Banjo 3 is 80% Vehicles

I am all for change, a hook here and there if it initiates great platforming of the highest quality, we saw that in Mario Galaxy, in that game they took a simple spherical gravity system and created a masterpiece around it. When Banjo was announced I hoped for a all out platformer that did something similar, something that gave new life to the PLATFORMER genre also, I did not want this.

"I would say around 80% vehicles, but just a rough guess. Banjo gets in and out of the vehicles all the time, but the travelling is done in the vehicles. A lot of the tasks require Banjo to get out and either do something to the vehicles, put something in the vehicles and so on,"-explained Mayles

It may well be a good game, despite the dubious nature of other aspects also, in my opinion, but to suggest this game is a platformer or even worse, out of Rare's mouth a " Vehicle platformer", is complete utter nonsense.

I just am not impressed by much of what I see, and it is not nostalgia for the old games, I know full well about the stagnation of the Rare platformers towards the end of their partnership with Ninty.

On the subject of the artistic direction, I am a Artist, and my opinion on C models are that they are pretty yucky and lack so much charm. They have made Mumbo Jumbo looks totally Gay/camp now (no offence intended). That's perfectly fine if they were going for a now Microsoft equivalent of Birdo from Super Mario Bros 2. Also, the legs of these new characters are very strange and remind me of Lego Star Wars ones. There is also the industrial looking environments we have seen so far, to me they look cold and uninviting. Is this a platformer?, if so then you have to judge it by what the game last pushed the bar up in the genre, that was Galaxy. The Wii may have less technical ability but Nintendo are so good at getting the best out of the machine when it comes to Art, they can even make blocky pixels look cool and charming with innovative ideas. Amazingly even the fur effects in Galaxy are better than those seen her on Banjo, they in Galaxy really engage the eye in wonder. Anyone who has seen Mogora Mole in the game will know what I am talking about.

Others may think it looks fine and even great, but to me it looks plain bad in places, it's nowhere near as aesthetically pleasing as Galaxy is, so much so I wonder what will happen when Nintendo finally get loose on HD graphics finally.

Your thoughts please?

Source:

http://www.videogamer.com/news/15-05-2008-8308.html

so that makes it more a racing game rather than a platform game...

so that makes it more a racing game rather than a platform game...

Malta_1980

Except you don't actually race... You platform in vehicles.. I don't like the idea of it either.

[QUOTE="Malta_1980"]

so that makes it more a racing game rather than a platform game...

Dahaka-UK

Except you don't actually race... You platform in vehicles.. I don't like the idea of it either.

That may be more fun than you think. We really should wait to see how this turns out before we get hysterical about it.

and now there is 80% of chance me not buying that gamemingo123

Ditto, even more reason to complain how pointless my 360 is.

so that makes it more a racing game rather than a platform game...

Malta_1980

Was there any single mention anywhere of RACING?

No, GTA4 has cars... doesn't make it a racer, in Oblivion you ride horses... doesn't make it a horse racing game.

Lose the ignorance.

bad news for me

[QUOTE="Malta_1980"]

so that makes it more a racing game rather than a platform game...

TTDog

Was there any single mention anywhere of RACING?

No, GTA4 has cars... doesn't make it a racer, in Oblivion you ride horses... doesn't make it a horse racing game.

Lose the ignorance.

You see what they are doing too I see. Man haters are really grimey. I fought against them when they tried to say Kojima hated his own game and now yes I will fight this "banjo is a racer" nonsense.

SYSTEM WARS...

SHE SCREAMS...

AND I AM HER SPIRIT!

[QUOTE="Malta_1980"]

so that makes it more a racing game rather than a platform game...

TTDog

Was there any single mention anywhere of RACING?

No, GTA4 has cars... doesn't make it a racer, in Oblivion you ride horses... doesn't make it a horse racing game.

Lose the ignorance.

But it would be as if 80% of GTAIVs missions were based on vehicle related activities.

[QUOTE="TTDog"][QUOTE="Malta_1980"]

so that makes it more a racing game rather than a platform game...

Bread_or_Decide

Was there any single mention anywhere of RACING?

No, GTA4 has cars... doesn't make it a racer, in Oblivion you ride horses... doesn't make it a horse racing game.

Lose the ignorance.

You see what they are doing too I see. Man haters are really grimey. I fought against them when they tried to say Kojima hated his own game and now yes I will fight this "banjo is a racer" nonsense.

