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The Official Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Thread
- Thread starter JSnake
- Start date
funkmastergeneral
Banned
Didn't have anything to play last night while I wait for Fable 2 to come in the mail so I decided to give Banjo Kazooie another try. All the vehicles still control like ass and the littlest nudge completely flips you around. Why did they make it necessary for you to build your own vehicles? It could've been ok without that...
funkmastergeneral said:
You don't absolutely have to build your own vehicles. Humba sells a ton of vehicle blueprints in town that you can use for the challenges. That's pretty much what I've been doing throughout the entire game. I've just been buying her blueprints and then modifying them to my needs.
Psychotext
Member
If you're not into building the vehicles... I probably wouldn't bother playing the game. That's where most of the pure joy comes from.
I didn't do it at all in the demo and it was all completely meh, but there's a feeling of great satisfaction when you use your noggin to come up with a clever solution to a challenge.
I didn't do it at all in the demo and it was all completely meh, but there's a feeling of great satisfaction when you use your noggin to come up with a clever solution to a challenge.
Rummy Bunnz
Member
You don't even need to put that much effort into building vehicles to earn most jiggies. If funk is playing the demo that means he doesn't have the high grip tires, which totally change how the vehicles control for the better and not including them - or including giant, unskippable blinking text saying 'DON'T WORRY YOU GET BETTER TIRES IN THE FULL GAME' - was a major mistake. In the full game you can just slap better tires and a stronger engine on pre-made blueprints and you will often do decently enough.
Pizza Luigi
Member
Brandon F said:
It's delayed till 3 December, although it is sometimes downloadable on the online US marketplace.
goldenpp72
Member
beat the game 1000/1000, I made a review but since gaf cries about that shit i'll just give it the mighty numerical score, 9/10 
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
goldenpp72 said:beat the game 1000/1000, I made a review but since gaf cries about that shit i'll just give it the mighty numerical score, 9/10
I wouldn't cry.
goldenpp72
Member
oh ok then, here's a paste, nothing special as I just did a quick type up without spell checking and such, but you get the idea.
After waiting for nearly 10 years anyone can get a bit anxious to see a return of a beloved franchise, and with all the controversy about this game from its price point to vehicle based gameplay, it's hard for some people to figure out exactly what it is and what it's all about.
First off, this isn't a platformer, it's an adventure game. There is very little actual platforming to do. Aside that, the basic structure of the game is pretty similar to what banjo is known for. In banjo 1 you'd earn jiggies to unlock worlds, and earn new moves in order to traverse those worlds easier (or at all) and of course, you had the hubworld to do all that in. That same structure exist in this game as well, but with a new layer of missions being thrown in which resemble a sort of kiddy grand theft auto (in a good way)
Basically, there is a boss battle (or 2 in one case) per world, with a total of 5 main worlds and a showdown world, and these unlock a lot of the pivotal parts for progression. The rest of the parts are either bought in humbas shop or earned in boxes scattered around showdown town, the hubworld of the game.
In essence, this is a sequel to banjo in every way aside the method of transportation and the mission structure. Making it feel like a bit of a spin off.
Presentation: 9.5
If this game is anything, it's rare getting all their self depreciating humor out of their system. The basic premise of the game is that the lord of games has plucked the characters from banjo into his own world in order for them to cast in his own game. Throughout the entire venture you will encounter rare knocking or mentioning previous games, making references to future games (that will most likely never come) and a ton of references to the entire banjo universe in general. The game also goes to pinpoint all of the stuff fans cried and complained about and either makes fun of them or the game itself, such as the removal of kazooies moves or banjos new appearence. It's a very funny game that adds a bit of edge to the series while still retaining a ton of the charm (I love how the police in the game are pigs). The only minor gripes I can think of for presentation really is the role of grunty being so minor feeling, and kazooie taking a back seat with her negative wit quite a bit (and oddly banjo being the negative one often times, they should have kept him nice and kept kazooie as the bitch). For those on SDTVS you may find it hard to read however, so wait for the patch.
