MS Gamer’s Day: New Banjo is called Nuts & Bolts

May 13th, 2008 @ 07:11

Kombo’s reporting that the new Banjo game, to be shown in public for the first time at the Microsoft Gamer’s Day in San Francisco, is titled Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.

There’s no source given, but we’re assuming Kombo didn’t make the following stuff up:

Banjo-Kazooie 3 will feature several unique features aside from traditional platforming elements. Players will have the ability to create vehicles with parts they discover around the games many levels. Some of the vehicles created within the game will include a helicopter, a 4 wheeled kart, and a hovercraft. Each vehicle is made up of unique combinations that will really show off some of the new gameplay elements Rare has incorporated into this title. There will be a total of 1,600 parts to be found, including weapons that can be attached to vehicles. This may sound a bit heavy on the vehicle side of things, but rest assured that there is a heavy emphasis on platforming.

The hub world is known as Showdown Town and will feature 6 levels. Showdown Town is the largest world that Rare has ever created and will feature side-missions and challenges. Every level will have its own unique introduction and feature a lot of humor. The Nutty Acres level begins with a credits spoof of 1980’s soap opera Dallas.

For fans of the series, Note collecting will return and will act as currency throughout the game. The notes will allow you to buy blueprints for new vehicles. We’ll have more on Banjo-Kazooie tomorrow. Stay tuned.

So there you go. The embargo on the Gamer’s Day lifts at 5pm today. Assuming there’s anything left to reveal, obviously.

Update: Here’s more from this NeoGaf post:

Banjo (slated for November):

• Building vehicles is basically like playing with LEGO. You can always jump in and out of the vehicle editor and come right back to the game with the new design.
• Parts are easily placed and moved around. You don’t have to worry about connecting the motor with the wheels for example. Just place everything so they stick together and don’t get in the way.
• Vehicle designs can play a large role in missions. We saw one where you had to collect coconuts from a field and got a small truck that could suck them up. Unfortunately you couldn’t fit all the coconuts in the truck and had to back and deliver them in a large barrel. We were then shown how you could create a helicopter with a hook, that could pick up this large barrel, fly to the coconut field and fly low to scoop the coconuts in the barrel.
• Physics are awesome in this game and everywhere! With one design I placed the foot-in-a-box weapon behind a propella, and when I tried to use it, the foot/boot couldn’t get past the propella… well, until I used it enough times to actually kick the propella off the vehicle!
• Pixel art… imagine the possibilities (Rare already had an example of this, paying homage to a certain plumber)
• Multiplayer is great fun with the ability to either chose from pre-fabricated or own vehicle designs. It still needs some polish here and there, but showed great promise.

Posted in: Adventure, Microsoft, Platformer, Xbox 360
Tags: Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, mirosoft gamer's day, rare

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