Hands-On Preview: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

I only played Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts for a couple minutes on the floor, but it was definitely enough to pique my interest. I was a fan of the original game, but Tooie didn’t hold my interest quite as well. The new one for Xbox 360 is looking really sharp, with plenty of fuzz on our animal protagonists. Plus, the addition of buildable vehicles brings something new to the formula.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see any of the construction segments of the game. We had been plunked down inside a large level, and in fact, it seems like you’ll almost never want to just run anywhere. At least, the level I was in was made to be driven around. Luckily, you can just hold down Y to spawn your most recent vehicle.

I got to drive three things, all very different. The first was a car with a big spring jump. You could jump pretty high and barrel roll. The second one was like a rolling fence, which I used during a mission to hold soccer balls. You can pick up almost anything in the world (e.g. shards of glass, your entire car) using the right trigger, so I could toss the soccer balls into the corral area of this vehicle and drive them to the appropriate location. Finally, I raced in a land/sea vehicle that sort of reminded me of a squiddy insect for some reason.

While I don’t recall any of the exact dialogue, the feel is the same as the original, with goofy banter going on between Banjo and Kazooie. I’m interested to see what the vehicle building parts of the game will be like, which is more than I can really say about before I played the demo. It might be time to un-give up on Banjo-Kazooie, especially since an upgraded version of the first is coming to XBLA.