Published by: Microsoft
Developed by: Rare
Formats: Xbox360 Played: Xbox360
Release Date: November 14, 2008
Genre: Platformer
I was late playing the first banjo on the N64 and had to borrow a family members N64 to play it then had to wait until the release of the Xbox Live download to finish it and I thought it was a fantastic game that has dated well. I have not really played much of Tooie but I believe it to be the same kind of game as the first.Banjo Nuts and Bolts however is completely different from the previous Banjo games. All what made the first game an all time classic has been completely stripped and remodelled. First of all the whole game is all about vehicles. At first you have limited parts and designs to accomplish anything and this game really does have a slow start. I got fed up with it pretty quickly as I felt the level design was poor and unimaginative and all the challenges felt like I was doing the same thing over and over. There was either a Race on land, water or air, getting to certain points within a time limit and carrying people or items. There were odd ones thrown in here and there but that was pretty much the jist. Each level had 6 entrances which were just to the same area with different challenges. These challenges you could gain Notes, Jiggies and Trophies (4 Trophies make up another Jiggie) depending on how well you did the challenge. Musical notes are also placed around the levels for you to collect and Jingos now offer extra challenges which unlock tokens used at a casino in Showdown Town which is the main area of the game. I actually preferred Showdown Town more then I did doing any of the other tasks. There were crates to find which unlocked extra parts, there were Jingos who were prisoner which you had to free and replace with their evil equivalent.
One thing I will comment the game on is how beautiful everything looks even down to Banjo and Kazooie. All the characters from previous games make an appearance but l just feel they have stepped away from what fans of the original games were expecting and hoping for.
The challenges can me quite challenging at time but once you have found many parts and you are able to build a better vehicle then the ones they provide you can turn a challenging race into a breeze. After awhile I did start to enjoy building vehicles and taking some of the previous challenges back on but I felt this came to late in the game and most people may have given up and put the game down by then.
In conclusion it does get better if you stick with it but on a whole I feel they could have done such a better game if the challenges and level design were better and maybe more of what we loved in the first game.This game gets 68%
The story and cut sense are very good slandered and entertaining throughout the game but the quick time events can be frustrating at times as they could be quite fast. The early stages when you have mini boss fights require you to finish off the bosses with quick time events but get it wrong and the boss regains half his health……………Half? It’s a bit much. The funny thing is that later in the game this no longer happens and any enemy you have to use quicktime events on still has it if you get it wrong.
As you power up the game gets easier and easier especially the end which is a little disappointing, also the length of the game is very short. I finished it in a day and a half and that’s only playing for a few hours.
This is the only problem with the game, its fun to play, a great story and I suppose it would have a replay value. My recommendation would be to start on Hard if you plan to go through it once. You can pick it up for £10 so it’s more then worth it for this price.
You can increase the adrenaline bar up to three times to max and this can be used for three individual takedowns or if you have three enemies around you, you could take them all out if you get the quicktime events right.
Shooting is another thing that annoys me in this game, aiming is slow and crap! When you take cover and then come away to shoot the aiming does not auto focus and by the time you have moved your sight the enemy has moved. Also sometimes you take a headshot and they will die straight away and other times it takes a few hits.
The last problem I have is while running away from enemies like in the Embassy level (Demo Level) while running away from shooters and you get into a fight once you defeat that enemy the camera is not always left in the way you were running sometimes you have turned around then once you finish you start running into trouble instead of away. Also maps are not always clear and to go back to a point just raised when you enter a one on one battle and there are shooters you can not break away from the fight and therefore you still get shot at and lose live.
The storyline pretty much follows the first film with some old missions included, the graphics are good and the gameplay when working can be fun to play but there are just too many issues. I wanted to like this game but it’s just full of frustrating moments and it’s way to short.
RE5 has taken a lot of ideas from RE4 like some of the boss battles and a guy with a chainsaw who takes way to many hits to kill. Most of the boss battles are fairly easy with a couple of exceptions but even these once worked out could be simple alas making a play through game much shorter to what is already a short game.
The fact you can not shoot and run at the same time brings some elements of fear but again this is taken away by the fact you have a partner covering your ass. The only time you truly feel vulnerable is if your partner runs of without you and you run into a spot of bother! Later in the game it will split you from your side kick but usually you can make it back to join them quickly or help them from a far!
I have yet to play Mercenaries and I will be going through this game again as Sheva who is played over the left shoulder.
There are a few parts in World at War that you can tell have been taken from COD4 which include a Sniper mission and also a Plane mission. Both are better in COD4 but these are still very good. There is also a tank mission like in some of the previous games however I found this very easy even on Veteran and never provided a challenge although I did get my Achievement for completing a level without dying and I felt great for getting it on a level on veteran.
I have yet to play this game on live, co-op and only briefly played on the Zombie extra mission at the end which lets you take on Zombie Nazi’s for points.
Although not a patch on COD4 this is still a very good game and high recommend by myself so If you like FPS consider this game.
You start off with a flower on screen which you will send wind in its direction to blow off a single petal. Once the petal is off you can control the speed of the wind by any buttons but I found it better using the analogue sticks as you can judge the power of the wind easier. The only other controls you need to then worry about is moving the controller left or right to go in those directions or roll forward to dive and roll back to gain height like a flight simulator. The controls are very easy to pick up and it does feel like you are flying and sometimes you forget you are controlling these petals.
Once you have your petals in control you can move over other flowers, everyone you pass will pick up an extra petal and join it to your excising petals. There are some flowers you have to go over and some that are extra, also there are hidden flowers in the game and also some areas where you can light up a single petal or briefly change the light to a colour e.g. Pink or Blue and then you can paint the grass to that colour.
Once you have lots of petals of all different colours the game really starts to shine as you can see the tail of petals following your main ones behind you as you turn.
There are 5 stages which can be completed in about 1 to 2 hours and each stage has its own music which like Rez changes as you collect petals (not saying that in Rez you collect petals but if you have played Rez you would know about the way the music changes). The music is relaxing and is tune with the style of the game.
There is a night level a wind farm and a City level to visit and I felt that the darker side of the game on level 4 was a bit disappointing but apart from that it really is a beautiful game and well worth the £6.29 download price tag from the PSN.
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