Right, time to back up my comments somewhat because I did play it again and found myself enjoying it.
Other than the first 30 seconds of the game, do not approach this as a Banjo game. I
hate those 30 seconds in retrospect, because they are hilarious, and a Banjo-Kazooie game and then it throws you into the
real game of driving and building, which is kind of a shock.
You won't be out of your vehicle much, there is no platforming and that's a let-down. Like I said above, the advise you to play the original Banjo-Kazooie if that's what you want to do.
It's fun though, it's a racing game but it does things a lot differently. It's not a kiddy GTA whatsoever, more like a NFS Carbon cartoon but some of the stuff is really inventive and shows some old Rare creativity.
The things that were pissing me off though. When I collect some jigsaw pieces, why to I then have to extract them and move them somewhere else? Why do I have to move a game ball to open other worlds? It's bullshit and wastes time that you could be spent on the enjoyable parts. Oh and why am I limited in the level select world to only driving a slow-ass trolly? The worlds huge, I should be able to zip through it with a better vehicle
Vehicle building got old after a while, but you can always buy blueprints thank god. I know some people love this and the blueprint purchasing is a good compromise for those that don't want to tinker.
The funny goes south a little after the opener too, but you can ask the tourist information (run by Bottles the Mole) pointless questions, such as "Have you heard about KI3?" I'll leave that for you to get the answer in game
Overall, if you're in Europe, wait until the price comes down before buying it but apparently, you Americans are getting it at a budget price to appeal to kids from what I've read. If that is the case, go for it