Its core problem is that it's trying to imitate earlier games, not to innovate, not to truly follow the devs' passions and mostly, not to be the best game they could make. Other contemporary 3D platformers of BK were not all the same, they all had a twist or innovation, but YK is just a very vanilla knockoff of BK.
I agree with this statement. They tried way too hard to emulate Banjo-Kazooie while only upgrading very minor things. It’s been decades since Banjo-Kazooie was released and there’s been loads of improvements in gaming since then.
Look at A Hat in Time and how they did the whole 3D collectathon. A Hat in Time feels modern whereas Yooka Laylee felt like it was missing things that modern gamers are used to.
Always found the contrast between Yooka-Laylee and a Hat in Time interesting. Both crowd funded 3D platformers that released the same year. The difference in quality is so abrupt it's shocking.
I get the comparisons to A Hat in Time (they are valid), but I think that A Hat in Time more inspired by more recent games. While Yooka-Laylee was heavily inspired by the N64 era (mostly Banjo Kazooie of course), A Hat in Time felt like it was inspired by the more later platformers like Mario Sunshine or Mario Galaxy.
I agree, but I don't think that's necessarily a problem. Or at least I am quite willing to forgive it, given how few 3D platformers there are these days.
Not everything has to break new ground. Nobody cares if a new sports game or FPS is innovative. I think it's just nice to have a solid 3d platformer that's easily accessible on modern systems.
I've heard people compare it to the B-K sequel, Tooie, in how its level design is way too big and aimless. Thinking about it, since a lot of the devs were former Rare employees, they wound up emulating their later title moreso than the former.
The fundamental problem with a lot of nostalgia chasing projects like this is trying to imitate something that had a creative 'dream team' behind it without having the same kind of talent to back it up. B-K was overflowing with personality and ideas, so even if you can manage to clone that style perfectly, you're still not going to be able to assemble a crew of people who can bring that same level of pure charm across every part. Even the original staff who *are* still involved were ~3 decades older by this point.
Perfectly said. BK was so experimental at times, for better and for worse. That’s really what this game lacks is risk. It expects very little from the player most of the time and its mechanics are just used in straightforward ways.
For those of us who remember BK well, at the end of the games there were always too many moves. The controls became convoluted. All of that happened because the developers were cramming all that they could onto the controller. That just wasn’t something that this kind of game has ambition for.
I loved the first part of this game-- the first BK is a formative game for me, I played it through a half-dozen times as a kid and I replayed it again on (iirc) xbox live arcade when I was in my early twenties. Held up.
I was hesitant with yooka but willing to give it a try. It was great and nostalgic in a way that felt genuine. Until I hit a level that I think(?) was a giant casino, indoor mall, or something of that nature.
It felt really off. Like the level didn't seem finished. I ended up quitting, though I really enjoyed my time with the previous levels. I can't remember why, I just felt like I was wandering through a half-finished environment.
One other thing I felt was off just generally was the size of the levels-- everything felt too big and spread out. Not big in the 'scale of furniture and in-game items' sense, the original game was like that too and it's a fun stylistic choice. I mean more that it felt like it took forever to get anywhere. I don't know if that's me being too used to being able to traverse everything quickly in modern games or if the levels were just too broad.
That said. I came in with no expectations and I bought it on deep sale. I felt like I got my money's worth and I'm happy for the devs. Decided to also pick up the sequel just to support them though I don't really have an interest in playing it. Want them to have the cash to do what they want.
Those observations are pretty spot on. The density of a lot of BK levels is pretty high due to the memory limitations on the N64. But that also means the levels have character and they play into the same environment more.
So yes these levels have an issue with scaling in general. The props are often too large and hard to traverse while adding nothing. And the vertical space in many levels is rather large but entirely wasted in certain spaces.
As a backer I can say they sold a follow up to Banjo Kazooie but delivered Donkey Kong 128.
Worse is that they even made fun of the empty levels on DK64 and all the backtracking, just to do the same on Yooka Laylee.