SYSTEM WARS...

SHE SCREAMS...

AND I AM HER SPIRIT!

Im pretty sure there will be some (optional) racing involved. like in GTA

could be wrong though

so that makes it more a racing game rather than a platform game...

Malta_1980

No, not really, it may well have a few racing tasks but that's not what the creation of vehicles and buildings is about, it's more about creating stuff in order to fulfill tasks you have been set. For example you may have to create a large machine for collecting apples or something, and stuff along those lines. The emphasis is on creation in this game, and it in truth that aspect is exciting, but this game is no longer a platformer!, and is now far removed from it's heritage. I think their design approach has been wrong, vehicle use has been in such games for years, but it's almost like Rare have used it as a channel to direct the creativity of the player into the game with a total lack of imagination!, ironically.

I should have pointed out in my initial post that they have shockingly removed Kazzooie classic move, there is a very damning video on GT explaining the crap they have replaced it with. Galaxy can be used here yet again as great comparison. When Nintendo realised they had created suits for Mario that would make Yoshi a redundant dino they removed him from the game totally, ask yourself why that has not happened here.

I'll have to wait for more on the game to judge it. The vehicle part can still be interesting, even in areas far from platforming. Still, I'm definitely concerned on the platformer part, imagine that you actually have acess to a vehicle that fly's at the beggining of the game? What then? On the other hand, what if you can use that vehicle in certain situations only? There are just so many things I could picture that this game could go wrong in the platforming department, but there are also things that might prove otherwise.

The problem is, that we still don't know how it all works, sure we know there is vehicles, we know there is costumization, but we don't know how it works as a whole period.

If it does have racing elements you would be foolish to diss it, remember a game called Diddy kong Racing.

A chuckle worthy video

Nintendo Payback-

http://revver.com/video/885217/boom-blox-banjo-kaboomie/

[QUOTE="TTDog"][QUOTE="Malta_1980"]

so that makes it more a racing game rather than a platform game...

Waffle_Fish

Was there any single mention anywhere of RACING?

No, GTA4 has cars... doesn't make it a racer, in Oblivion you ride horses... doesn't make it a horse racing game.

Lose the ignorance.

But it would be as if 80% of GTAIVs missions were based on vehicle related activities.

How many of the main missions in GTA are ever RACES, and for the simple minded races are where you try and beat other cars to get somewhere.

If driving a car made it a race then every rush hour in every city every day must be one hell of a race.

and now there is 80% of chance me not buying that gamemingo123

agreed.

though i'll wait and see what they'll ome up with..

[QUOTE="Bread_or_Decide"][QUOTE="TTDog"][QUOTE="Malta_1980"]

so that makes it more a racing game rather than a platform game...

killerfist

Was there any single mention anywhere of RACING?

No, GTA4 has cars... doesn't make it a racer, in Oblivion you ride horses... doesn't make it a horse racing game.

Lose the ignorance.

You see what they are doing too I see. Man haters are really grimey. I fought against them when they tried to say Kojima hated his own game and now yes I will fight this "banjo is a racer" nonsense.

SYSTEM WARS...

SHE SCREAMS...

AND I AM HER SPIRIT!

Im pretty sure there will be some (optional) racing involved. like in GTA

could be wrong though

OPTIONAL being the operative word... meaning not mandatory.

[QUOTE="killerfist"][QUOTE="Bread_or_Decide"][QUOTE="TTDog"][QUOTE="Malta_1980"]

so that makes it more a racing game rather than a platform game...

TTDog

Was there any single mention anywhere of RACING?

No, GTA4 has cars... doesn't make it a racer, in Oblivion you ride horses... doesn't make it a horse racing game.

Lose the ignorance.

You see what they are doing too I see. Man haters are really grimey. I fought against them when they tried to say Kojima hated his own game and now yes I will fight this "banjo is a racer" nonsense.

SYSTEM WARS...

SHE SCREAMS...

AND I AM HER SPIRIT!

Im pretty sure there will be some (optional) racing involved. like in GTA

could be wrong though

OPTIONAL being the operative word... meaning not mandatory.

yeah thanks

thats what I said

its not a traditional platformer for me

If it does have racing elements you would be foolish to diss it, remember a game called Diddy kong Racing.

linkyshinks

I hated Diddy kong Racing...Worse Kart game IMO

Rare did a better job with Micky Mouse Kart .....yeah I said it

Did you guys REALLY just want another hum drum platformer? Think about how boring that would've been.

