Published July 17, 2008
Rare has always been a bastion of accessibility and creativity, always crafting games to appeal to every age of gamer while sparking their imagination with their worlds, game design, wit, and charm. If all goes according to plan though, Banjo-Kazooie™: Nuts & Bolts will trump all previous efforts with its unparalleled opportunities for creativity.
Looking formidable.
Limitless Possibilities
Our thirty-minute demo at E3 concentrated almost entirely on the wildly inventive vehicle system, which allows players to augment existing vehicles or craft their own from the ground up using (eventually) thousands of different parts along with every ounce of their own imagination.
Whether it's a rocket, a set of expandable wings, buoys, a spring-loaded boot, propellers, jet engines, a magnetic ball used to grab hold of items, or any number of the thousands of body parts, the options for style and utility are nearly limitless.
According to Microsoft's Creative Director Ken Lobb, testers at Rare have brought their creative talents to bear on such vehicles as a modern space shuttle complete with detachable rocket engines and even a near replica of Godzilla with laser shooting eyes to boot.
Loving those wheels.
Challenge Time
Of course, all these vehicles have to have a purpose of some kind, and it's here that the Nuts and Bolts challenges come into play. Each of the game's "game worlds" (separate from the more exploration heavy hub world) are filled with unique and often demanding tests of skill and ingenuity.
The challenge we saw highlighted seemed simple enough. You had to maneuver a set number of giant soccer balls through an obstacle-littered field and through a goal on the other side. Sure enough, you could manage the task by building a relatively straightforward craft with a V-shaped front end with which to push and control the soccer balls through to the other side.
All that being true, it wasn't exactly the swiftest solution, so the developers on hand delved into the vehicle editor and added a spring-loaded boot to send the balls flying through the goal from a distance. Still not good enough for them.
Thinking outside the box, they showcased what really amounted to a giant, hollow, open-ended crate which they placed directly in line with where the soccer balls were deposited. Then, activating the switch, the ball dispenser flung five or six balls into the new-fangled vehicle, allowing you to score multiple balls simultaneously.
I want me one of those.
The idea here is that every problem has a hundred solutions, each one more creative than the next.
Leaderboard Tips
Much of what helps drives this extra creativity are the leaderboards available for every challenge. You might feel fine and dandy when you master a challenge in thirty seconds, but when you spot someone who has completed it in less than ten, you're going to want to head back to the drawing board.
Better yet, you can download a video of them completing the challenge and not only find out precisely how they accomplished the feat, but also get a few new ideas for your own vehicles.
Rare's Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is breaking new creative ground with a system for invention unlike anything we've seen in gaming. It's going to be a long wait for the game's November release.
Article by Ryan Treit
