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Rare: "people are always afraid of change" News
Xbox 360 News by Robert Purchese
Banjo-Kazooie creator Gregg Mayles believes the platform-adventure genre "needed shaking up", and that Nuts & Bolts is the game to do it.
Speaking in a live chat with selected guests, Mayles said he hadn't seen "anything" quite like his latest creation, which he believes will make old Banjo games "look limited and very outdated".
"What I believe [Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts] to be is an evolution of the platform adventure genre. The genre is too stale, it needed shaking up, so we are trying something different, but within the framework of a 'traditional' Banjo game," said Mayles.
"I know it is going to be tough for people to accept the vehicles, especially the old fans, but I believe they make the old games look limited and very outdated. People are always afraid of change. But change for the better is great, which is what I believe this game to be."
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was unveiled at the Microsoft showcase event in San Francisco earlier this week. Its headline feature is the ability to collect parts and dynamically build "daft" vehicles with them.
Most of the parts will be hidden around the world, but some can be bought or won, we're told. When you have them you go to Mumbo's Motors and add them to your parts store. This garage can be accessed anywhere at any time, apart from when you are in a challenge.
You can also use the parts more than once. So after you save one creation, you can use the same pieces to try something new. Mayles said the biggest vehicle he built was 19 blocks high, wide, and deep, which is 6859 blocks in total.
Overall, there will be 100 different types of block to collect with numerous variations of each; "so about 1600 in total," explained Mayles.
"You can make pretty much anything. I made a ball that rolled around a level. A giant robot man-thing that fell over! A pogo stick, a spider," he added.
Mayles went on to reveal that 80 percent of your time will be spent in vehicles, although you will need to get in and out to do small tasks fairly regularly. This may sound restricting, he added, but using Blue Egg missiles or lasers is much more satisfying than bonking an enemy with your wrench.
Unsurprisingly then, multiplayer will be largely focused on the vehicles, and Mayles assured us that Rare will be going to town its online menu of delights.
"Yes there is offline stuff. Yes, [the modes] are all vehicle-related. Yes, there is co-op in multiplayer," said Mayles. "We have spent a lot of time on the multiplayer. One designer and several engineers have been on it full-time. It should be good!"
"[There will be] races I'm sure you can imagine, but we have plenty of unique multiplayer stuff: Vehicle football, vehicle golf..."
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is due out later this year, and is said to be one of the first titles Rare has developed from the outset for Xbox 360.
However, Mayles revealed that Nuts & Bolts was actually the third attempt at a Banjo-Kazooie 3; highlighting the importance of innovation.
"This is actually the third Banjo 3," revealed Mayles. "We scrapped two other approaches [because we] didn't think they offered a big enough step forward. I bet you didn't expect that!
"What you have seen so far only scratches the surface of what is possible. You'll have hours fo fun just making things - I'm sure of it! Banjo games were never really strong on replayability, whereas this one sure is."
Pop over to our Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts gallery for the very first screenshots.
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kissthestick
15/05/08 @ 11:08
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"Mayles went on to reveal that 80 percent of your time will be spent in vehicles"
oh snap? |
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muscleblade
15/05/08 @ 11:11
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"Mayles went on to reveal that 80 percent of your time will be spent in vehicles"
Shit! |
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Sir_TimAlot
15/05/08 @ 11:12
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That may all be well and good but i'd be lying if i said i was still as interested in the game now as i was before they offically revealed it, back when i was hoping they would "Next gen" up the N64 classic.
/prays N64 classic will one day come to PSN, XBLA or VC |
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the_dudefather
15/05/08 @ 11:13
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thats not good enough, I want the exact same gameplay and structure as the old banjo, but with better graphics and for it to be as good as I remember the original was through my nostalgia goggles
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80% of the time in vehicles...?
Oh... I see... /doesn't know quite whether to be happy or sad It does look very good from the footage I've seen though. Hopefully those horrid framerate and screen tearing issues I've noticed will be sorted for the final release. Definitely looking forward to playing it but perhaps not as much as I was when I thought it was more of a conventional platformer with added vehicle bits. |
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the_dudefather
15/05/08 @ 11:14
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@Sir_TimAlot
DS version would be ace (a la Diddy kong racing, but without microphone crap) |
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Sir_TimAlot
15/05/08 @ 11:18
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@ the_dudefater
perhaps, did Banjo need the memory expansion or was that DOnkey Knog 64, which was also very good but certainly didn't match the charm of Banjo, man i love the level that is different for all seasons with the ability to become a bee...... totally unpacking my N64 this weekend |
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The footage i saw had a load of framerate issue and screen tear but it so obviously work in progress that it does not warrent comment as yet.
