Banjo-Kazooi 3 schreenshots

[Letters]

Banjo Kazooie was awesome... I remember collecting every single little thing in that game. Never played Tooie.


This just kinda has me going what the heeeeellllll...

 

[Warbie]

Banjo Kazooi's graphics were so horrible!

Any 3d game from that period is going to look horrible today, but at the time I was blown away by the N64. In terms of visuals and gameplay it was as significant a milestone as I can think of in gaming. The Playstation, on the other hand, got 2d so right, but never mastered 3d - its games looking flat and grainy and crippled by lack of analogue. This is probably why it always felt like a stepping stone console to me. Released at the same time, but half a generation behind.

Anyways, Banjo is the only 3d platformer I can think of that got close to Mario 64. I still remember coming across that massive robot fish/submarine thing and staring open mouthered at the screen - it was a proper 'I can't believe games have gotten this good' moment. My biggest concern with no.3 is that Rare will tick all the boxes like they did with Kameo and forget to add any depth or charm. The more recent Ratchet was similar. I made the mistake of playing it back to back with Mario Galaxy and Galaxy stripped it bare, revealing a shallow game under all the fancy visuals. I'd hate that to happen to Banjo.

 

[Ren.182]

After watching the gameplay vid I'm less worried that the game isn't going to be as good as the others. But I hope vehicles don't play a part in everything you do in the game. I want to be able to just run around as Banjo and Kazooie and peck some bag guys in the eye.

 

[VirusType2]

Any 3d game from that period is going to look horrible today, but at the time I was blown away by the N64. In terms of visuals and gameplay it was as significant a milestone as I can think of in gaming. The Playstation, on the other hand, got 2d so right, but never mastered 3d - its games looking flat and grainy and crippled by lack of analogue. This is probably why it always felt like a stepping stone console to me. Released at the same time, but half a generation behind.

Anyways, Banjo is the only 3d platformer I can think of that got close to Mario 64. I still remember coming across that massive robot fish/submarine thing and staring open mouthered at the screen - it was a proper 'I can't believe games have gotten this good' moment. My biggest concern with no.3 is that Rare will tick all the boxes like they did with Kameo and forget to add any depth or charm. The more recent Ratchet was similar. I made the mistake of playing it back to back with Mario Galaxy and Galaxy stripped it bare, revealing a shallow game under all the fancy visuals. I'd hate that to happen to Banjo.

I was reading about the difference between the N64 and the PS1 not so long ago.

Apparently, besides being severely limited for Memory by the cartridge format, the 64 had really low - memory bandwidth I think - anyway the textures they used had to be very limited in memory size, meaning low color/low detail. It tried to make up for this with a great texture filter, making things very aliased. This memory and color limitation, combined with the smooth filtering, worked quite well for cartoony graphics without a multitude of color.

The PS1 had the grainy pixelated drawback, but had a much greater number of colors, and could do realistic 3D graphics. I liked it a lot better. The loading times are something we still deal with today, but once you start playing, you forget about that.

The PS1 was capable of great 3D graphics, for example Soul Calibur. The 3D fighters on the N64 were a joke. animations, polygons, and sound effects all suffered, mostly from the cartrige format.


as you mentioned, the PS1 was fantastic with 2D sprite games too, where the 64 wasn't.

I admit that I was impressed with Mario 64 for my first impression, but it wasn't but a few hours into it before I became very bored and frustrated with the camera/controls.

In Waverace, those waves, physics, and great particle effects, were so realistic at the time. I loved Goldeneye and spent a lot of hours playing that 4 player with friends, and Waverace is a great game I like to play even today, so I guess I'll have to take back what I said about not liking the N64.

 

[Warbie]

I admit that I was impressed with Mario 64 for my first impression, but it wasn't but a few hours into it before I became very bored and frustrated with the camera/controls.

Possibly a case of not being used to analogue at the time? I still think Mario 64 is the best example of analogue control and I used to love swinging the camera around as it allowed you to direct your own game - zoom in up close, take a side view, run towards the screen, pan back. It really brought out the 3rd dimension and added a great deal of variety. I actually missed that in Galaxy and in some ways prefer the 4c buttons to the 2nd analogue stick we use today.

I think my main gripe with the Playstation was that it had trouble with 3d worlds on a medium to large scale. They never looked solid or weighty, lacked depth and view distances were tiny. Loading times were also an issue. It may have been the daddy of 2d and 2d/3d hybrids (I loved RE and Tekken), but never really progressed passed 2d gameplay, which is where virtually all the really exciting things of that generation were happening. Once I was used to the 3d gameplay and clean, fluid look of games on the N64, going back to the PS seemed restrictive and messy, and a significant step back.

//edit - I just saw the new Banjo footage and it looks like a crock of shite :/

 

[LackingSaint]

Banjo Kazooie was my first step in real video-gaming, and the lead up to Jak and Daxter (my still favourite franchise and characters), Ratchet and Clank (Another franchise both me and my friend love), and Sly (Not so much integral to my childhood so much as just an enjoyable series), and although I was only about 3 or 4 when I played it, it still seems like an important game for me.

 

[StardogChampion]

I think my main gripe with the Playstation was that it had trouble with 3d worlds on a medium to large scale. They never looked solid or weighty, lacked depth and view distances were tiny.

Hello Tenchu - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGx9b3FG0j4

It may have been the daddy of 2d and 2d/3d hybrids (I loved RE and Tekken), but never really progressed passed 2d gameplay, which is where virtually all the really exciting things of that generation were happening.

