Changing parts is relatively simple, as we witnessed when a four-wheel kart quickly turned into a helicopter with the addition of rotating blades. Reposition the blade behind the vehicle and instead of a helicopter, you've got yourself a hovercraft. The coolest feature is transforming your vehicle on-the-fly, such as flying along in an airplane and then shedding the outer hull to become a small glider. Vehicles like these require a lot of tinkering, however. Sifting through the dozens of menus in the workshop to find parts doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun, but fortunately you can save blueprints to instantly build specific vehicles. The game comes packed with a slate of preset designs, although you're welcome to create your own. Blueprint trading via Xbox Live will be offered, enabling you to grab original designs from other players.

Joining the single player campaign are a suite of multiplayer modes, one of which we played called "Nutty Queen of the Knoll." Using your customized vehicle, you compete with other players for space inside a lighted dome that moves about the level. Staying within the dome earns you points, which naturally the small space inside a valuable commodity. Additional competitive modes are promised, as well as cooperative play. Whether that refers to cooperative play through the campaign or original levels available only online isn't clear.

The introduction of multiplayer and, more importantly, vehicles offer wild new changes to a rather traditional platform series. Nuts and Bolts has the makings of a innovative experience, even if we don't like everything we see. Vehicle modification looks to be a chore with too many menus and an obtuse three-dimensional editor. Including blueprints alleviates some of the need to tinker with parts, fortunately. Although no firm release has been set, expect Rare to complete its ambitious game just in time for the holidays.

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