Nuts and Bolts Demo Impressions
Well, just recently, with the news of the Nuts and Bolts sample being put up on the market, I, being slightly late to the party, fully downloaded the demo thankfully and gratifyingly; and after the lengthy download rate, I spent somewhere just under three and a half hours playing it. From Showdown Town to Banjo Land to Mumbo's Garage and to multiplayer, I played everything that the demo willingly offered. Now hopefully someone is wanting to hear my opinion on the various aspects of the demo in general, and if so, then I feel content in knowing that my time in writing this little summary has not gone served strung out cold and needless. I had actually hoped to sneak in another moment of play time before writing this, as I think this game is really one that you need to play more than once to achieve a lasting opinion of, but I decided that the time I fulfilled playing was enough to form the next thing, which is an accurate opinion – and I do believe I have one.Before I begin, please bear in mind that I am not going to rigorously explain everything that happens in the demo right down to the crowning detail – this synopsis is about something else; now, with that little note out of the way, onto the actual impression that the demo cascaded onto me.
First things first, like it or hate it – either way, this is a very impressive game. Upon first play session, the sheer size of everything is so daunting that it's actually overwhelming and quite perplexing; trying to grasp everything at once leaves you in a nearly mesmerized state, amazed and baffled at the same time. I found this mood to be most apparent in the game-world—bundled in the demo—known as “Banjo Land” due to the fact that there is so much to be seen, which is welcoming as exploration is always fun; yet the way everything is strewn about and mismatched just adds to the overall mindset these environments reserve for you – that is amazing, yet head-aching.
When experimenting with the vehicle editor in all of its simplicity, you really begin to get a grasp at how intuitive it really is, and it's also quite incredible seeing how much depth there, very promisingly, is to be had behind it. Constructing vehicles and placing parts is extremely straightforward, and the whole interface plays out quite smoothly. If you really get a sense for the editor's capabilities, you can make quite a lot of different vehicle variations with the small number of parts the demo supplies for you to use; I can only imagine what can be built in the full game with its colossal number of parts—I really believe this is going to hoard a great deal satisfaction and triumph to those who plan on adopting its abilities, and utilizing them to their full potential in order to meet specific requirements—after all, that is what this game’s main focus is all about.
The controls are, quite honestly in my opinion, strikingly fluent to use and become accustomed to – I don’t see what all of the fuss is about with some people. But to be fair, I will admit that it is understandable to dislike them based on first impression, as they are kind of ‘touchy’ or ‘slippery,’ but I do deem that it is quite easy to become familiar with them. After a quick lap around Showdown Town, any doubt I had for abysmal controls faded respectfully. In actuality, the controls are favorable; their acceptability, however, is only locked by your vehicle blueprint – don’t confuse the two, as they are different matters.
As for the challenges in Banjo Land, they were fair; but quite honestly, they weren’t anything particularly memorable or notable—that’s not, however, to say they were bad or loathsome, there’s just not anything selective to observe about them. All I can say is that I very much hope that the bulk of the challenges presented in the final product provide more variety and festivity than the ones seen in the demo.
Closing on some last tidbits, the dialogue in this game is going to be undoubtedly terrific. If you really start to hinge on to what's being said, you can tell that the game will surely deliver sheer amounts of comical fulfillment at any chance it can get – which is great! At least it would be great if everyone could actually tell what is being said. I realize that the text size complaint has been overdone by now, and I really shouldn’t be one to complain because I have an HDTV, but even so, I still found the text to be a bit small. I don’t understand why the developers had not opted to go for two lines of text per box rather than three; but I guess that it's not too big of a deal in my case.
All in all, my first impressions tell me that this game is indeed a delightful and cheerful one that certainly looks like it'll be a privilege to play, and I really cannot wait to do so fully. The main thing that really disheartens me is the possibility of repetitive and meaningless challenges. The story, the cutscenes, the characters, the script, and the environments all look wonderful from what I can tell – so I’m not worried in the slightest about those details; just the overall presentation of objectives in the game-globes. Other than that, there is roughly one week left before the demanding release of Nuts and Bolts, and I don't know about you, but I'm definitely looking forward to this game now more than ever.
11/2/08
- Drew