ESPECIALLY after mario galaxy.

I'll have to wait for more on the game to judge it. The vehicle part can still be interesting, even in areas far from platforming. Still, I'm definitely concerned on the platformer part, imagine that you actually have acess to a vehicle that fly's at the beggining of the game? What then? On the other hand, what if you can use that vehicle in certain situations only? There are just so many things I could picture that this game could go wrong in the platforming department, but there are also things that might prove otherwise.

The problem is, that we still don't know how it all works, sure we know there is vehicles, we know there is costumization, but we don't know how it works as a whole period.

StealthSting

You can't get access to advanced vehicle parts early on in the game, they're called key parts. You unlock them by beating bosses and advancing through the game. These parts allow you to access new areas of the world, much like when you gained a new ability in older Banjo games.

The reason of rare adding vehicles was so you can edit them to aid you in any situation, since you can edit your vehicle at any moment in the game. If you feel your vehicle needs something to help you complete a task, just add whatever you want to it. They wanted the player to feel like they're making the abilties instead of going by premade ones.

[QUOTE="linkyshinks"]

If it does have racing elements you would be foolish to diss it, remember a game called Diddy kong Racing.

HarlockJC

I hated Diddy kong Racing...Worse Kart game IMO

Rare did a better job with Micky Mouse Kart .....yeah I said it

I agree, and the DS version hardly was a improvement.

Did you guys REALLY just want another hum drum platformer? Think about how boring that would've been.

ESPECIALLY after mario galaxy.

Bread_or_Decide

in banjo the solved that problem by getting specific moves, so why not make new ,funny and original moves+ HD graphics+ good new puzzles ?

I really can't understand why people defend this game and say it will be a great platformer. Seriously if anyone is still hyping this to be a great platformer on the 360 they should really check their meds because the core game mechanic of this game is "- is the creation and customisation of vehicles,".

I don't see the problem, they said a long time ago it wasn't going to be a traditional platformer.

Everything I've seen so far looked fun to play and I'm excited to get my hands on it.

(Yes I played the originals for the N64 when they came out, times change, hardware changes and as such gameplay needs to change. Have faith in the exact same people who brought you the original games, they're the ones who made this decision.)

System Wars aren't we the same bunch who complain that developers don't try to push genres enough or release fun original games? Get over your nostalgia of the past and keep an optimistic and open mind for the future.

I don't see the problem, they said a long time ago it wasn't going to be a traditional platformer.

Everything I've seen so far looked fun to play and I'm excited to get my hands on it.

(Yes I played the originals for the N64 when they came out, times change, hardware changes and as such gameplay needs to change. Have faith in the people who brought you the original games, they're the ones who made this decision.)

BreakingPoint8

For me it was always the direction that the Stamper Bros imbued into the early platformers that made them special.

I agree with some of the comments above that point out the fact it could well be a great game, but like I say in my initial post, how on earth can it be considerd a platformer when 80% of the game is devoted to traversing the enviroment on vehicles.

[QUOTE="BreakingPoint8"]

I don't see the problem, they said a long time ago it wasn't going to be a traditional platformer.

Everything I've seen so far looked fun to play and I'm excited to get my hands on it.

(Yes I played the originals for the N64 when they came out, times change, hardware changes and as such gameplay needs to change. Have faith in the people who brought you the original games, they're the ones who made this decision.)

linkyshinks

For me it was always the direction that the Stamper Bros imbued into the early platformers that made them special.

I agree with some of the commnts above that point out the fact it could well be a great game, but like I say in my initial post, how on earh can it be considerd a platformer when 80% of the game is devoted to traversing the enviroment on vehicles.

The Stamper Bros didn't have much to do at all with either Banjo's, neither of them were in charge of the Banjo games.

be open minded.

rare wouldnt make it, and the press wouldnt be excited about it if it wasnt fun

Wow :| RARE is officially dead to me now. They've blown their last chance.

So Perfect Dark and Banjo have been destroyed. What's next on the list? Conker?

*throws 360 in the bin*

[QUOTE="BreakingPoint8"]

I don't see the problem, they said a long time ago it wasn't going to be a traditional platformer.