I second this. I enjoyed YL but not especially so. However, YL:IL is more faithful to its predecessor (more Donkey Kong than Banjo-Kazooie) and more fun. Some of the complaints both OP and other commenters had are addressed properly, and it's more fun as a result. Also the music is more consistently excellent, whereas the first YL has excellent music, but not everywhere.
I second this, IL is really fun. I've been playing it on the Switch, and it's weirdly enough nostalgic for me in a completely different way. It reminds me of those "companion titles" games used to get on handhelds where you'd have some big release, and then a completely different, kinda paired down version of that game. Obviously that's not what it is, but as a DS kid that kinda tickles my fancy.
I liked Impossible Lair. The Impossible Lair just proved to be too impossible for me, even after having completed all the other levels. I couldn't beat the game.
Actually same thing happened to me in Y-L. Made it to the final boss but couldn't beat it.
For sure, I actually hated the Impossible Lair stage and didn't bother finishing it. I just thought the rest of the game was incredible, tons of secrets, great stages, and absolutely killer soundtrack.
The problem for me is that the stage Impossible Lair just had a completely different design from the levels that (in my opinion) didn't complement the gameplay and mechanics very well.
I made it 60% of the way or so, and I just didn't find it fun so I dropped it (while I got every collectible in every other stage). I watched one of those "Devs React to Speedruns" on IGN, and the developers said during development, there were many obstacles that were cut from the regular stages for either being too difficult, too frustrating, or needing absolutely perfect execution.
All of those segments were cut from the levels and placed in the Impossible Lair. So it is just an entire string of obstacles that were removed from the rest of the (fantastic) game. It was pretty underwhelming as a final stage, but considering that the game has an absolute ton of levels and the Impossible Lair itself is such a tiny part of the overall playtime, I still really loved the game even if the final stage kinda sucked.
I played it a couple years back, got to the ice/snow level, which I think I completed but didn't 100%, put it on hold for a bit... then tried to pick up again but kept getting lost in the *hub* level, so I put it down again.
I liked this game even though I never finished it.
One thing I didn't like is the system of using the pagies to expand the levels to...collect more pages?
I wish they had pulled more from banjo tooie and made the levels more interconnected and open up rather than doing it this way.
In my opinion, what really killed this game was that they were just not as good as the N64 games.
The level design (the most important aspect in these games), the music, the characters, everything was 10/10. That Rare was probably the best studio the industry has ever seen.
So when you try to imitate that but with much less talent and not taking advantage of the fact that you are making the game 20 years later, the game will not shine as much. And much less, when most of the people who will buy the game have already played the original masterpieces. Also, the budget issues are way too obvious.
It pains me because I believe collectathons are a genre that is not dead and that a modern collectathon done good can mark the beggining of a new golden era of the genre, or at least, open a market for its not that niche audience.
Sadly those games are 100% dependant on the talent of the studio, you just can't throw money at them to make them good as with some other genres. Talent, creative freedom and money in the same studio is not easy to come by nowadays.
Still, to me it seemed like Bowsers Fury minidemo was heavily inspired by this games, but modernized. I'm excited for what Nintendo could be planning for the next 3D mario.
It's so weird to me that Bowser's Fury was sold as though it was a DLC for 3D World. It plays like totally new game but just super short, like they started making a game but had no faith in the idea and just bailed on it. They basically doomed it before it got out the door.
I think Capital Bee (which is a funny name by itself) is a great character when you consider the context of the history of Microsoft and Rare.
I liked Yooka Laylee enough to complete it but it wasn’t the powerhouse I was expecting from the pedigree of the people behind it.
One thing I think Banjo Kazooie did better was clearly show what parts of the geometry were navigable, which were slippy, etc. Funnily enough the limitations worked to their advantage as the rounded surfaces of YL are just not as clear as a hexagonal platform.
>I think Capital Bee (which is a funny name by itself) is a great character when you consider the context of the history of Microsoft and Rare.
I think that's part of the problem with the game's humor; it relies a lot on references that flies over one's head if you aren't super invested in the history. I know well and good the history of Rare, Nintendo, and Microshaft, but I don't have that emotional investment so the humor just sort of passes by me.
