Topic: Banjo-Kazooie is back & now on XBox 360

[Pale]

So were the wiimote clone rumors all bonk then?

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

No, Banzo keeps the Xwand in his front pants pocket.

[DAaaMan64]

I'd rather Rare try something new, rather then try to rehash and fail  (Perfect Dark: Zero anyone?).

Perfect Dark Zero was NOT a rehash. If it was it might've actually been decent. Instead they changed the core of the game and they lost the entire direction that the first game had. Not to mention they RUINED the multiplayer which was so awesome in the first I just don't see how they screwed it in the second.

Have you reviewed Mario Kart yet?

[Nick DiMola]

I'd rather Rare try something new, rather then try to rehash and fail  (Perfect Dark: Zero anyone?).

Perfect Dark Zero was NOT a rehash. If it was it might've actually been decent. Instead they changed the core of the game and they lost the entire direction that the first game had. Not to mention they RUINED the multiplayer which was so awesome in the first I just don't see how they screwed it in the second.

Have you reviewed Mario Kart yet?

That would be a bad idea. You think Jonny's review sparked some hate, I'm pretty sure mine would make me get death threats.

[DAaaMan64]

I'd rather Rare try something new, rather then try to rehash and fail  (Perfect Dark: Zero anyone?).

Perfect Dark Zero was NOT a rehash. If it was it might've actually been decent. Instead they changed the core of the game and they lost the entire direction that the first game had. Not to mention they RUINED the multiplayer which was so awesome in the first I just don't see how they screwed it in the second.

Have you reviewed Mario Kart yet?

That would be a bad idea. You think Jonny's review sparked some hate, I'm pretty sure mine would make me get death threats.

That was just a joke about ruining multi-player.  I mean Battle mode.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I once stole first place from Bill by being the jerk who got the good items at the back of the pack.

I don't drive all that well.

[Bill Aurion]

Well, here's the first footage of the game

And again...*groan*...

[vudu]

Well looks like some more Banjo information has been revealed. It is going to have a strong focus on vehicle building and a lesser focus on platforming. **face palm**

Oh, com'on ... I mean, it worked for Jak 3, right?  ... right?!

[Nick DiMola]

Mother of god! Rare what have you done ...

Oh and in response to vudu: Totally! ... not. Everything after Jak and Daxter = FAIL

[Spak-Spang]

I just finished watching a video of this game, and I am trying to decide what I think.

Now, I have never been a Banjo-Kazooie fan.  I always thought the game was a poor Mario ripoff that had great graphics, but the gameplay just didn't feel right to me.  Now I understand, many...if not most disagree with me so I look at Banjo-Kazooie as a highly regarded game, that I personally just didn't quite get.

This new game seems to bring some interesting new ideas and elements to the platforming universe.  Being able to build vehicles and weapons to specifically solve puzzles, bosses and other game elements sounds really fun if it is playable and designed right.  So in that regards the game appears to have promise. 

However, everyone fearing the heart of the game is ruined or could be hurt has a good point.  Why am I a Bear with a bird in my backpack if I can just build a machine to fly?  or a Motorcycle to Drive faster?  It is like I don't need the bird at all.  The idea of needing both characters to get through the game is ruined.

Now, the game still good be great, and keep in mind the new trailers of course are going to focus only on the new vehicle aspect, there is probably much traditional platforming in the game as well.

[Bill Aurion]

Why am I a Bear with a bird in my backpack if I can just build a machine to fly?  or a Motorcycle to Drive faster?  It is like I don't need the bird at all.  The idea of needing both characters to get through the game is ruined.

At the point in the trailer where the developer said "Kazooie's moves are replaced by...," I just about cried...It's a cold-hearted kick to the groin for Banjo-Kazooie fans when you take out what made the original game unique (using both Banjo and Kazooie's unique NATURAL abilities to get through the worlds) and shoe-horn the franchise into a completely different game...

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Wow that looked like a WiiWare idea given the RareHD treatment.

[Flames_of_chaos]

I like this part from Shane Kim's interview

"Is Rare, I asked Kim, a developer that better suited to the audience and platforms of Nintendo gaming?

