Finally getting my hands on the game, however, is where the shine started to wear off. While Banjo controls well, and Kazooie's magic wrench is easy to come to grips with, vehicle control was amazingly challenging. Watching the vets at Rare play, the game looked more fun than a box full of puppies. Actually trying to complete the game's challenges, whether it was with a pre-built beginner vehicle or an expert level one, was just short of maddening.

My rides wound up in the drink far more than I had expected after overturning and losing control. This sort of thing can probably be prevented when one comes to grip with the Xbox 360 control scheme and gets a better handle on the intricacies of the tractor beam-like magic wrench, but for the first 20 minutes or so, I was cursing the game's physics.