Banjo-Kazooie is back and Microsoft is hoping to impress everyone with a new formula for success. Rather than straight up platforming, Banjo-Kazooie now has driving and customization elements incorporated to change up the series. Players can now drive vehicles to platform – although Banjo can still freely run around the world – and can customize their vehicle’s body parts, engine, wheels, armor, weapons, fuel cells and much more. This is practically the same demo from E3 2008, the demo that recently dropped on Xbox Live this week allowed for a much more intimate session to explore the world Rare has created from the living room of my home.
Players will start out their demo being introduced to the Lord of Games (L.O.G.) who’ll inform you that he has brought both Banjo and Kazooie to his world that he created to face off against Gruntilda within a plethora of games he has set up to collect Jiggies. Before going any further, I’d like to personally nominate L.O.G. as character of the year. Not only does he pay homage to the classic video game Pong, but he basically is a virtual representation of Pong as his face is a television screen with two pong paddles for eyes and a line for a mouth.
Back on track though, many of your favorite characters such as Bottles, Mumbo Jumbo and Humba Wumba have returned to join the cast this year. It’s recommended that you start a conversation with Bottles as he’ll inform you about “useless information” pertaining to the future of Killer Instinct 3. Hint: Bottles believes he’ll be included in the next Killer Instinct. The best attribute Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts has going for it has to be the score; it’s absolutely epic! Immersive and extravagant, the music hits all the right notes and helps create one of the most unique experiences on the Xbox 360. It’s guaranteed that you won’t find any other video game this holiday such as Banjo-Kazooie that’ll perk your interest with light-hearted music and clever sound effects.
While the graphics and visual representation of Banjo-Kazooie scream for a younger audience, the customization of vehicles is intricate and in-depth. Players will be lost for hours building their own vehicles, working on blueprints (which they can share online), and tinkering on already preset vehicles to their own liking. With over 5,000 parts in the game, Banjo-Kazooie is going to offer a lot more replay value then meets the eye.
Speaking on the graphics, you best be prepared to be astonished by large beautiful worlds that’ll have you in awe. Rare has outdone themselves with some of the most breathtaking worlds to journey through. Not only are they full of colorful details, but the world is peppered with charming NPCs that are running around doing their own thing or there to offer you jiggies. They’ll interact with you and give you the strangest advice such as the time when I was driving and bumped into a rhinoceros and he informed me that charging a rhino isn’t the most intelligent idea.
The demo concludes after you collect four jiggies from Banjo-Land and try to reenter the world from Showdown Town for a second go-through. Not only was the time spent on the demo satisfying, but it was an eye-opener of how far Rare has come since their launch titles for the Xbox 360 (though I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed Kameo). Be prepared to begin your adventure through Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts on November 11 only for the Xbox 360.