The short answer, Kim said, is no. But he did acknowledge that Rare hasn't yet met it's full potential on the Xbox 360. Neither Perfect Dark Zero or Kameo were the massive hits that Microsoft expects and Viva Pinata, he said, was a game that attracted a casual audience but was much deeper than that sort of gamer expected or was interested in playing.

But Rare's upcoming titles could turn that around. Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, for instance, hopes to fix that disconnect between the audience it attracted and its accessibility by adding online and local co-op and tweaking gameplay.

And while Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts isn't a true sequel to the franchise, its concept, a vehicle platformer, was entirely the idea of Rare and its developers."

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

"was a game that attracted a casual audience"

AHAHAHAHAAHAHHAAHAHHA

Just cuz you wanted teh casuals doesn't mean you managed to attract them.

[Svevan]

Well, here's the first footage of the game

And again...*groan*...

I can't watch this video, it's in another language

[Svevan]

lol "long eh vity" instead of "lonjevity"

yeah okay, I see where Bill is coming from; this is not the B-K sequel I REALLY want, but it does seem pretty rad on its own. Just seeing those B-K graphics and hearing the B-K music got my heart a pitter pattering. Bill is entirely right: the removal of Kazooie's moves is bullshit. Now she can pick up blocks SWEET LAME.

Makes me want to pull out Banjo Tooie and finish it. I know B-K up and down and have beaten it numerous times. I have to give myself a solid two years in between playthroughs cause I know it too well. B-T is not as focused, but is still amazing. This game, uh, looks like a good Jet Force Gemini sequel, not a B-K sequel.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Hearing the interview on IGN makes me cry. I like how they say that basic components of the previous BK games were "characters, humor, graphics" and that will appeal to the fans of the series. Funny I thought people loved the games because they were fun and witty platformers? Is Rare that bankrupt creatively that they cannot figure out how to innovate while keeping platforming as the primary element (Like Mario Galaxy). Not sure if the level shows in indicative of design but they look so lifeless, flat and BORING like they were built for freaken vehicles.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Hearing the interview on IGN makes me cry. I like how they say that basic components of the previous BK games were "characters, humor, graphics" and that will appeal to the fans of the series. Funny I thought people loved the games because they were fun and witty platformers? Is Rare that bankrupt creatively that they cannot figure out how to innovate while keeping platforming as the primary element (Like Mario Galaxy). Not sure if the level shows in indicative of design but they look so lifeless, flat and BORING like they were built for freaken vehicles.

Well GP if your making a vehicle based platformer you have to make the stages life flat and boring . If rare continues this path then Microsoft will never get a good investment value from Rare since down the pipeline theres this Viva Pinata 2 for 360 and Viva Pinata Pocket Paradise for DS.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I love it.

Cue RARE: IT EATS MONEY! picture

[Flames_of_chaos]

I love it.

Cue RARE: PINATAS EATS MONEY! picture

Fixed

[KDR_11k]

Looks to me like Rare wanted to make Ratchet and Clank, not Banjo-Kazooie.

[blackfootsteps]

Gee, the platforms in this game seem... how do I put this... rare

[Nick DiMola]

Kotaku's impressions of the game seem to be less than stellar. Apparently creating vehicles seems to be fun, but the main gameplay of the game seems shallow and is totally focused around creating the proper vehicle to complete a challenge. Of course this is a hands-on with a demo and the full game may be more than this, but at this point, Rare is not exposing if there is more to the gameplay mechanic but remarked that "Creating vehicles to complete the challenges is the crux of the game."

Lame.

[Arbok]

So... anyone notice the Pokémon Yellow stand in the video? Kind of an odd thing to have at Rare, since I don't think they had anything to do with the game.

Anyway, yeah... it doesn't even look like Banjo Kazooie anymore. The graphics are quite nice, to be honest, but I have zero interest in the game from what I'm seeing. I don't know, it's one thing to evolve a franchise, like Mario Galaxy, and it's another to take it in an almost completely different direction, as they appear to be doing here.

I think someone on the Kotaku blog said it best:

"So…evolving the platformer by removing the platforms.
good plan."

[Flames_of_chaos]

Is it me or does the vehicle building interface remind you of building a Gummy ship from Kingdom Hearts?? And that was one part of the game that I hated the most in KH. Also if you look carefully theres an 8-bit Mario in the unveiling trailer.