Games similar to Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

[Remo Williams]

A few months ago I finished playing Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, and I loved it to bits. Now, I know that many people didn't like the game because it wasn't a platformer in the vein of previous Banjo titles - that's fair enough, but please try to understand that this is not a thread for debating whether Nuts & Bolts was a good continuation of the Banjo franchise. Instead, this is a place for those of us who've enjoyed its gameplay, and are now looking for something similar to play.

So let's talk about physics-based games that focus on assembling your own vehicles and controllable machinery from basic parts in order to overcome various challenges. I'm primarily interested in games where vehicle building is thorough and freeform, so just slotting parts into predetermined functional places, like what ModNation Racers and many mech sims offer, is not really what I'm after. The challenges should ideally be varied, but it's not a strict requirement, so games that focus on one type of activity (like racing or combat) are also welcome. Games should allow for direct control of vehicles, and while titles where vehicle building is just a minor activity (for instance, Kingdom Hearts) can be discussed, I'm hoping to find more dedicated experiences. There are a few older games like Lego Racers and various Robot Wars titles that are not available on modern platforms, so I won't list them here, but feel free to discuss your old favorites.

Here are the games that I've found so far:

Cargo! The Quest for Gravity (trailer) - a relatively early game in the genre, wrapped into typical Ice-Pick Lodge lunacy. Released on PC several years ago.

Trailmakers (trailer) - by Flashbulb Games, released on Steam Early Access in January, and coming to Xbox Game Preview soon. If it reminds you of something, it's based on the Project: Karoo concept by the now defunct studio Press Play.

Scrap Mechanic (trailer) - by Axolot Games, available on PC.

Crossout (trailer) - a F2P MMO by Targem Games, focuses on combat, available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Robocraft (trailer) - another game focusing on combat, this one by Freejam Games. Available on PC, and coming soon to Xbox One and Windows 10 as Robocraft Infinity (trailer).

Scraps: Modular Vehicle Combat (trailer) - and yet another combat game, made by Moment Studio (seemingly a single person). It's in Early Access on PC, and might get a full release soon.

Besiege (trailer) - an interesting siege machine building game by Spiderling Games, available on PC.

Kerbal Space Program (trailer) - by Squad, probably the best known game of the bunch, available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Space Engineers (trailer) - by Keen Software House. I'm not sure if I should put it here because vehicle building might be just a small part of the overall experience, but what the hell. Available on PC, and announced for Xbox One three and a half years ago, though that version is still nowhere to be seen.


And there you have it. Do you know of any others? And if you've played any, feel free to share your impressions. I was also wondering whether the recent surge in popularity of games of this type can be attributed to Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. Do you think it served as an inspiration for some of them? After all, as a Rare game and a first party Microsoft release it had pretty good visibility at the time, which was only amplified by the controversy.

 

[hotcyder]

Found this in the Nuts and Bolts thread. Thanks for putting this together! I'm going to dig into a couple of these.

 

[Drain You]

And here I thought this was a new thread. Always wanted to play Nuts and Bolts but never got around to it. Pretty sure it was included in Rare Replay. Either way I used to spend way to much time in Robocraft, might even be the first F2P game I ever spent real money in too. I was never really good but I came up with some interesting designs. Might have to install it on Steam again. Also going to check out some of the other games suggested, wonder how much they've progressed.

 

[AncientReptileBrain]

Man. Nuts and Bolts really is a hell of a game. It could just be rose tinted glasses and misremembering the mid-2000s, but it seems so ahead of its time in hindsight.

Thanks for the recommendations.

 

[Deleted member 17388]

RoboCraft is quite fun!

 

[KDR_11k]

The "genre" really exploded after Minecraft. There are also plenty of 2D games taking the block building approach. I can't possibly remember them all.

Stratosphere: Conquest of the Skies is old. Like asking whether you want to use 3DFx Glide or Direct 3D old. It was a full price retail game, not indie like most of the modern examples.

You build flying fortresses in a hex grid out of various buildings including power plants, cannons, thrusters, walls, shields and so on. The fortresses fly at a fixed height so gameplay is 2D in many ways but there are also ground based structures. Since the fortresses are open to the sky instead of a 2D abstraction of a 3D object you can arc shots right into the middle of them, if you get close enough and use arcing weapons (which you also need to hit ground targets). Directional shield emitters, ramming with spikes and walls and so on make combat fairly involved for a game about steering a fortress with a dozen guns while you can still target specific structures on enemy fortresses easily.

Dunno if it's sold online anywhere, I bought it on CD-ROM back in the day.


From The Depths is hardcore.

If you think your vehicle building games need more detail, like designing the bullets fired from your guns detail, this is the right address. To be fair it's mostly played as a strategy game with AIs operating the vehicles and turrets but even the AIs are physical computers in the game world. Operating these vehicles manually is possible but really, you'd need a crew to effectively use something like a battleship and I have no idea how developed multiplayer is.

The game focuses on ships but also does airplanes, spaceships, buildings and lately land vehicles too. It also has multiple campaign modes including a WW2 replica one where, well, everything is a detailed WW2 vessel with real armaments. The game also gets a lot of use as a model builder as a look on the Steam Workshop will tell you.