Sound: 10.0
A few people complained about the voice acting, or lack of it, but for those of us who grew up with these games, we should have no problems with it. The music in the game is pretty different than the old banjo style, with a more techy, gadget like vibe going through it, and at points the music is very epic sounding in general. Different than the teddy bear lullabys of the original, but fans will enjoy the music and the countless remixes of original tunes, the sound work is excellent overall, I can't think of anything wrong aside the mumbles not lasting long enough. i'd get the soundtrack if it had one.
Graphics: 9.5
This really is the best looking game ever to me, both from a tech standpoint and art. The game has a massive draw distance, amazing detail, great textures, good animations, pretty much all the stuff a lot of people thought couldn't be done in a massive world is done here. The game does suffer from minor pop in, mostly in showdown town with the grass, but the only real reason I docked it was the framerate goes to hell on a select few missions for what seems like no reason. The art style is also fantastic.
Gameplay 8.5
This is where the opinions will probably differ most. The game has a great general structure but with questionable design choices that will cause a lot of split thoughts. Most will agree showdown town is excellent, it's massive, tons of stuff to collect and a great layout, it would have been nice to have kazooies moves here, but the game time I spent here was nearly 10 hours in itself. The rest of the game plays out like a grand theft auto game meets legos.
Basically, banjo has only a few things he can do on his own. He can jump, swim, and kazooie can kill with her wrench or carry things. That's about it. You can upgrade the basic things like speed or strength using notes (the game currency) but the bulk of the time will be spent in vehicles. There are 5 main worlds and 1 final area for the last battle, and each level has 6 entries to it which open up different events/missions as well as usually an adjustment to the night/day setting. Basically, you enter a door and have access to bingo challenges (these relate to the jinjos, you have to race them, launch them, taxi them, etc, to earn bingo tokens which can be placed on a bingo card for items/notes) or jiggy challenges. Every jiggy challenge also has a trophy for a good time/performance.
This is the ENTIRE game, you go into the world, find the missions, explore to collect the collectables, repeat. I like this structure and the amount of variety in missions is actually pretty good. If the mission is the same then the setting isn't, and with a range of planes, boats, etc to use it makes the missions pretty fun usually. There are a few simply bad missions (a few being on the last level) but they are largely good to great. The good news is, the game can hand hold you if you lack a creative mind. You earn blue prints or can buy them over the course of the game and these will give you pretty much 90 percent of any vehicle you would ever need. Making the editor an optional venture.
A lot of the fun though is trying to create custom vehicles to tailor to specific challenges, sometimes you just want to do the mission quick and might use a preset, but I created probably 40-50 vehicles in my time (though sometimes modification to blue prints I had already) and enjoyed doing so. The amount of stuff you can add or do is pretty staggering, so much so that some missions feel like you cheated. It's a game where your imagination can often times totally outwit a challenge.
Basically, the game is great and has a unique, new premise to toy with and explore. So why the 8.5? Well, for every new idea usually comes flaws. Banjos basic move set should have been much greater just for the sake of showdown town, and the initial vehicle options are slippery and unruly as to feel too sensitive. Over time you get better wheels, engines, everything really, and you can make a dream car that is fast and great to control, however to start it can be a bit annoying to deal with some of the crappy stuff you have. Aside that, some of the controls can be overly sensitive (or in the case of one mission I was stuck on for an hour, not sensitive enough) and it just could have used more polish to the overall product. a lot of the boss battles with grunty are also lame and short lived, her character felt largely useless and im not even sure the point of her cat.
Basically, even if you don't like vehicle editing, as long as you dont mind going for notes you can buy blue prints and bypass that aspect for most of the game, even trophies can be obtained without making vehicles usually. And if you're really lazy just download blue prints others have made from the leaderboards. If you happen to like the idea of creating a car though, the possibilities are nearly endless.
