Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts - Reception

Reception

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts received generally positive reviews. IGN gave the game a score of 8.3/10, calling it well designed and full of replay value; the publication, however, went on to say that the online multiplayer seemed promising during development but did not deliver the experience they were looking for. IGN UK gave the game a 6.5, and Wired rated it 5/10, claiming the game should have stuck to its platforming roots. GameTrailers scored the game a 6.7/10, commenting on the lack of conventional platforming in the game and expressing that the vehicle creation tool would be too complicated for kids. The same website also criticized the game's lack of mission variety but praised its graphics and visual presentation. GiantBomb scored Nuts & Bolts a perfect 5 out of 5, praising its "enormous, well-rendered environments" and "classic Banjo themes" orchestrated in the musical score. GiantBomb later announced Nuts & Bolts as their pick for the best Xbox 360-exclusive game of the year.

Some critics pointed out that the game's text was difficult to read without a high definition setup. Rare has since released an update to fix this issue as well as newer copies of the game that already have this problem dealt with.

Despite positive reviews, fan reception was overwhelmingly negative, with the main criticism being the focus on vehicles rather than platforming abilities.

Other less favorable opinions included that of Andrew Reiner of Game Informer, who wrote that in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, protagonists "Banjo and Kazooie, who are introduced as lazy, out-of-work, pizza-guzzling fatsos, are also thrown under the bus as archaic characters that no one could possibly love." Ben Reeves of the publication also added, "Banjo and Kazooie weren't even considered relevant icons 10 years ago, so I don't know how much enthusiasm there is for resurrecting this series." Gametrailers put it at #9 on their top 10 list of the worst sequels

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts sold a total of 140,000 units by the end of 2008 in the US. The game has also achieved "Platinum Hits" status, which means it sold at least 400,000 units during its first nine months of release. The game also surpassed 100,000 units in the United Kingdom.

Due to its marketing failure Microsoft cancelled sequels for Rare's other games that began with its affiliation of Nintendo and began an era for the company to develop games solely for the also poorly received Xbox 360 Kinect.