Rare Has Officially Dropped The Ball

[Ranis]

http://gonemicrosoft.com/?p=2803

Look at that. I see and think "ooh! Banjo-Kazooie trailer!" and what do I get? Some stupid lego-based vehicle-based gameplay with a builder that looks like it was shoehorned out of the Gummy builder from Kingdom Hearts.

Where are my Mojo Tokens and Jiggys making more paintings for me to hop through? Where is my platforming on a grand scale that only the 360 can provide? Rare really has dropped the ball this time, and their hands are going to be too small to pick it up.

Did they really expect the fan to want a vehicle game for the freaking Banjo-Kazooie franchise? I mean seriously, when I see a trailer, I expect to gain some kind of grasp of what the gameplay is going to be like and what it's about. All this "trailer" shows me is that there are vehicles involved, there's a builder, Mario makes a cameo, and that you can still apparently actually walk around outside of a vehicle with Banjo. I have no idea what purpose the vehicles served nor why they're a necessity in the first place.

Sadface.

[[Insert Neat Username Here]]

I really hope the vehicles have a smaller part in the game than the trailer implies, but based on the title, it seems unlikely.

And they ruined the theme.

[Green-Shirt Q]

I have to disagree with the thread title's opinon. I think Rare has not dropped the ball. At least not yet. It might be losing it's grip on the ball, but I'm definetly sure it will recover.

I LOVE the Banjo-Kazooie series, particularly the platforming it has/used to have. But hey, the vehicles might be really, really great!

I mean, maybe it's time for a change. Do you really want to play the same darn thing over and over and over and over?

I'm just saying that maybe it's best if we keep an open mind about this. Banjo Kazooie games have always been good in the past and I for one shall continue to stand behind them.

[Grim Greyscale]

Eh, the real problem here is obvious. If they change nothing, the fans complain. If they change something, the fans complain. I think it's good they're trying to add some innovation, and hopefully they won't horribly mess up this new vehicles bit. Seems like it has potential, at least.

I'm holding off final judgement until there is more details, though.

[Dihan]

Everyone who made Rare what it was with Nintendo jumped ship after being sold to Rare. Rare dropped the ball ages ago.

[Jibar]

I... you... they...

WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO BANJO-KAZOOIE!?

About the good thing from that trailer was the sheer amount of references to the last two.



I mean, maybe it's time for a change. Do you really want to play the same darn thing over and over and over and over?

But Banjo Tooie wasn't the same thing.
It was Banjo Kazooie, and then so much more.
Would it really be so hard to just do that, and then add on the power of the 360 to really make the most of their brilliant level design and ability ideas, rather than go with a cheap gimmick?

I have always loved Banjo Kazooie, and I think there are few games out there, even today, that can rival Banjo Tooie.
But seriously, what the hell?

[Tola]

From Racing he came and to Racing he returns.

Recall that Banjo was first introduced to the world through Diddy Kong Racing. And he was minor, at that.

And given that Diddy Kong Racing itself was an odd mix for the time(Racing Adventure?!) and THAT turned out really well...

You're being too harsh, too soon.

[Ranis]

From Racing he came and to Racing he returns.

Recall that Banjo was first introduced to the world through Diddy Kong Racing. And he was minor, at that.

And given that Diddy Kong Racing itself was an odd mix for the time(Racing Adventure?!) and THAT turned out really well...

You're being too harsh, too soon.

So just because they made him from a minor character in an obscure and unpopular racing game into a platforming titan that rivaled Super Mario 64 means that he needs to go back to racing or whatever the heck it is now? I disagree.

There's a fine line in sequelmaking that dictates how much you need to change something versus how much you should change something. The rule of thumb is simply "don't fix what ain't broken." Look at the Halo series. They had the energy shield and healthbar, the best of both worlds, but each sequel in the trilogy they went and wrote a completely new engine and the series has gotten progressively worse since that point.

Then we have the Mario series, which has done things right. They kept giving us the platforming we loved, while changing the way and context that we did it in, which is why the Mario games have rocked, FLUDD or not.

There is no question that Rare has dropped the ball here. They could have produced a different game with this concept and I'm sure that it would have gotten tons of hype and eventually been forgiven for massacring Perfect Dark. But what they presented is not a Banjo-Kazooie game, I'm sorry.

[Green-Shirt Q]

Hey, have you actually played Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts? How do you know it's completly lost it's great platformyness?

With what I've seen in the trailer, plus a whole buch of things I've read on other forums, I think this would be far from "racing game", but rather "Platforming game using vehicles".

But then again, I haven't played it either. Perhaps you are right about it being not a Banjo-Kazooie game and maybe I'm right about keeping an open mind to the vehicles. We wont know for sure whether or not Rare has skrewed up Banjo Kazooie untill the game comes out.

I for one cannot wait!

[Jibar]

Hey, have you actually played Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts? How do you know it's completly lost it's great platformyness?

Because they said so. (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/34000.html)

[Dumbledore lives]

This makes me sad... I loved the original and the sequel and this (http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200805/N08.0514.0149.51953.htm) restored my hope that it would be a platforming game, but these new trailers have made me loose it again. I want an epic platformer like Super Mario Galaxy and if this is basically about the vehicles it will make me very very sad.

Edit: It does look like a pretty fun game, though I'm kind of depressed it's not a platformer. I'll probably buy it once it gets cheaper.

[Woot Spitum]

At least they didn't try to turn it into a card battler.

[Crispy Dave]

from the review I read in Gameinformer the lead desighner says that it is stil a banjo game and there will be plenty of the old platforming action

[Rogue 7]

Awww, son of a kroot. I can never get those vehicle builders to work right, and I like my platforming. It's the same reason I'll play Zelda or Pokemon over and over- I don't mind when things stay the same. I'll still try this, but my hopes are not high.:smallsigh:

[Innis Cabal]

i found the first two games to be atrocious, so it cant get to much worse

[Ranis]

from the review I read in Gameinformer the lead desighner says that it is stil a banjo game and there will be plenty of the old platforming action

Heh, about 20% of the time.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=189036

Yeah. Not buying it when it comes out. Microsoft has lost one of it's biggest counters to MGS4 and the other exclusives that Sony has coming out this year.

[Crispy Dave]

now if they were realy mart they would realeas the original two games on the disk. Otherwise they lost a sale to me and at least 12 friends off the top of my head

[Albub]

i found the first two games to be atrocious, so it cant get to much worse

More like atrollcious.

[galpha7]

I love Banjo and Kazooie games, well... at least the origional ones for the N64.

I think that it will probably have some platforming in it, but I don't think we will see very much. You can watch the comercial and see that it is mainly based around vehicles. All we see of the classic Banjo and Kazooie style platforming is a few shots that last for like 2 seconds each.

When I saw the first preview, i thought it would be another great remake with major improvements. New moves like the lock pick in that preview seem really clever.

What I think they were trying to do here was put Banjo into a racing game like Nintendo put Mario into Mario kart. But the problem with that is that they are constantly making new Mario games with the same theme, and here we've been waiting for another Banjo game for how many years?!? And we end up with what, an action racing game with a little walking around here and there.

I really can't judge this for everybody out there, there is probably somebody who will love this game, but I wan't an old-style Banjo Platforming game.