Yooka Laylee Reviews
For more better than worse, Yooka-Laylee is practically a new game in the Banjo-Kazooie series. The camera is a problem that seems to come directly from its ancestors and its combat can become tedious, but these factors end up being secondary to puzzles, characters, dialogues, exploration and the platforming gameplay. In these points, the game manages to keep alive the spirit of the adventures of the old Rare but also adapts to introduce the "collecathon" style for a new generation. It lacks a touch of more modern design in some moments, but I had a lot of fun in the 26 hours it took me to finish (and I still have some collectibles and secrets to find) and I feel that in the end, the negative and positive points of Yooka-Laylee represent exactly the game Playtonic promised with its Kickstarter.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Yooka-Laylee mixes classic 3D platform exploration with eccentric, self referential humor and fluid movement to create a fantastic title that charms and engrosses a huge audience, casual or hardcore, young or old. Definitely worth looking into.
If Yooka-Laylee was made by any other developer who didn't previously work at Rare, this would be considered a blatant rip-off. But instead, Playtonic picks up where Rare couldn't. For whatever reason a new Banjo-Kazooie couldn't be made, and Yooka-Laylee takes its place. I'm looking forward to what's next, perhaps a new Nuts & Bolts-style game after this. Playtonic Games has captured a certain type of magic from 1998 and brought it to 2017 in spectacular form.
I can’t speak for how Yooka-Laylee compares to what veteran fans would expect, but as some who loved his fair share of older generation of platformers, Yooka-Laylee is the game the genre needs.
The extra time taken to bring Yooka Laylee to the Nintendo Switch has been worth it. The game runs extremely well on the Switch and feels well polished. A few design issues, however, means that this spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie is good but not quite great!
Yooka-Laylee is a game which brings us back to the 3D platformer retro roots and brings all of what made those games from the 90s great with it. In doing so though, it also brought with it most of the faults which should have been ironed out a long time ago. I have mentioned the camera a few times, but it really hampers what otherwise could have been a great experience and makes the challenge more frustrating than it otherwise should have been. I love a challenge, but I want it to be a fair one and not hampered by game design issues. If you are after a 3d platformer which harks back to the 90s and brings all of the good and bad points from that era, then this might be for you. Yooka-Laylee are certainly adorable characters, the writing is quite funny, the visuals are nice and the music is lovely. It's a shame the gameplay doesn't quite marry up due to persistent niggles.
With Yooka-Laylee I think there are two distinct audiences that need to be spoken to for the summary. For major fans of the classic Rare look and feel there are a lot of joyful notes that Yooka-Laylee hits and as long as you don’t set your expectations too high you should enjoy it. For people who are less familiar or enamored with classic collect-a-thons it’s a bit harder to recommend, especially now that the long shadow of Mario Odyssey is hard to ignore. Even if it may not be everything I was hoping for Yooka-Laylee is an earnest title that shows a lot of love and reverence for the classic Rare titles that have obviously inspired it, I just wish it had done more to additionally forge out its own path.
The 3D platforming genre is sadly dying out, but it’s one of the reasons why Yooka-Laylee was so highly anticipated in the first place. It, unfortunately, doesn’t hit all the right notes and I think that everybody that has followed this game from the very beginning, expected a little bit better. Maybe it is indeed us that have hyped this game up too much, but I also think that when you label your game as a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, you’re kind of adding that hype up yourself. It’s not a bad game by any means, however. By following the Banjo blueprint already set out, the fundamental gameplay elements on offer are superb and Yooka-Laylee is still fun, mostly. It’s a solid start for Playtonic, I just hope that with their next game, they let their talents run wild rather than sticking too close to the subject matter.
I love Yooka-Laylee, unashamedly. I’ve only finished it recently, but already I want to start again and do it all over
From the promise of the Kickstarter and the people behind it, you might have expected Yooka-Laylee to be like a great band, getting back together for a new album after a long hiatus. What we've ended up with is something that feels like a cover version – of something a bit old-fashioned, not especially relevant today, and more than a little bit flawed – but if you loved Banjo-Kazooie, then you'll probably love the cover version just as much, and that's just fine.
Yooka-Laylee comes as nostalgia covered with an outstanding design. It's colorful and flawless design execution conveys us that the good old-school will never die, but rise again stronger. Leaving aside its "little black stains in the white shirt", the experience is so entertaining that we can surely invest the necessary inner peace needed to conquer and master its camera system. This is a platform games that hit us right in the feels: in the best years of our younger gaming days. Yooka-Laylee draw many smiles filled with joy on our faces, it made us remember times that today return in with all the excellence and passion they deserve.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Entertaining a 3D-Platformer that's reminiscent of the genre's best
Taking you to magical worlds filled with lovable, memorable and frankly odd characters, Yooka-Laylee captures what made us love and hate 3D Platformers. If you weren’t a fan of this type of game in the past, then it’s very doubtful this new entry in the genre will change your mind. If you were a fan, then you’re in for a treat.
Minor annoyances aside, Yooka-Laylee is a solid 3D buddy platformer that's full of variety, humour, and a fantastic cast of characters all wrapped in a laidback adventure.
Yooka-Laylee is the perfect collectathon game for veterans of the N64 and a true spiritual successor to the spectacular Banjo-Kazooie. It is exactly what people were hoping it would be, but there are a few critical flaws that are impossible to ignore. It feels like a title taken from the N64 and polished up to this generation, but games have changed a great deal since that era. Arguably, had this incorporated some of those changes, it could have been even better, but instead it has embraced its concept and stayed true to its roots. Regardless, the low price point, inviting gameplay and pure fun of the game means this is one that everyone should try.
At its best, Yooka-Laylee reminds me why I fell in love with colourful platformers, it's a love letter to childhood nostalgia. At its worst, Yooka-Laylee reminds me why we moved away from platforming games: odd design choices and occasional bugs sour the experience.
Reflection upon Yooka-Laylee raises a genuine smile in a way that few video games ever do these days. Undoubtedly, this will sound like the stereotypical ramblings of a Banjo-Kazooie fan drunk on nostalgia; it's true that when Rare slipped into obscurity, setting to work on other types of projects, they left a massive void for this brand of quirky, humorous, collection-heavy platforming adventure. Playtonic has recognised and rectified this, reminding the gaming world that this sub-genre has fallen out of favour for far too long. While it leans on a unique contextual crux, considering the team's history and the Kickstarter origins of the project, the end result is something truly delightful in its own right. A brilliant successor that perfectly channels the creative energies of the N64 platforming era.
An enjoyable and varied experience that brings back the feeling of 90's platformers even if admittedly it doesn't add much new. Some flaws here and there don't stop it from being a recommended purchase both for platformer veterans as well as newcomers.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
A stiff challenge, no handholding, and large, open levels is somewhat daunting at first, but spectacular level and character design, sarcastic, fourth wall-breaking humour, and oodles of collectables will quickly grip and immerse you in Yooka and Laylee's quirky world. This is a 3D platforming fan's dream title.
Apparently, the game engine was a major source of many of the game's problems. It's hard not to feel the game was really rushed in development.
Review in Arabic | Read full review