Click to shrink...

 

[WellbornWarrior]

The "genre" really exploded after Minecraft. There are also plenty of 2D games taking the block building approach. I can't possibly remember them all.

Stratosphere: Conquest of the Skies is old. Like asking whether you want to use 3DFx Glide or Direct 3D old. It was a full price retail game, not indie like most of the modern examples.

You build flying fortresses in a hex grid out of various buildings including power plants, cannons, thrusters, walls, shields and so on. The fortresses fly at a fixed height so gameplay is 2D in many ways but there are also ground based structures. Since the fortresses are open to the sky instead of a 2D abstraction of a 3D object you can arc shots right into the middle of them, if you get close enough and use arcing weapons (which you also need to hit ground targets). Directional shield emitters, ramming with spikes and walls and so on make combat fairly involved for a game about steering a fortress with a dozen guns while you can still target specific structures on enemy fortresses easily.

Dunno if it's sold online anywhere, I bought it on CD-ROM back in the day.

Click to shrink...

That one reminds me a lot of a similiarly old game called Project Nomad. You also had a flying rock where you could put buildings and turrets on to transform it into a flying fortress, but it was a Third Person shooter (albeit a very crude one) where you could also hop off your island to explore other floating islands or board a plane to have dogfights.

It wasn't actually that good but the idea was genius. I'm actually wondering why no one ever attempted that idea again.

 

[KDR_11k]

That one reminds me a lot of a similiarly old game called Project Nomad. You also had a flying rock where you could put buildings and turrets on to transform it into a flying fortress, but it was a Third Person shooter (albeit a very crude one) where you could also hop off your island to explore other floating islands or board a plane to have dogfights.

It wasn't actually that good but the idea was genius. I'm actually wondering why no one ever attempted that idea again.

Click to shrink...

I believe it was by the same developer, at least I recall it being called a followup to Stratosphere back in the day. I didn't get past the formation flight mission early on so I never got to see much of the game.

 

[Remo Williams]

Oh, wow, this thread is finally seeing some life! Thanks for resurrecting it, hotcyder, and to others for their contributions.

I actually remember Project Nomads, although I've never played it myself. I might have it in a box somewhere, though, I distinctly remember a budget re-release by... Ah, yes, Sold Out Software.

Anyway, another game emerged recently, TerraTech. It's out on Steam, PS4, and Xbox One. I haven't played it yet, but it seems to be focused on building machines with more and more firepower? If anyone's played it, I'd really like to know if that's what it boils down to, because it looks interesting otherwise.

 

[KDR_11k]

Anyway, another game emerged recently, TerraTech. It's out on Steam, PS4, and Xbox One. I haven't played it yet, but it seems to be focused on building machines with more and more firepower? If anyone's played it, I'd really like to know if that's what it boils down to, because it looks interesting otherwise.

Click to shrink...

I've never advanced past the early game (mostly tried it in Early access and that had frequent wipes) but it was mostly just slapping together as many hull blocks as possible and covering every available surface in guns. But I didn't even get properly into the crafting system so I used the stuff I scavenged from enemies. In that regard it's of course fairly slapdash because you're using limited blocks and have to work with what you can find. Also shooting was limited to holding space and hoping the guns would do the right thing automatically.

 

[Remo Williams]

I've never advanced past the early game (mostly tried it in Early access and that had frequent wipes) but it was mostly just slapping together as many hull blocks as possible and covering every available surface in guns. But I didn't even get properly into the crafting system so I used the stuff I scavenged from enemies. In that regard it's of course fairly slapdash because you're using limited blocks and have to work with what you can find. Also shooting was limited to holding space and hoping the guns would do the right thing automatically.

Click to shrink...

That's what I feared. There does appear to exist some sort of creative mode where I've seen some interesting vehicles constructed, but all I've ever seen of the gameplay seems to involve machines with lots of guns shooting at other machines with even more guns.

 

[KDR_11k]

That's what I feared. There does appear to exist some sort of creative mode where I've seen some interesting vehicles constructed, but all I've ever seen of the gameplay seems to involve machines with lots of guns shooting at other machines with even more guns.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, basic ground vehicles don't have internals, while some advanced stuff needs power or fuel that's not the case for things like wheels or guns. So you have a blob of hull blocks that do nothing except provide more connectors to which you just stick wheels and guns until you run out of space. Nothing like, say, ammo supplies or engine power that would require some internal structures to support those guns or wheels.

FTD is kinda the opposite there, since guns are built from lots of different blocks you often have a lot of the gun assembly inside the hull with the turret on the deck being just the tip of the iceberg (especially in the case of lasers where you get a tiny bulb sticking out that shoots down missiles but the inside of the hull is lined with laser cavities and chargers to provide a potent beam).

 

[BeaconofTruth]

Nuts and Bolts and the two Viva Piñata games are the actual best games Rare made. Don't @ me.

Fuck I should replay that game.

 

[OneThirtyEight]

Edit: Nevermind.

 

[Barrel Cannon]

I'm more interested in seeing games that have similar humor to Nuts & Bolts. There are many games over the years that have that same creativity concept but few are as slapstick funny as Banjo N&B

 

[Duebrithil]

Maybe these two fit the bill?