Basically, this is a game that needs the rare touch, that touch being rare taking an idea and perfecting it. For once they created the idea and now it needs to be refined to become a truly AAA killer app, but as it is, it's a refreshing, fun and sometimes flawed experience. It is however their most complete game since the n64 days imo. viva was a very robust game but this game is filled to the brim with content AND scale.
Length wise, if you try to get everything you'll probably go over 30 hours like I did. It's a meaty game. Basically, if I had to describe the game, it would be banjo meets grand theft auto, but the missions are of the zany, cartoony nature and not realistic, making it a lot more fun than that franchise to me. You'll never catch niko riding a spring with a propeller on it to bounce through colorful circles while dodging a maniac cat that shoots freezer shots at you.
Replay value: 7.0
The game could be fun to replay for the sake of making more vehicles and such, trying to do things quicker, but the multiplayer is pretty lame from what i've played so there isn't much left to do aside replaying the game again.
Overall: 9.0
I teetered on the 8 range for awhile with the game until I really started to understand it. It's a game that took hours to really adjust to, but you know if you restarted it you'd kick the crap out of it and know what to do right from the start. it kind of created it's own genre and for that, I give it a healthy, excellent 9. it's a unique breath of fresh air, filled with quality, color and humor with an addictive new gameplay style that might not be for everyone. For 40 dollars it's a smart investment if you like the style of rare/nintendo products with a next gen coat. With that said, I would like the old style of banjo to return, but ideally with it coinciding with another banjo nuts and bolts. I see a lot of potential for this concept that simply didn't happen in this entry. It could have just as easily been a new IP and probably would have been received better, though it would have lacked the banjo references I guess. I recommend a strong buy if you're open minded, but if you're some strange obsessive banjo fan who feels molested by the concept of change, id recommend not bothering just so I don't have to hear you cry.
After waiting for nearly 10 years anyone can get a bit anxious to see a return of a beloved franchise, and with all the controversy about this game from its price point to vehicle based gameplay, it's hard for some people to figure out exactly what it is and what it's all about.
First off, this isn't a platformer, it's an adventure game. There is very little actual platforming to do. Aside that, the basic structure of the game is pretty similar to what banjo is known for. In banjo 1 you'd earn jiggies to unlock worlds, and earn new moves in order to traverse those worlds easier (or at all) and of course, you had the hubworld to do all that in. That same structure exist in this game as well, but with a new layer of missions being thrown in which resemble a sort of kiddy grand theft auto (in a good way)
Basically, there is a boss battle (or 2 in one case) per world, with a total of 5 main worlds and a showdown world, and these unlock a lot of the pivotal parts for progression. The rest of the parts are either bought in humbas shop or earned in boxes scattered around showdown town, the hubworld of the game.
In essence, this is a sequel to banjo in every way aside the method of transportation and the mission structure. Making it feel like a bit of a spin off.
Presentation: 9.5
If this game is anything, it's rare getting all their self depreciating humor out of their system. The basic premise of the game is that the lord of games has plucked the characters from banjo into his own world in order for them to cast in his own game. Throughout the entire venture you will encounter rare knocking or mentioning previous games, making references to future games (that will most likely never come) and a ton of references to the entire banjo universe in general. The game also goes to pinpoint all of the stuff fans cried and complained about and either makes fun of them or the game itself, such as the removal of kazooies moves or banjos new appearence. It's a very funny game that adds a bit of edge to the series while still retaining a ton of the charm (I love how the police in the game are pigs). The only minor gripes I can think of for presentation really is the role of grunty being so minor feeling, and kazooie taking a back seat with her negative wit quite a bit (and oddly banjo being the negative one often times, they should have kept him nice and kept kazooie as the bitch). For those on SDTVS you may find it hard to read however, so wait for the patch.
