The latest addition to Xbox LIVE’s Games on Demand service arrives in the form of Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, a game that proved to be extremely divisive amongst the gaming community with its focus on an excellent vehicle-building aspect, but requiring players to slog through monotonous singleplayer challenges in order to build increasingly interesting vehicles.

What does the write-up have to say for itself?

“The heroic bear and bird return at last to defend Spiral Mountain from their nemesis Gruntilda. Groundbreaking vehicular platforming awaits in wild new worlds packed with features and faces old and new. Build awe-inspiring vehicles and tackle the Jiggy challenges in any way you see fit!”

If you need a bit of a refresher course, you can watch a trailer for the game below, or read El33tonline’s review of Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts.

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Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts will be getting some fresh new challenges thanks to the Lord of Games (L.O.G.) Lost Challenges Game add-on pack.

Players will be able to build new vehicles to test in 12 new challenges and seven new multiplayer games. Completing the new challenges will win you another version of Klungo’s Arcade game.

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In any medium, be it TV, movies, print or even videogames, a little self-referential humour can go a long way. A lot of self-referential humour, however, can ruin the intended experience, and constant ‘breaking of the fourth wall’ is enough to sour and dilute any creative (or non-creative) endeavour.

So it is with Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts on the Xbox 360, a game that starts out charming and humorous, but soon falls apart, as not only are the seams completely visible, but the patchwork nature of the game’s progress system makes each play session feel like a tedious slog from one disconnected world to another.

Continue reading El33tonline’s Xbox 360 review of Banjo & Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts.

Microsoft has announced that Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts will be released across North America on the 14th of November.

Not only will the game be priced at a budget $39.99, but if you pre-order the game you will receive a code to download the original Banjo Kazooie for free from Xbox Live Arcade. Gamers will be able to use this code to download the Xbox Live Arcade title two weeks before its official launch, that is before the general public have a crack at it.

Microsoft’s Gamerscoreblog also revealed the “Stop ‘N’ Swop” feature - if you complete certain challenges in Nuts & Bolts, you can unlock extra content in the Arcade version which is scheduled to be released a couple of weeks after the retail game ships.

Although Banjo Kazooie has yet to be dated for XBLA, the press release seems to have revealed that it may be released on Xbox Live Arcade on the 26th of November, or thereabouts.

Nuts & Bolts will also include the Jiggoseum (previously known as the World of Sports) where players can compete in sports events using the contraptions they create.

Continuing in the classic Banjo-Kazooie series, developer Rare is bringing the characters back (such as Mumbo Jumbo, Bottles, Captain Blubber and the Jinjos) in an all new story.

‘Lord of the Games’ has decided to pit Banjo and series antagonist, ‘Grunty’, against each other in a series of challenges set in ‘video game worlds.’ The prize? Spiral Mountain!

Players are able to create their own vehicles by earning new parts to travel over land, sea and air, or use a set of pre-built vehicles on which to use over 100 contraption parts.

Banjo-Kazooie includes Xbox Live support for competitive and cooperative action, allowing players to follow the story together.

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Yesterday we took a look at Rare’s Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts which is scheduled to be released exclusively on the Xbox 360 this November.

To wet your appetite even more here is the debut trailer for Banjo and Kazooie’s next adventure.