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Vehicle creation allows players to take on the game's challenges however they like
Vehicle creation allows players to take on the game's challenges however they likeVehicle creation allows players to take on the game's challenges however they like

A case in point. We play one of the game's challenges, essentially a timed game of football - get five massive balls in the goal within the allotted time limit. Fine, we construct a car with a scoop at the front and a boot kick gadget. When we move over a switch a ball pops onto the game field which we can then push and kick into the goal. Easy.

But wouldn't it be easier, Mark says, if a little construction creativity was applied? Sitting on the red switch eventually results in more than one ball appearing. So, why not build a vehicle that's chassis works like a basket? We could collect all of the balls and score five goals all at once.

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"Before we would present the player with the method of achieving their goal and their skill or time or however it was measured would be key to awarding you the Jiggy or not," explains Mark. "What we've done here is simply present the player with the challenge and leave them a total open ended way of completing it."

Another example. An ice cube has fallen asleep and rolled down a hill. It is melting and needs to be taken back before it disappears altogether. At first Banjo will have to struggle and push the ice cube up the hill. Come back later in the game, however, when you've made a vehicle that can fly, and perhaps with the sticky ball gadget stuck on the undercarriage (a ball and chain) and you'll be able to grab the cube and carry it straight to the top.

Nuts & Bolts is huge - expect massive worlds to explore.Nuts & Bolts is huge - expect massive worlds to explore.

"The key to the gameplay all of the way through is that fairly conventional Banjo platform game," Mark explains. "But the challenges you do and how you solve them is where the creativity comes in, where the open ended gameplay comes in, where the longevity of the gameplay comes in. You'll be able to find parts and gadgets if you like later on in the game which enable you to come back to previous challenges and approach them in a completely different way."

Nuts & Bolts feels to me like it could end up being Microsoft's answer to Sony's exciting user-generated platformer LittleBigPlanet, or EA's Spore. And it's not just because you can create vehicles using tools that look and feel similar to LBP's level creators, or Spore's Creature Creator. It's also because you will, to an extent, be able to share your vehicle creations with other players over the internet.

The game's test track - a large, open space full of twists and turns and nooks and crannies - doubles as its multiplayer lobby. From here, up to eight players can simply mess about with their weird and wonderful creations while they wait for the multiplayer, competitive and cooperative, games to kick in. Not only that, but while in the test track room you can gift or trade blueprints with other players, friends or strangers. You can't give them the parts you've collected, the ones you've used to make whatever contraption you're showing off, but the blueprint will show them what they've got and what they haven't got. If they have all the parts required of the 'blueprint quote', they will be able to simply press a button and bam! They have the vehicle there and then.

You'll also be able to take screen shots of your prowess using an in-game photo mode, load them up to Banjo-Kazooie.com through your 360 and then manipulate them on your PC. And, through the in-game leader boards, you'll be able to select players and watch replays of their actions.

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