Sound: 10.0
A few people complained about the voice acting, or lack of it, but for those of us who grew up with these games, we should have no problems with it. The music in the game is pretty different than the old banjo style, with a more techy, gadget like vibe going through it, and at points the music is very epic sounding in general. Different than the teddy bear lullabys of the original, but fans will enjoy the music and the countless remixes of original tunes, the sound work is excellent overall, I can't think of anything wrong aside the mumbles not lasting long enough. i'd get the soundtrack if it had one.
Graphics: 9.5
This really is the best looking game ever to me, both from a tech standpoint and art. The game has a massive draw distance, amazing detail, great textures, good animations, pretty much all the stuff a lot of people thought couldn't be done in a massive world is done here. The game does suffer from minor pop in, mostly in showdown town with the grass, but the only real reason I docked it was the framerate goes to hell on a select few missions for what seems like no reason. The art style is also fantastic.
Gameplay 8.5
This is where the opinions will probably differ most. The game has a great general structure but with questionable design choices that will cause a lot of split thoughts. Most will agree showdown town is excellent, it's massive, tons of stuff to collect and a great layout, it would have been nice to have kazooies moves here, but the game time I spent here was nearly 10 hours in itself. The rest of the game plays out like a grand theft auto game meets legos.
Basically, banjo has only a few things he can do on his own. He can jump, swim, and kazooie can kill with her wrench or carry things. That's about it. You can upgrade the basic things like speed or strength using notes (the game currency) but the bulk of the time will be spent in vehicles. There are 5 main worlds and 1 final area for the last battle, and each level has 6 entries to it which open up different events/missions as well as usually an adjustment to the night/day setting. Basically, you enter a door and have access to bingo challenges (these relate to the jinjos, you have to race them, launch them, taxi them, etc, to earn bingo tokens which can be placed on a bingo card for items/notes) or jiggy challenges. Every jiggy challenge also has a trophy for a good time/performance.
This is the ENTIRE game, you go into the world, find the missions, explore to collect the collectables, repeat. I like this structure and the amount of variety in missions is actually pretty good. If the mission is the same then the setting isn't, and with a range of planes, boats, etc to use it makes the missions pretty fun usually. There are a few simply bad missions (a few being on the last level) but they are largely good to great. The good news is, the game can hand hold you if you lack a creative mind. You earn blue prints or can buy them over the course of the game and these will give you pretty much 90 percent of any vehicle you would ever need. Making the editor an optional venture.
A lot of the fun though is trying to create custom vehicles to tailor to specific challenges, sometimes you just want to do the mission quick and might use a preset, but I created probably 40-50 vehicles in my time (though sometimes modification to blue prints I had already) and enjoyed doing so. The amount of stuff you can add or do is pretty staggering, so much so that some missions feel like you cheated. It's a game where your imagination can often times totally outwit a challenge.
Basically, the game is great and has a unique, new premise to toy with and explore. So why the 8.5? Well, for every new idea usually comes flaws. Banjos basic move set should have been much greater just for the sake of showdown town, and the initial vehicle options are slippery and unruly as to feel too sensitive. Over time you get better wheels, engines, everything really, and you can make a dream car that is fast and great to control, however to start it can be a bit annoying to deal with some of the crappy stuff you have. Aside that, some of the controls can be overly sensitive (or in the case of one mission I was stuck on for an hour, not sensitive enough) and it just could have used more polish to the overall product. a lot of the boss battles with grunty are also lame and short lived, her character felt largely useless and im not even sure the point of her cat.
Basically, even if you don't like vehicle editing, as long as you dont mind going for notes you can buy blue prints and bypass that aspect for most of the game, even trophies can be obtained without making vehicles usually. And if you're really lazy just download blue prints others have made from the leaderboards. If you happen to like the idea of creating a car though, the possibilities are nearly endless.
Basically, this is a game that needs the rare touch, that touch being rare taking an idea and perfecting it. For once they created the idea and now it needs to be refined to become a truly AAA killer app, but as it is, it's a refreshing, fun and sometimes flawed experience. It is however their most complete game since the n64 days imo. viva was a very robust game but this game is filled to the brim with content AND scale.