I'm all for innovation but Mario galaxy shook up the platform genre so i was hoping that they would stick with a similar format to the old ones on the N64. Let's not forget that Rare have not released anything truly amazing since the N64 days (good, but not amazing) so i'm finding it even harder to get excited now that they've changed the format. I'd also like to say that i don't fear change, i fear them messing up a perfectly good IP.
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 15/05/08 @ 12:36
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the_genius
15/05/08 @ 11:36
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Translation:
"we were making a normal 3D platformer but then we saw LittleBigPlanet and realised we needed a game about making things" |
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seasidebaz
15/05/08 @ 11:48
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"people are always afraid of change"
no, but banjo on the n64 were two of the best platformers ever. this is not a platformer, it's a bizarre combination of driving, collecting, and openworld genres. so it might as well not have been a banjo game. it's more like gta without the prostitutes. also, it's not the change that's scary. it's the wondering whether rare are going to make yet another average-em-up, as they have done since splitting from ninty. "banjo's genre needed shaking up" yeah. mario galaxy proved that pure platformers are shit (that's sarcasm, btw.)
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 15/05/08 @ 12:49
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squarejawhero
15/05/08 @ 11:49
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Somehow methinks, given the amount of tech involved and obviously emphasis on making the lego element, that LBP wasn't much of an influence.
Nice try, though. |
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oh crap. and to think i liked the original banjo kazzooie more than i did mario 64 (don't burn me please. i loved that one as well).
i thought just having vehicles was going to be crap. but using them for 80% of the time??? wtf. i'm afraid it's due to 360's more "mature" (xbox live haters don't try making jokes) audience that just can't get enough shooting or vehicle action. i want more platformers. |
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seamonsterneil
15/05/08 @ 11:59
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i think the jak series proved you could introduce vehicles and make them a core part of the game pretty well, i know jak x was taking it way too far in the driving direction but jak 3 worked out really well with all the driving and the platforming, maybe the construction stuff is completely brillinat i love how people pass negative judgement on these games with a tiny trailer and a handful of screenshots...
im sure it will br pretty good , ive liked a lot of what rare have done past and present... but it really is the wrong platform..and it wont sell shit... which is a total shame |
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I have to add that I don't mind change as long as it's gradual and not a sudden jarring change of direction like the one from the awesome Jak & Dakter to Jak 2 on the PS2 as I didn't rate the sequel at all.
In the case on the new Banjo-Kazooie game I have to confess that I was hoping for more of the same but with some cool new stuff added, like the vehicles, not for them to from the basis of the game. I still think the first game especially is one of the finest platform games ever made, IMO it's better than both Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy, although I appreciate not everyone will share my view. The worlds were beautiful designed and fun to explore, the characters were terrific and the script was cheesy but funny and the game just kept me playing right until the very end, a rarity (no pun intended) for me. I even completed it twice in fact. Thus you can perhaps understand why my expectations for this 360 sequel are so high. I want to play the game and still have it feel like a Banjo-Kazooie game not a spin-off like Diddy Kong Racing for example (although I did love that too). I guess I'll just have to reserve judgement at this stage until I've seen more of the game or had a chance to play it as it is unfair to dismiss it or be too negative after only seeing a couple of minutes at most of early gameplay footage. I'm quietly confident that Rare will deliver something very special along the lines of the wonderful Viva Pinata from Christmas 2006. It certainly looks the part anyway... |
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seamonsterneil
15/05/08 @ 12:08
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there was a lot more platforming in jak2 than there was driving, the shift was mostly in tone and difficulty, jak 3 was a much much heavier focus on the driving side of things
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muscleblade
15/05/08 @ 12:10
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The game will be very good, but it wont be like the N64 banjo games and thats kind of dissapointing imo.
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Whilst a game about building whacky vehicles sounds fun it doesn't sound like a Banjo game. 80% of the time in vehicles? For me Banjo was about running about and learning which character ability needed to be used to solve what puzzle, so it was all about the characters. Sounds like this one is more about the machines, which could be done with just about any characters.
