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Published : November 07, 2008 |
Author : Chrissy Snow | |||||||||
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Get our game guide for: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. This precise WALKTHROUGH GAME STRATEGY GUIDE is now available for you right in your members area and compatable for the Microsoft XBOX 360, Sony Playstation 3 PS3 Platform. GameGuideDog.Com is dedicated to helping gamers through games. We are confident our support and guides are absolutely the best gaming resource anywhere!
Our online handbook guide is located here: Ben Mattes, producer of Prince of Persia, can talk. Boy can he talk. But as one of the senior figures at Ubisoft Montreal, the studio responsible for the likes of Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six and Assassin's Creed, what he has to say is worth hearing - and there is a lot to say about what Mattes calls the "second reinvention" of Jordan Mechner's classic fantasy series, following on from the last-generation trilogy that encompassed Sands of Time, Warrior Within and The Two Thrones. Ambition is a horribly overused term; inappropriately so by publishers, lazily by the press, us included. But as a collective creative force, Ubisoft Montreal's output, for better or worse, is a worthy recipient of the label. This is a studio genetically engineered to think big. It's the publisher's largest single creative force, 1,600 employees strong and counting with, according to a company rep, "20-something projects" in the works. But thinking big, of course, doesn't always equal best. And Assassin's Creed, for all its astonishing technical achievements, was ultimately undone by its own vaulting ambition. Yet, in spite of its failings as a game, its contribution to the collective has been crucial. Prince of Persia wouldn't exist without Assassin's Creed (and vice versa, if we're being pedantic). This is true both literally, in the sense that POP uses a modified version of the same engine, and conceptually, the Prince's latest caper representing the next link along in the evolutionary chain of the action-adventure. So when we probe Mattes on the nature of Prince of Persia, he reels off at great length what amounts to the studio's thesis on the future of the action-adventure. He cites Capcom's Resident Evil 4 as a marker in terms of what he believes POP represents in this generation. "There's not really a single back-of-the-box feature that anyone will say 'that's what defines that game'. What made Resident Evil 4 so spectacular was the respect they paid to every single combining element to that overall experience." It's not hard to guess which title Mattes might be thinking of when he adds: "We don't want to sell it as 'crowd' or 'open world' or 'great combat system'. All of those things wear off really quickly. This is a game where the full experience is so much more than any of its individual components. It's a unique, mature gaming experience." Well, he would say that. But his argument hinges on the belief that Prince of Persia will deliver what, in the team's eyes at least, no-one else yet has: an experience that combines the freedom of an open-world game with the focused action and narrative development of a traditional third-person adventure. Assassin's Creed, for instance, fails because its freedom is too daunting for the casual user. "The really advanced players get great flow, but casual players jump, stop, look. Jump, fall, die, start over. They don't get the same flow and it sucks," he argues. But where Assassin's had the luxury of being a brand new property, unconstrained by any particular precedents or expectations, Prince of Persia self-evidently does not, and the team's structural head-scratching stems as much from the need to satisfy gamers' expectations as its own creative urges. The starting point is straightforward enough. "Prince of Persia is a young, acrobatic warrior saving the world through his agility and combat prowess in fantastic environments against overwhelming odds," reckons Mattes. "That's Prince of Persia. Everything else is just a layer of paint." He also acknowledges that POP "is a brand where people really care about the characters; really care about the story". Something that is "usually not a strength" in open-world games, where character development and storyline are "sacrificed in order to have more player control. That's not something we could do on Prince of Persia." The team's solution, then, is a "world structure that allows the best of both worlds": a "hybrid". To help us understand what he means, Mattes asks us to "look at Europe from a bird's eye view and break it down to its most simple, basic elements. You've got major cities - London, Paris - then the highways connecting them, nothing else. "What you effectively have is a network. If I'm in London