Length wise, if you try to get everything you'll probably go over 30 hours like I did. It's a meaty game. Basically, if I had to describe the game, it would be banjo meets grand theft auto, but the missions are of the zany, cartoony nature and not realistic, making it a lot more fun than that franchise to me. You'll never catch niko riding a spring with a propeller on it to bounce through colorful circles while dodging a maniac cat that shoots freezer shots at you.
Replay value: 7.0
The game could be fun to replay for the sake of making more vehicles and such, trying to do things quicker, but the multiplayer is pretty lame from what i've played so there isn't much left to do aside replaying the game again.
Overall: 9.0
I teetered on the 8 range for awhile with the game until I really started to understand it. It's a game that took hours to really adjust to, but you know if you restarted it you'd kick the crap out of it and know what to do right from the start. it kind of created it's own genre and for that, I give it a healthy, excellent 9. it's a unique breath of fresh air, filled with quality, color and humor with an addictive new gameplay style that might not be for everyone. For 40 dollars it's a smart investment if you like the style of rare/nintendo products with a next gen coat. With that said, I would like the old style of banjo to return, but ideally with it coinciding with another banjo nuts and bolts. I see a lot of potential for this concept that simply didn't happen in this entry. It could have just as easily been a new IP and probably would have been received better, though it would have lacked the banjo references I guess. I recommend a strong buy if you're open minded, but if you're some strange obsessive banjo fan who feels molested by the concept of change, id recommend not bothering just so I don't have to hear you cry.
Psychotext
Member
Too l... just kidding.
Fantastical
Death Prophet
Bought it!BenjaminBirdie said:
Rummy Bunnz said:
So true--I don't know why the standard tires are really in there. They probably were shooting for some sense of progression with it...but you get the grip tires real early on, anyway. You really only have to hobble through 3 challenges with the standard tires before kissing them goodbye. But, sadly, the poorly thought-out demo (why did they stick you in Banjoland without high grip tires) and the very beginning of the game are enough to turn a lot of people off.
goldenpp72
Member
I prefer the super tires myself
rollingstart
Banned
The achievment for winning 20 games must be glitched. This is ridiculous now.
goldenpp72
Member
Linkzg said:
it seems to only work when you are either in 1st place in ALL games or not in team games at all. I hate to say it, but I spent 5 hours playing and winning and ultimately resorted to simply quitting any game that was team, after awhile I got it, was my last one though
rollingstart
Banned
but I've been leading my team to victory, winning most races, and getting 1st all over the place and it still isn't getting it.
BobFromPikeCreek
Member
funkmastergeneral said:
rollingstart
Banned
Finally! first game on either system to get 1000/1000 in...I feel like I wasted time and empty inside...eh, whatever.
Poimandres
Member
watership said:
Building/testing vehicles also happens to be the most enjoyable aspect of the game for me. Without it, I'd be pretty underwhelmed.
Anyone know if the
spray painted on one of those tunnel walls in the main town area means what I think it means?
Also, still can't get the nutty acre jingo throw done right. I've gotten to 199/200 though :| do I need springs to really beat this? Right now I'm using a modified souped up Racer 2 with another engine and a wedge in the front to push things...
3
Also, still can't get the nutty acre jingo throw done right. I've gotten to 199/200 though :| do I need springs to really beat this? Right now I'm using a modified souped up Racer 2 with another engine and a wedge in the front to push things...
rhfb said:
maybe you're talking about something else, but there are a few numbers painted around town, and they usually indicate which tower that building is. this is important when you climb to the top of them or talk to certain people in town who sell you codes.
is this the last jinjo throw on top of the volcano? i used bumpers. the direction you hit it can be important. i hit it from it's ride side towards the colosseum like thing that's full of sand, plus it gave me more space to speed up.
Domino Theory
Crystal Dynamics
Can anyone help me really quick? I'm doing the jiggy mission in Banjoland where they give you a piece of garbage motorcycle to impress the citizens of Banjoland and I'm at the last part where he wants you to do an amazing jump that only he decides if it's good or not. What should I do? Any trick to that last part he asks you?