I don't buy the whole "idea is stale" BS either, Mario Galaxy? I still only own a Wii, Banjo could have been the must have title that could have convinced me to get a 360. It may yet be, but I think the probability has decreased somewhat given the 80% of the time in vehicles statement.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 15/05/08 @ 13:14
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"This is actually the third Banjo 3," revealed Mayles. "We scrapped two other approaches [because we] didn't think they offered a big enough step forward. I bet you didn't expect that!
What we think about that is: Shouldn't you have let the gamers make the call on what they wanted from a Banjo sequel. Clearly it wasn't vehicles as the backlash is now telling you. The old saying "If it ain't broke" is actually the culmination of centuries of wisdom. Pity you didn't have the intelligence to listen to it. Improve on something YES. Change it for the sake of changing it NO! |
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Thing is, I just read a preview at a site I suppose I can't mentioned in case I Get Neutered by the mods, and it actually looked and sounded pretty good fun. The customisation of the vehicles to do the tasks looks like it will be great fun and pretty open to peoples' own ideas, and it still looks like it has the Banjo charm to it.
We'll see how it turns out :-). |
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ParanoidZombie
15/05/08 @ 12:29
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This from the same guys who are flooding the gears 2 and gaiden 2 threads, complaining that it's "more of the same"... BK3 is still a plaformer, the difference is that you'll be jumping/running/collecting/fighting around in a vehicle that you have designed yourself instead of doing it on foot. It's not Super Banjoe Kart, FFS.
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monkie_king
15/05/08 @ 12:31
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"This is actually the third Banjo 3" -- but that's pretty much standard practice for Rare. The original BK gestated for about 4 years, starting off as a very different game about a boy and his pet bear, called "Dream".
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@ParanoidZombie - What you say is true but the focus seems to be now on the vehicles rather than Banjo and Kazooie and that might disappoint some people.
I think Rare originally intended Banjo-Kazooie 3 to be a traditional platformer but scrapped the idea as they were afraid it wouldn't go down well with Xbox 360 owners so they've added the vehicles to try to broaden the game's appeal. At the end of the day if it sells lots of copies to people who wouldn't have played a conventional platformer then it's a job well done as far as they and Microsoft are concerned. I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt until I've actually seen it properly or played it but this change of direction is bound to upset fans of the original games because they were expecting more of the same, like Halo 3 was for example. Kudos to Rare for daring to try something new, let's hope it proves to be the right decision. P.S. I'd love to see Xbox remakes of the first two games on XBLA so how about it, Rare? :) |
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This from the same guys who are flooding the gears 2 and gaiden 2 threads, complaining that it's "more of the same"... BK3 is still a plaformer, the difference is that you'll be jumping/running/collecting/fighting around in a vehicle that you have designed yourself instead of doing it on foot. It's not Super Banjoe Kart, FFS.
There needs to be an equilibrium, can't stick too much to the same formula otherwise it'd feel more like an exapnsion than a sequel, alternativity there needs to be enough stuff added to the core formula of what everyone loved about the original to make it feel like a Sequel without feeling that "more of the same" vibe. Banjo is a special case, it's been 8 years since the last BK game hell I bet most people would be satisfied with "more of the same" after all that time, compared to if there was a BK game that was launched 2 years ago. |
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@DUFFKING - So true... LOL
Still there'll always be people who welcome change and those that don't. Would a conventional platformer have sold on the Xbox 360? I mean that's a complete lack of games in that area beyond the substandard licensed fare so maybe that is the real reason for the change of direction. Rare needed to do something new to the game to make it more tempting to the average 360 owner and maybe this was the best way of ensuring it'd sell? The vehicles certainly sound cool to play around with but if someone buys the game expecting it to be like the old N64 games then they're going to probably be disappointed. Rare and Microsoft are going to have to be very careful about how they market this but it's a start that it isn't called Banjo-Kazooie 3 or Banjo-Threeie as people expected. |
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I think many here are missing the point that the game is still a platformer, and a puzzle-solver. The change is that you do your platforming using vehicles that you can design yourself and modify depending on the situation. Can't reach a particular area? Modify your vehicle using collected parts so that it can fly or bounce high enough. Need to go underwater? Make your vehicle waterproofed. Don't have the required part for that? Go hunting for it! Oops... It's in a well guarded area. Add guns to your vehicle. And so on.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 15/05/08 @ 14:32
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