and I want to go to Prague, I have to first go to Paris; then theoretically I could go all the way down to the south of Spain on my way. But once I've made the decision and I'm on that highway, it's linear, it's directed. Then when I get to Prague it's choice time: do I go left, do I go right etc." That, in short, is how Prince of Persia functions. Multiple open-world regions connected by linear, tightly scripted routes in the spirit of its predecessors. "What that allows us to do is have this world with lots of choice, but we can make sure that even a casual player can have great flow." Manufacturer's Writeup: Check out this video GameGuideDog has 'fetched' and 'dug up' for ya! Unlikely duo grab collectibles and man a plethora of custom vehicles! CRITICS CORNER:
911UP
The combination of a surprisingly lengthy single-player game and a robust multiplayer mode make this one game that just about anyone can enjoy. While the challenges get a little repetitive, the ability to create and operate custom vehicles -- both online and off -- make Nuts & Bolts a unique, entertaining spin on the everyday platformer. 90NZGamer
With so many vehicle parts, places to go and people to see, Nuts & Bolts is going to be a game you keep going back to. Just getting to the end will require hours of commitment, but, it's not like you need an excuse, right? Apart from a confusing premise (the story is a little bit weak) and the small text, this game is a massive success. 90VideoGamer
Nuts & Bolts offers true next-gen gameplay, with user created content being core to the experience. Simply making vehicles is good fun, and with the ability to instantly test them out you can sink hours into one creation alone. It certainly won't be for everyone, but with spectacular presentation, highly entertaining Robot Wars style multiplayer and a lot of good hearted humour, the bear and bird are back. 853DJuegos
Despite its quality Banjo Kazooie is a videogame very difficult to locate, especially because it refuses the legacy of the previous games and because it's friendly looking masks a gameplay deep and sometimes even complex. Brainless car racing, engaging vehicle creation and plenty of fun are its main values. 85Meristation
Banjo is back. A whole new adventure featuring several old friends and some new characters, but in a completely new world. It's great to see Banjo this well, as Nuts & Bolts is really funny, but the new gameplay is something users must get used to. Vehicles are fun, but not as much fun as they should be. 83IGN
A game that never stopped being fun for me. It's an odd duck that doesn't fit into any conventional game genres and probably isn't right for everybody. Despite its friendly appearance, Nuts & Bolts isn't exactly easy to pick up and play and might be over the head of some small children. There's a lot of depth here and the vehicle creation tools allow you to flex your mind and your fingers at the same time. 80Official Xbox Magazine UK
Rare's best game in years is quite obviously intended for a younger audience, one that will almost certainly love every minute of it. 80GamePro
The game's new vehicle-based emphasis will probably turn off some long-time fans, but I really enjoyed the game's premise. [Dec 2008, p.95] 74Team Xbox The main issue is that there are a ton of games out this holiday season that are fun from start to finish, while Nuts and Bolts will probably take most of you up to a point before you lose interest in the Lego-like construction projects and the pursuit to beat all of the challenges. 70EuroGamer
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is not a platform game. The game it has become instead demands thoughtful, exciting challenges that inspire the player to pitch in and help get the most out of each level, but it fails to provide them, and even though it's worth persevering with for the occasional hurdles race, egg-and-spoon and a game-world in aptly Rare form, ultimately it's a brilliant shell with a mostly hollow centre. 70GameSpy
It's a shame, then, that vehicle handling feels so clunky and awkward, since it's such an integral part of the experience. It's also quite possible that the tutorial and construction will be too complicated and frustrating for younger gamers. Those are two major issues, but if you can look beyond them, there's fun to be found in Nuts & Bolts. 65IGN UK
There's a great idea at the core of Nuts & Bolts and, from superb construction tools right through to lavish presentation, there are plenty of individual elements worthy of praise. When it fails though, Banjo fails badly and the lack of any fundamentally engaging framework to support the game's creative elements renders the game pretty much obsolete for anyone looking for something to appreciate beyond the incredibly flexible building component in isolation.
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