nuts and bolts was shockingly underrated
If it wasn't a Banjo game it would have been celebrated as unique and a return to form for Rare. It was genuinely a cool idea and a middling execution that was torpedoed by it's adherence to the brand.
Unfortunately Publishers, especially those with poor management, do idiot math and just point to using a known IP to embolden any unique game idea because they are risk averse. I know it was Rare's game direction from the start but
someone, somewhere should have had the common sense to break it out into it's own thing. A lot of new IP from established studios happen because they were tinkering with an idea that was just a little too out there for the brand but showed a lot of promise. And more often than not those turn into their own franchises.
