Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Review: Like Build-A-Bear, But Better

There were a number of reasons that I didn’t expect “Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts” to be pretty much the only Xbox 360 game I’ve played in the last month or so. Based on previews of the game, and the fact that my Xbox red-ringed the day I received the game, I had little to no intentions of playing the game outside of the average time I planned on spending with the game to write this review. Boy, was I wrong. “Banjo” just kept sucking me back in. Sure, it may have had something to do with my achievement addiction that I though I had under control (wrong about that too), but it’s one of those games that consumes you, and keeps you playing just a little bit longer… and then it’s 3 A.M. “Banjo” caught me off-guard, and kept me playing on, and on, and on. The last time that this exact same thing happened was with “Viva Pinata.” Damn you Rare.

I need to be completely honest to convey a good review to you my reader friends, and I have a confession – “Nuts & Bolts” is the first “Banjo-Kazooie” game I’ve ever played. Yes, that’s right, for various reasons I missed the N64 and various portable iterations of this little bears quest to take down that evil witch Gruntilda. I’ve missed out, I know, so I can neither confirm nor deny if “Nuts & Bolts” is on the same level of addictiveness as the previous titles – I can only speak from my experience, and it’s pretty addictive. I can neither confirm nor deny if “Nuts & Bolts” is even anything like the previous titles, and while I have a hunch that at least some of it is, I can only say that is incredibly unique, and one of the most satisfying games I’ve played all year. [Continue Reading]