Psychotext
Member
You see a cheese wedge when you start the level. Jump off the top of that (with the springs) and make sure you land it without crashing.Domino Theory said:
Domino Theory
Crystal Dynamics
Psychotext said:
Uh, what? I start the level looking towards a ramp that'll take me to the football field.
Psychotext
Member
There's an intro sequence.
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
You know, I'm starting to think that this is my game of the year. The game is literally a joy to play.
Domino Theory
Crystal Dynamics
Rez>You said:
Indeed it is, but seriously, some of these jiggy missions are unbalanced. I'm on Act 6 of Banjoland and am doing the Ice race where you use LOG's vehicle and it's hard. Not only that, but I have a friend telling me the jiggy missions in Jiggosium are much much harder and that's scarying me off.
Edit: Scratch everything I said. I just got a lot more parts, my oxygen tank and Jiggosium is so awesome. I love Olympic style games.
But does anyone know of a guide somewhere for the location of all notes in Showdown Town? Once I unlocked Terrarrium of Terror, I was certain the notes surrounding the gate that opens up ToT were my last notes; apparently they're not.
Edit2: Found all notes. The rest were in the water.
Just two questions: Is the laser attachment the last Trolley upgrade? And does anyone know how to get into the secret underground room below the lighthouse in Showdown Town?
Psychotext
Member
1: No.Domino Theory said:
2: I haven't seen an underground room there. Are you talking about the egg painted on the wall?
Wiggum2007
Junior Member
I tried to create a vehicle like this one: http://news.filefront.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/banjo-kazooie.jpg
I was so excited about how badass it would be. But a vehicle won't drive with monster tires in that configuration.
I was so excited about how badass it would be. But a vehicle won't drive with monster tires in that configuration
.
JRW
Member
I was into this game just from playing the demo but my brother was totally against it, he hated the demo cause he felt it was nothing like the originals, and even sent hate mail to Rare (lol).
But after watching me play for awhile he slowly started to warm up to it and long story short he plays it everyday now and is up to 40 jiggies, he feels bad for emailing rare and is starting to like it even BETTER than the originals :lol ..
I just think its a shame so many people didnt like this game.. personally I think the demo was a poor example of what the full version offers which might be a big part of the problem.... or maybe people need to be more open minded and give it a chance.
But after watching me play for awhile he slowly started to warm up to it and long story short he plays it everyday now and is up to 40 jiggies, he feels bad for emailing rare and is starting to like it even BETTER than the originals :lol ..
I just think its a shame so many people didnt like this game.. personally I think the demo was a poor example of what the full version offers which might be a big part of the problem.... or maybe people need to be more open minded and give it a chance.
Psychotext
Member
He could always email them an apology. Would be the polite thing to do if nothing else.
Wiggum2007
Junior Member
I'm in Act 1 of the Jiggoseum, I'm really sucking it up at the Long Jump, can't even get close to a TT trophy distance. What's some good general advice on making a good long jump vehicle?
Psychotext
Member
GliderWiggum2007 said:
Psychotext
Member
I made it to the end of the stadium.JSnake said:Wrong!
Just make a chair with a single spring underneath it. Got me a score of 612.
Eventually I crashed into the wall. :lolWiggum2007
Junior Member
Still can't get it . Don't have a spring yet either. Oh well, I still haven't touched Banjoland so I'll go try and unlock some parts there.
. Don't have a spring yet either. Oh well, I still haven't touched Banjoland so I'll go try and unlock some parts there.Domino Theory
Crystal Dynamics
Psychotext said:
No, underneath the lighthouse is a small hill that goes up that takes you to one single crate. But underneath all that (you can find this by driving to the side of it in the water), there's a small window and on the other side of the window is a Showdown Town jiggy bank that gives you a free jiggy. I just don't know how to make it in there.