definitely more streamlined than its predecessors. In past games, you'd be running around searching for hidden Notes, Jiggies, Mumbo Tokens, Jingos, et al. Nuts & Bolts moves at a brisker pace, focusing solely on Jiggy collection. Jiggies are earned by completing Challenges, which are marked on the mini-map.
Thankfully, the challenges are a lot of fun, and forced me to think of new and unique ways to use my vehicles. For example, one challenge had me knocking down as many dominoes as possible. To get the highest score, I could build a really wide plane to sweep the area clear. Or, I could attach a detonator to my plane and blow it up in the middle of the board. Another level had me cooking an egg for Gruntilda's somewhat dim ex-assistant Klungo. While I could go the long route and fly it to the volcano, I also had the option to attach a flamethrower to my ship and cook it then and there. The challenges all have imaginative solutions, and I really had to think critically to complete some of the tougher ones. However, there are too many 'L.O.G.'s Choice' challenges, in which you'll be forced to use a vehicle pre-made by the game's creators. Making your own vehicles is the best part of the game, and time the game shies away from it, it hurts the overall experience.
Nuts & Bolts' awesome vehicle creator makes for an equally great multiplayer mode. It takes activities from the single-player mode and pits you against up to seven people. You'll be racing, sumo-wrestling, and the like. There's one thing that separates multiplayer matches from single-player ones - you have the ability to control time. By holding the Back button, you'll rewind your vehicles actions. Being able to undo your vehicles actions adds yet another layer of strategy to an already ridiculously deep game. The great thing is, no matter how much you play online the experience will always be fresh. Since it's impossible what kind of vehicles opponents will bring into the game, you'll never know what to expect from the next match. It's fun to go online just to see what other gamers have come up with. Being able to view and trade vehicles online has birthed a great online community. While not LittleBIGPlanet caliber, the community provides enough to make Nuts & Bolts worth far more than its $40 price tag.
Whether you're travelling by land, sea or air, Nuts & Bolts is quite the looker. Each of the game's worlds have a distinct visual style: LOGBOX 720 takes place inside a gigantic, 'next-next-gen' gaming console, and Banjoland is a museum filled with relics from the franchise's past. Even if you don't like Rare's trademark bright, cartoony visuals you'll at least be impressed from a technical perspective. All the worlds are humongous and well-rendered. The occasional bout of slowdown isn't enough to stop this from being one of the best looking games on the XBOX. The score is equally excellent, with both brand-new tunes and remixed ones from Banjo's past. As per series tradition, the song will dynamically change depending on where you are; adding or removing instruments as you go into new areas. Also following in the footsteps of predecessors each character has a gibberish voice clip which get aggravating after a very short time. Thankfully, the game gives you the option to turn them off. In terms of presentation Nuts & Bolts is simply top-notch, it's got more humour and charm than Rare's ever been able to cram into one of their games.
It's been hard to review Nuts & Bolts, and even harder to attach a score; this is a game that will do different things for different people. If you spent your youth in front of an open box of LEGO, Nuts & Bolts is probably a game for you. However, the instant-gratification types should likely look elsewhere. This is a game that requires a large investment of your time. In the end, you're going to get out of it what you put into it. If you're willing to put in a lot, you'll find Nuts & Bolts is one of the most ambitious and consistently fun games released this holiday season. It may not be the Banjo-Threeie fans have been clamouring for but if you ask this reviewer, it's better than that game ever could have been.