Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Comments by Tom Bramwell

The first page of the review totally sold the game to me... this bit in particular showcasing Rare's sense of humour...

"Prior to Banjo Land, you visit the Logbox 720, the inside of the Lord of Games' own console, where every ramp is an interface cable, every obstacle is a circuit, chip or capacitor, the indigenous enemy is a knee-high, green Darwinia reject (a bug, see), and half the missions involve fixing the console's broken cooling system. (Oh no they diiiiidn't)." LOL

... then half down page two the negatives crop in but they don't put me off the game at all, I really enjoyed the demo so I'm sure the full game will be equally enjoyable. An EG 7 is usually a recommendation for me anyway, a good game with flaws, annoying or otherwise.

Rash: oh god don't start a compairson of the two games libraries again.

LBP is great but it is one game.. this apparently less so but again it is one game..and they are nothing like each other anyway.

Oh and can those who call this a 360 biased site not shut up after today. thanks.

quite liked some of the demo, might get this when its cheap (like it is in the US >:( )

Totally agree. Played this at the expo and frankly it was shite. I had a mission to move an ice block and controlling the vehicle was so awkward that I simply gave up. It looks like there is loads to do until you actually try to do something. Then you realise there isn't actually anything to do at all!

Why the hell is it that the games I don't give a flying fuck about (most of the shit involving burly men with guns) get sequel after sequel after mindnumbing identical sequel, but every franchise I want more of either gets nothing, or gets fucking messed up under the guise of innovation or fucking bullshit like "people don't want this game type anymore"?

EG being critical of a Rare game. Well, there's a first for everything I guess...

Never understood why this game required the Banjo monicker. Must be a marketing decision. Otherwise, at least it tries to do something different and that should be appreciated in this day and age of no-risk rehashes.

This looks to be a perfect game for a christmas morning/afternoon. Can't wait!

Krelle - "7/10 is "bad" in a fucking ocean of 9/-10/10s. Perspective, good sir."

Are you serious? 7/10 is "good" in an ocean of "excellent" 9-10/10s. Common sense, good sir. It doesn't imply badness at all. ;)

Well to get to the nuts & bolts of this title, to put it in one word: 'SHITE'.

So another average game from Rare, suppose I've come to expect it now. To be honest, after playing the demo I was kind of put off, so I guess it's saved me £40 anyway...

Since when has 7/10 been an average score?!? EG use 5/10 as average, seasidebaz! ;)

And why "another"... unless I'm mistaken the previous two Rare games were Viva Pinata and VP: Trouble in Paradise, both of which received very good reviews.

Seems to be hovering around the same kinda scores as Viva Pinata which suits me fine, as that game was pretty sweet. Also a game that everyone in the household can play, few and far between so a welcome break from the manrotica.

Darren: I was trying to answer another post, hence the choice to use "bad". Also, see those ""?
I know, Darren. Its not easy to make sense over the internetz.

Altho, I do wonder why I care at all. I rarely play games anymore. Especially not games AS BAD AS 7/10! lol!

Since when has 7/10 been an average score?!?

Since EG started giving good (as in not GREAT) games 10/10

tbh, EGs idea of "average" seems to differ greatly from reviewer to reviewer, not to mention day to day.

Love how everyone was saying this would get a 9 and R2 would get a 7. lol alot.

First off its a shame especially since Banjo was already up against it with the amount of AAA/high profile titles competing for sales this christmas.

What can we say about the SDF in this thread though? :D

I didnt care enough about this title to be dissapointed(If its recieved well by the gamers, then I may pick it up at a reduced price if its fun) but you can be sure the Sony fanboys show their true colours here... and this comments section only confirms that the biggest most deffensive(insecure) trolls are the Sony ones.

Its just so funny when the shoe is on the other foot they have a totally different attitude(which has been quite freequent so maybe there is a lot of bitterness), the slightest bit of critisism and they are seemingly frothing at the mouth, blaming everybody, threatening to boycott Eurogamer ect.

So if I did use the ignore feature this thread would be a great way to filter out the childish/insecure/blinkered/or all of those... fanboys but I just like how they prove themselves to be idiots with so many contridictions so often too much to do that(basically pointing out and saying... "see, they really are full of shit"). I havent looked at the Resistance 2 thread but if people are shouting overrated and continue to do so in the months to come hoping it sticks, regardless of whether its just an attempt to dampen any enthusiam for a competitors product as usual or not... it would be so funny to watch these same people complain about trolling or fanboyism in any regard.

And to think, Microsoft paid more for Rare than Gillett & Hicks did for Liverpool F.C.

"Totally agree. Played this at the expo and frankly it was shite"

While I couldn't bring myself to play it I agree. I watched and man it was shite, along with legendary I was REALLY surprised how bad this was.

Still plenty more out there that isn't shite so I don't really care (and the original game is on Live)! \o/

Tried the demo, hated it. Rare killed the franchise!

