Heh, first time i played the demo i loved the graphics, character design (love banjo's new look, all characters are awesomely designed and animated and feature hilarious facial expressions) the mighty orchestrated soundtrack and the humour.
Rare definately still has some magic.
Too bad i found the game unfunny and the mnigames pretty much unplayable.
At some point i too, as someone who hates platforms, thought i would probably have picked it up if it was a more traditional platform, i really loved everything about the game, except the gameplay itself.
THEN i went back to the demo and tried to mess with vehicles construction. Damn, that thing is FUN. It's like playing with Lego, and seeing your vehicles weight, balance etc being translated in the game was mad. Hmm...