Disagree. I think it had some of the better 3D games that were ever released at the time - MGS1/Gran Turismo/GTA3/Silent Hill etc.

 

[Gargantou]

How was PS1 the daddy of 2d and 2d/3d hybrids? Especially when you use RE as an example, AITD pulled of the same system of 3D characters and 2D pre-rendered environments in '92, which RE1 did in '96.

 

[-Psy-]

Hello Tenchu - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGx9b3FG0j4

The draw distance is terrible. What's with the weird black fog that reduces your visibility to a few feet in front of you? :|

 

[Warbie]

How was PS1 the daddy of 2d and 2d/3d hybrids?

Because it gave us games like Tekken, Soul Calibur etc - 3d visuals and 2d gameplay - and it was the system that gave us RE, the most famous hybrid I can think of. Then there's the 2.5d stuff like Crash and MGS. I didn't mean it was the first, just the daddy.

As for Tenchu and Silent Hill - these are pretty much examples of what I was talking about. I liked these games btw, but really couldn't compare them favourably with the best examples of 3d on the N64.

 

[Ren.182]

Another gameplay vid:
http://kotaku.com/5008885/banjo+kazooie-hot-new-bird-on-bear-action?autoplay=true

I really don't know whether I should be hyped or not.

The vehicles could be a different way to get around a platform game. I really really hope they aren't too big of a part of the game though. I dunno, I want a demo

 

[Iced_Eagle]

Ren.182: They seem to be a HUGE focus, thus the title of "Nuts & Bolts".

There is still platforming and such, but expect some of the puzzle solving and such to come from finding a vehicle to get the job done.

 

[theotherguy]

Ren.182: They seem to be a HUGE focus, thus the title of "Nuts & Bolts".

There is still platforming and such, but expect some of the puzzle solving and such to come from finding a vehicle to get the job done.

The vehicles are an interesting addition, but a worrying one as well. I hope there is plenty of platforming action inbetween vehicle sequences, and even entire levels where you cannot use vehicles.

 

[Narcolepsy]

Sorry theotherguy, but...

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/872/872701p1.html

Banjo's now taken away from a platform style of game...

..we're asking the player to use their imagination to build vehicles that now replace banjo's old moves..

It sounds like a really great idea, but couldn't they have thrown us old-school platformer fans a bone too? At least it doesn't seem like a mindless rehash - they're putting a lot of effort into it.

Problem is, wasn't the whole point of BK the cool moves that bear and bird could do together?

 

[taviow]

Oh I wanted vehicles to be secondary
Well I have faith in the new team, I'm sure they can make it an excellent game.
It's beautiful.

 

[Ren.182]

The vehicles are an interesting addition, but a worrying one as well. I hope there is plenty of platforming action inbetween vehicle sequences, and even entire levels where you cannot use vehicles.

Agreed. But, if they do get this vehicle thing right it might not be so bad. But I so want another game like the old ones D:

Sorry theotherguy, but...

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/872/872701p1.html

It sounds like a really great idea, but couldn't they have thrown us old-school platformer fans a bone too? At least it doesn't seem like a mindless rehash - they're putting a lot of effort into it.

Problem is, wasn't the whole point of BK the cool moves that bear and bird could do together?

Yeah, they have been working on this for some time now I guess. It does look like it could be good; but like you said, us nostalgic fans want a platformer!

And yeah, that was the main point of Banjo-Kazooie. I hope the devs haven't forgotten that too much.

 

[smwScott]

Not surprising to see a XBox hater hating a company that is owned by Microsoft and thus makes games exclusive to the XBOX and PC.

You are unintelligent and immature.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

The thing is, is that Rare knows they can't compete with Mario.

Why do the same-old, same-old platformer? Stereotypical platformers don't exactly sell as well as they used to because of the changing demographic. Hell, even Galaxy took lots of risks in changing parts of the design.

Rare is doing so, and making it a lot better along the way. They say that yes, you can try to do the entire game without vehicles, however it would be difficult and there are areas where you need vehicles.

I think people really need to give the game a chance! It sounds so awesome that they are giving the player options on how to complete all of these puzzles, while still keeping some platform elements in. I'm sure they didn't show a lot of those elements because they wanted to show off the awesome vehicles. If you scour through all of the videos, you will see there is still platforming elements.

This is definitely a buy for me.

 

[Shift]

Oh.
My.
God.

 

[Absinthe]

Why vehicles? Meh...

 

[Warbie]

Totally. Why not create a new IP?

It doesn't look like much fun to me either way.

 

[Ren.182]

Some hands on impressions over at Kotaku (Multiplayer only)

I say appears to be because we were only shown a small part of one level of one of the game's five worlds. In it Banjo and Kazooie have to complete a short challenge for one of the game's characters. The challenge can be completed on foot, but it's not really meant to be. To complete it quickly you have to use a vehicle. It's the customization of these vehicles that seem to be the heart of the game.

While vehicle creation is a ton of fun, it was hard to tell, without really seeing multiplayer and not knowing how single player is going to play out, if this game will be a hit with gamers, let alone Banjo Kazooie fans. Early impressions leave a lot to be desired and more than one person who saw the game asked the developers on hand if these single player challenges and vehicle creation was all there was to the game.

The reply: "Creating vehicles to complete the challenges is the crux of the game."

http://kotaku.com/5008967/banjo-kazooie-nuts--bolts-hands+on-impressions

God damnit, RARE -_-