The heyday of collecting oodles of shiny objects across expansive worlds may be gone, but that just means that former platforming heroes will have to evolve with the times. Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts takes the basic structure from the duo's previous adventures, strips out the oft-mocked collect-a-thon demands, and slaps an intricate vehicle-creation tool on top. The result is a unique twist on a classic formula that doesn't feel like anything else out there. With a powerful yet wonderfully simple creation tool providing the backbone of your quest, the various tasks spread out across six worlds are novel, engaging, and, most importantly, fun. Despite some control annoyances, Nuts & Bolts is an innovative return for two of gaming's forgotten stars.

Ever since Banjo last defeated Gruntilda, there hasn't been any demand for a heroic bear with a bird in his backpack. With nothing to occupy their time, the duo has gotten fat and lazy, spending their days eating pizza and playing video games. Gruntilda is in even worse shape: Her body has been destroyed, so she's little more than a hopping head with a bad attitude. This hardly sets the stage for an interesting battle. Thankfully, the Lord of Games interrupts a potentially embarrassing fight between the bear and the skull by proposing a competition: Banjo will have to traverse six worlds equipped with a vehicle-creating wrench while Grunty tries to stop him. The winner gets the deed to Spiral Mountain whereas the loser toils away in the Lord of Games' video game factory. The story is amusing, but the action is where the main draw lies.

The level progression is very similar to previous games in the series. Each of the worlds is huge, requiring a deft hand and a keen eye to explore everything that it has to offer. Jiggies are also back. These serve as the prize for completing missions and open new worlds to explore. Although this might sound familiar, there is one significant difference: Exploration has been made optional. The forced hunt for shiny goodies--the hallmark of 3D platformers--has been virtually removed in N&B, replaced with a series of easily accessed missions. Musical notes still litter the lands, but collecting these is optional as well. They serve as currency to buy more parts for your vehicles, but given that you earn parts anyway just by playing, you won't have to search for notes if you'd rather just focus on the action. The clear directive to earn more jiggies keeps the game moving at a brisk pace, letting you ponder what sort of cool vehicle to build rather than trying to figure out what you need to do next.

Seeing as how Banjo is just a slow, unathletic bear this time around, you'll have to rely on vehicles to complete your tasks. The building tool is the core of N&B, and it not only lets you create whatever bizarre contraptions you can imagine, but it is incredibly easy to work with as well. The only requirement is that everything you build needs a seat for Banjo to sit on. Everything else is up to you. You can create a heavy tank loaded with missiles, a sleek airplane with a magnet for scooping up objects, or a bipedal robot with springs for feet. The ease with which you can construct these vehicles makes it possible to breathe life into whatever idea you can come up with. The workshop lets you quickly snap pieces into place, tweak placement for best effect, and then test out your idea at the track. Within minutes, even the craziest ideas can be realized. Creating can be so fun that it's possible to lose sight of the missions and just focus on building off-the-wall vehicles that have no relevance in the game world, but are really funny to see in action.

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