Seems to me 7/10 is a generous score, but of course I haven't tried the full game ;)

Funny I predicted 7 for R2 and 9 for BK... EG can still surprise positively.

Is that the same Calgon who was attempting to dampen enthusiasm in the Wipeout HD thread?

I aint insecure about my PS3 Calgon. I traded in my xbox for it cus i WAS insecure about that after losing one to the RROD but all credit to the excellent Microsoft customer service who paid for pick up and had me a replacement in just over a week. But that's a weeks downtime none the less.
This insecure bullshit xbots keep spouting is nonsense, more likely is it's Sony Fanboys taking the bait of certain b.s. comments made to incite such trolling and vice-versa. I.E. Everyone is as bad as the next one.
Both consoles are excellent and both have excellent exclusives, fact. If you're jealous inside, save up and buy the other console. IMHO, it's worth owning both, i just couldn't afford to own both and had to have LBP whatever the cost.

@Widge

Difference being I wasnt trolling I actually said it looks alright... and the major difference being that will be one of the only examples you can find and its a poor one to begin with. :D Nice try though, really I practise what I preach unlike some full of shit so called gamers around Eurogamer.

@Private full of shit = you, plus you disguise your fanboyism in shit jokes. Why not just enjoy your PS3 then without trolling?
Buyers remorse is rife in the PS3 camp, the first line of defense is attack... its so obvious.

The demo is excellent. Shame that gamers don't match up to its high standards :)

"IMHO, it's worth owning both"

Quoted for truth.

Wii? What?.....

/ lays trap, waits for Smelly to pounce

Reading the reviews, it seems the game takes a little time to show it's charm. The reviews below all indicate a very good game.

Eurogamer - 7 out of 10
IGN - 8.3 out of 10
Team Xbox 7.4 out of 10
NZgamer - 9 out of 10
Game pro - 4 out of 5

It's a shame that people are viewing 7/10 as average because I feel that the game will struggle to find an audience on the 360 when anything less than 8/10 is perceived as being "not very good". I suspect that even if Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts had been getting 9s and 10s it still wouldn't have sold very well. You only have to look at the lacklustre sales for the two Viva Pinata games to know that Rare's games, sad as it sounds, don't really fit on the shooter-orientated Xbox 360. I guess a lot of people still have a preconceived notion that they make games for kids because they're cute and colourful.

And the timing for the game couldn't have been worst either, released a week after Gears of War 2, possibly the most eagerly awaited Xbox 360 of this year. Great thinking there, Microsoft. Yeah I realise they're different genres but most people can't afford to buy two games one after the other so Gears is likely to be most people's first choice (unless they hate shooters, obviously).

Poor old Rare. I wish them well with the game and I, for one, will be definitely buying it but I can't help thinking it won't be a very big hit. On the Wii though, it might have been a different story...

PrivateJoker btw Ive no console to defend yet could just as easily pick up a PS3 instead but its one or the other for me and the community aspect well it would be unfair to use EG as the measuring stick for the average PS3 owner/Sony fan... but if you dont see the bile in from the likes of Vic, Apologie and Hedbog, even Rash' then I dont know what that says about you my friend... I come to Eurogamer for the discussions as much as the news and reviews and its obvious who the biggest purpertrators are for ruining it.

Still keeping my preorder, not interested in the score as I know it's great to play from the demo.

Build-a-vehicle + exploring + Banjo charm = win.

seems like there's no real substance to rare's game design methods. If a game turns out to be good fun it's generally just a happy accident while they indulge their "big eyes" fetish.

Personally this is my biggest dissapointment. I was lookin forward to this more than most games at the mo after loving the N64 one. I know you cant re hash the same game but it was so great - the memories or playing it in my first bought house etc. I wanted more of the same. Not a car game!! I cant get to like the demo no matter how much I play. It looks great, the charachters are great but the gameplay is so different it may as well not be called B&J (no rude connertation insinuated!) haha.
Ah well, im sure there will be other atttempts which might go back to how it ought to be.

"IMHO, it's worth owning both, i just couldn't afford to own both and had to have LBP whatever the cost."

IMHO it isn't. Nothing to do with money, everything to do with time. Both consoles have more good games than you'll ever be able to play, unless you're still in school... ;)

Bullcrap Les! It just takes longer to finish 'em all, besides who wants to finish a £40 game in a week?

Kind of what I expected after playing the demo.

No platformer no sale :(

Well at least the original will appear on XBLA which is awesome.

Considering Eurogamer gave Conkers Bad Fur Day about 5/10, I should love this!

I actually agree with Les on that looking at games like Oblivion and Fallout3 and well the stockpile of unplayed games people seem to have, I wouldnt buy a game if I didnt have time to play it, let alone have a pile of them, that I keep adding to.

Thats me though, I buy a game, give it my full attention and move onto the next once completed.

7/10

...

