Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts

We rented the game before buying it because so many games these days

look good but end up disappointing. I remember playing Banjo-Kazooie

and Banjo-Tooie on the Nintendo 64 when I was young. I recall liking

them but never actually finishing them 100%. When I put this one in I

quickly judged that it was going to be a very long process. The game

finds Banjo & Kazooie on another adventure to defeat Grunty. Again, the

characters don't speak they just make noises. I was honestly bored in the

beginning because it seemed to be more building of vehicles then actual

game play and that grew tiresome. It didn't take long for me to hand the

reins over to my hubby (who loves Lego's and Bionicles) and he loved the

building part. He spent hours making vehicles just to find out that you

can't actually use them in the town square or any of the selection areas

which is a major bummer. All you get is a standard Cart on wheels that

initially can't even climb inclined hills. That sucked!

We devoted time to playing the levels and worlds and finally began

earning "jiggys" that eventually added up to more parts and more worlds.

Each world has a predetermined number of challenges in it, and these

stats can be found by stopping your cart in the doorway just before

entering a world. Each challenge has 3 possible rewards: Musical Notes

(Monetary equivalent), Jiggys (Parts and worlds), and Trophies. Some

challenges have only one assigned vehicle that you may use where as

others allow you to choose your own. On the top of the screen before

beginning the challenge it will give you a hint as to which type of

vehicle is suggested and this was VERY helpful! Each world also has a

certain number of Jinjo's that are the bonus challenges. There is only one

reward in these and only one way to win. The reward for victory in these

are colored "Tokens". These tokens match the color of the Jinjos that you

defeated and are very useful in the Bingo game. The Bingo King allows

you to use these tokens to acquire bonus items like weapons, parts, and

upgrades. I personally enjoyed the Bingo game.

I highly suggest locating the yellow "warp" stations and utilizing them.

The world is very large and takes a long time to travel across in the cart.

The more creative you are the better you will do in this game. Creative

problem solving and logistics knowledge will certainly be a welcome

asset. All of the previous characters from the old games are back in this

one. The witch is again the enemy but this time she's just a preserved

head on a robotic body. She doesn't appear very often in the first half of

the game and when she does she's not difficult to defeat.

I have one MAJOR complaint about this game though. While playing at

Klungo's Arcade you play levels of the game "Klungo Saves the World".

You play as Klungo in a Retro gaming style. This is quite Mario NES if

you ask me. I would have enjoyed this part of the game had they just

made the game normal but instead they thought it would either be

creative or funny to add in a little something extra. While your playing

(any of the 5 levels) your game will suddenly freeze and ghost scatter

like the old NES games did and Klungo will pop up and say he has to

reboot. You have to start all over again on that level. It wouldn't have been

so bad if it didn't happen back to back and so often but there were times

it would happen 3 times in a row. It was awful! I had no real issue

beating the first 2 levels but the 2rd and 4th were the pits. The 3rd had

you jumping pillars of dirt but as you move forward the ground gets

higher but your view doesn't so eventually you can't even see your feet.

This leaves you having to guess on wen to jump and just hope for the

best. It took me about a dozen tries but I passed. The 4th level was the

WORST! It takes all the things Klungo encountered on the first 3 levels

and combines them into one long level of frustration. Your jumping

pillars, creatures, and still holding the world above your head. This may

not seem so hard but what I didn't mention is that unlike Mario where

you control his movement forward, Klungo is self propelled and you

cannot stop him to align for jumps. It's in constant motion and you just

have to get the timing perfect or else you fail. It took me several hours to

pass the 4th level and boy was I frustrated! The final level features

Grunty. Your standing on opposite sides of the screen facing one another.

At some point she spits a large and fast fireball at you which you are

expected to jump over. The catch is she doesn't spit at the same time or

even in timing that can be calculated (at least that I could tell). The

other catch is that you only get one jump per try. If you jump too soon

then you fail, if you jump too late then guess what? You fail. It was pure

luck that on about the 20th try I beat her and that was the end of

Klungo's Arcade game. Good Riddance! All I can say is patience is a virtue

that this game will put to the test.

In the end we both enjoyed the game and it's certainly one that can be

played over and over because there's always something to do! It's great for

someone who wants to take their time and just play a little here and there

but it can become addicting! Good for kids and adults. No blood, guts or

gore. This is a game that will challenge you and make you think. It's like

one giant, digital puzzle. There are no cheat codes so your on your own

but you'll be okay with that, I'm sure. This is an investment because you

will get so much time out of it that in the end it pays for itself.

I rate this game 7.5 of 10