Everything I've seen so far looked fun to play and I'm excited to get my hands on it.

(Yes I played the originals for the N64 when they came out, times change, hardware changes and as such gameplay needs to change. Have faith in the people who brought you the original games, they're the ones who made this decision.)

linkyshinks

For me it was always the direction that the Stamper Bros imbued into the early platformers that made them special.

I agree with some of the commnts above that point out the fact it could well be a great game, but like I say in my initial post, how on earh can it be considerd a platformer when 80% of the game is devoted to traversing the enviroment on vehicles.

The platforming is done with the contraptions the player makes, or in other words, non-traditional platformer just as RARE said long before the game was unveiled.

Wow :| RARE is officially dead to me now. They've blown their last chance.

So Perfect Dark and Banjo have been destroyed. What's next on the list? Conker?

EliteKitteh

Wow :| RARE is officially dead to me now. They've blown their last chance.

So Perfect Dark and Banjo have been destroyed. What's next on the list? Conker?

*throws 360 in the bin*

EliteKitteh

Crystal ball much? Be open minded.

[QUOTE="EliteKitteh"]

Wow :| RARE is officially dead to me now. They've blown their last chance.

So Perfect Dark and Banjo have been destroyed. What's next on the list? Conker?

BreakingPoint8

PDZ was garbage.

Banjo 3 may very well turn out to be a great game, but it's not what anybody wanted.
It was hyped based on the assumption that it would be another epic platformer to give Mario a run for his money.

Not.....this :?

Awesome ! This is no racing game and the vehicles are part of the platforming - also very deep vehicle building skills just make this game sound fun but challenging as well.

You would think by some posters reaction, this is the first time vehicles played a large role in platforming - NOT !

Check Alex Kidd in Miracle World on the Sega Master System as a old time favorite for me. :)

Also, after actually completing the platforming game - we still are getting what sounds like a very fun, deep on-line wacky racing game too. :D

[QUOTE="EliteKitteh"]

Wow :| RARE is officially dead to me now. They've blown their last chance.

So Perfect Dark and Banjo have been destroyed. What's next on the list? Conker?

BreakingPoint8

Yeah I mean this Banjo is still a work in progress and we have no idea how good it will be until we have actually play it. PDZ on the other didn't live up to the original, though you could tell that game was obviously rushed.

just for memory's:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHGHvRE7D38

at that time rare changed to M$ i hoped for sequels of there old franchises and banjo was one of them :( it was the only real good platformer besides mario for me !

I can't stand vehicle sections in games.

HL2 was a great game with them too (hovercraft .... grrrrrrrrrr)

But come on, 80%?...... borriiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnng!

[QUOTE="EliteKitteh"]

Wow :| RARE is officially dead to me now. They've blown their last chance.

So Perfect Dark and Banjo have been destroyed. What's next on the list? Conker?

BreakingPoint8

he probably meant perfect dark was destroyed due to pdz. don't know bout banjo however.

this whole situation somewhat reminds me of zelda windwaker. i thought it was a great game, but not everyone thought so. I remember how some complained about zelda looking to kiddy or how gameplay wasn't good as the zelda games on 64.

[QUOTE="BreakingPoint8"][QUOTE="EliteKitteh"]

Wow :| RARE is officially dead to me now. They've blown their last chance.

So Perfect Dark and Banjo have been destroyed. What's next on the list? Conker?

EliteKitteh

PDZ was garbage.

Banjo 3 may very well turn out to be a great game but it's not what anybody wanted. It was hyped based on the assumption that it would be another epic platformer to give Mario a run for his money, not.....this :?

What people want doesn't dictate the direction developers go, or atleast it shouldn't. Nintendo have always pushed to find new things that the player would enjoy even in unconventional ways, which is why it isn't suprising that RARE have this similar philosophy for game design.

[QUOTE="BreakingPoint8"][QUOTE="EliteKitteh"]

Wow :| RARE is officially dead to me now. They've blown their last chance.

So Perfect Dark and Banjo have been destroyed. What's next on the list? Conker?

istreakforfood

he probably meant perfect dark was destroyed due to pdz. don't know bout banjo however.

this whole situation somewhat reminds me of zelda windwaker. i thought it was a great game, but not everyone thought so. I remember how some complained about zelda looking to kiddy or how gameplay wasn't good as the zelda games on 64.