Fuuhhhhh-ck. :(

Oh well, I wasn't intending to get this til the price was dropped after playing the demo anyway. Poor old Banjo :'{

Good game, kudos to Rare. Too bad they didn't manage to turn the great concept into a less repetitive experience, though.

Banjo-Tooie is also coming to XBLA next year too so the Xbox 360 will have all the Banj-Kazooie games. Which is extra nice! :D

Merkdot, yes. For all the spunking across Rare's tits for the stuff on the N64, only Goldeneye and Perfect Dark were actually that great. Everything else was cutesy-but-with-an-edge-ooh-look-how-clever-we-are platformers where you collected hundreds of coins/jinjos/whatever in a slog that would bore the most obsessive-compulsives. Now they take good ideas like this and Viva Pinata and fail to make anything memorable of them or put hateful things in (oh look, it's Professor Pester and he's smashing yet more of my hard work) to put you off. Shame, really.

Calgon, I agree there are alot of fanboys in the sony camp, the ones you mentioned etc but i don't pay any attention and hardly reply or rise to it anymore cus' it is pathetic agrreed. But, you fail to mention the xbots who are just as bad at attacking the PS3.It def aint just SNF's out there that's for sure.
As for me being full of shit and making jokes, i don't see any humour in my last post, just a documented fact about something that happened to me. Come on pull your head out of the sand and see the bigger picture here. Both camps ARE as bad as each other. Now being almost middle aged ( hope that's vague enough ) i honestly presume that most commentors on here are still in puberty or at least i hope they are cus' then at least there's a chance of them maturing down the line.

Anyway this is a comments page for Banjo and i'd just like to say Banjo was my favourite game on the N64 next to Jet Force Gemini and Goldeneye, all Rare games. Where has all that magic gone. It certainly hasn't gone with Free Radical, cough, Haze shite, cough. it's a shame cus' they were the brightest, secretest, dev's around back in the day, almost mythilogical to a young lad like me. Is there just too much competition out there theses days and shorter deadlines, meaning we get a lot of dross amongst the good? I'm certain though, it's an amazing period of gaming and i don't miss smashing keyboards over the immense toughness of those C64, CPC 464, Spectrum games. boy was it rare to complete anything back then.

Les: True that there isn't enough time, very true since last month. It's ridiculous how many quality titles are being released over a short period of time. But my point about owning both was that of exclusives and if you really, really wanted to play them all for whatever reason, hardcore gamer, collector, etc

Monkey Puncher: I loved Conker! Eurogamer gave it a 5 ??!! The freakin' idiots...

"Bullcrap Les! It just takes longer to finish 'em all, besides who wants to finish a £40 game in a week?"

There comes a point in which there just isn't enough time left in life... I still have tons of PS2 games to finish (God of War 2, Shadow of the Colossus, SMT DDS2, Odin Sphere, GrimGrimoire to name a few). And I've got other hobbies too (hadn't touched any console for almost two weeks before playing Warhawk again today - really love that game). I'll concede that maybe if you're able to dedicate all your spare time to gaming it might be worth it.

Here's a tip Les....Stop buying so bloody many!!! ;)

still in puberty or at least i hope they are cus' then at least there's a chance of them maturing down the line.

The one reason I doubt that, is that gaming is a fairly expensive hobby these days, some of these people are adults(I know even the most mature of adults can falter and we should all have that inner child or we wouldnt seek fun/play at all but some just take the piss dont they?).

Fair enough you seem far more level headed than I percieved in that response, there should be seperate names for fanboys these days, theres subcatagories now and its getting confusing.

There are Xbots that do that over on the PS3 side maybe but take it up with them whenever its warrented, the "Sonybot" idiots have been at it too long, they need a good shaming and mocking wherever possible. :D

@metalangel - Speak for yourself but I've found most of Rare's games hugely enjoyable exactly for the reasons you say they're not. I love platformers and collecting stuff. Perfect Dark and GoldenEye might be considered classics but, IMO, overlooked gems like Jet Force Gemini, the quirky puzzler Blast Corps. and addictive Diddy Kong Racing were equally wonderful titles too. The first Banjo-Kazooie game bettered Super Mario 64 IMO, having better characters and more interesting worlds to explore plus fantastic tunes, I actually finished it 100% twice, a rarity for me. I even enjoyed Star Fox Adventure on the GameCube despite it being a blatant Zelda rip off and even Conker: Live & Reloaded had its charms, loved that enough to complete the single player. Granted there's been a few lows like the mediocre Perfect Dark Zero and the rushed shallow Grabbed by the Ghoulies but Rare's 360 output has been solid. I still think Kameo is one of the best of the 360's launch games for example. Each to their own I guess.

EG are so biased against the PS3 that they're willing to mark down a bona fide AAA++++ Xbox 360 masterpiece like Banjo just to prove that they're not.

Cunning...most cunning.