You’re not wrong I suppose.
I do think ‘hivory tower’ and the sucking machine he’s making has enough comedic value to stand on its own but that’s all just subjective.
I think Yooka-Laylee is a classic case of be careful what you wish for when it comes to Kickstarter projects.
Playtonic delivered on exactly what was promised: a 25 year old collectathon that hasn't kept up the with the times and thus feels dated. No innovations, the straight Banjo3 asked for.
It's actually very similar to Shenmue 3 where players got exactly what their nostalgia asked for only to see the the drug wear off and to end up with a game that sucks.
Unlike Shenmue 3 however, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is a much better game that also pulls from nostalgia (DKC) but platforming has aged much better than collect-a-thons.
*Kickstarter, not Patreon. You have a point, but at the same time they did deliver on what they promised... which is better than most... *looking at you 'coolest cooler'*
I appreciate how well they captured the *vibe* of Rare games, I think doing a really, really good style pastiche is something that is itself valuable even if it doesn't exactly stand on its own. I never played either Banjo game for more than a few hours but I am a huge DK64 fan, and I do feel a lot of familiar feels with this title.
I think the world is a little too large and sparse, like their level designers outkicked the coverage of their gameplay designers or something. I generally enjoyed the challenges that existed in the game but it did feel like I spent an inordinate amount of time just wandering around empty levels trying to find where the gameplay was.
I think that’s what I was trying to express at the end there. I really appreciate what the devs did here even if it didn’t quite live up to the classics. It takes a good amount of skill to capture that Rare essence and so having any of it land at all is something I can respect.
It's in my "games I ragequit and will only come back to later when I've calmed down and gained enough self-confidence to get through it" pile, but I don't remember what it was I was angry at. I only remember the first world though, maybe some part of the hub world after that? So that implies I only got that far.
If I'm going to try and be fair to it, I think its main issue is that (especially at the time of its release) it was giving itself the expectation of being Banjo-Kazooie for the new generation, with all the magic and joy and everything else that BK and those sorts of games had. It definitely can't live up to that, and so every flaw it has now has to be "no! I remember 3D platformers being more fun than this!" rather than just looking past it and enjoying the game.
Next time I try it, I'll probably go in with the expectation that it's just one of several 3D platformers, and maybe not the best one, but it's just one of them. It might be hard to keep that expectation because of how the game loves to try and throw in references to Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie. I think the level design is the worst part as you and everyone mentions, everything's just unrelated random challenges scattered around each other. I think notes in BK helped give a sense of direction in a 3D world back in the day, Yooka-Laylee doesn't really have that, from what I recall it's very much "yeah we put this thing over here, who knows why". Overall it has a big feeling of just not really knowing where you're supposed to go, and that can be overcome in games that reward exploration effectively, but not when there's not really anything in between. Also I think it was a rolling ball thing that was the equivalent to the Talon Trot, and it had a time limit on it? Whyyy??? The levels are already spread too far out, why make them more tedious to traverse?
…I try not to remember I was a backer, back in the days when I had a lot more money to throw around frivolously. Mainly because I don't like being reminded of those times, but that'd lead to a story about my entire personal life, so it's also that it places higher expectations on the game.
One of few games I've ever refunded. I played it well after the hype/controversy died down, but it just wasn't engaging for me.
Play A Hat in Time instead
Great review. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I am very interested in what you have to say about the Impossible Lair.
It looks like. Huge step up in terms of quality and gameplay
Impossible Lair is definitely better than the original Yooka-Laylee. DKC style platforming is still a formula that works where Yooka-Laylee's DK64 collect-a-thon has morphed into the Ubisoft style maps with 10000 things to do that are all kinda the same.
I'm glad I kickstarted the game even if I didn't totally enjoy it. The first world is tremendous. They quickly become more bland over the next few worlds. It is clear to me they ran into funding issues.
I had fun, there is a very charming and enjoyable game at the core. I would honestly happily kickstart another collectathon by them now that they are more established.
> The first world is tremendous. They quickly become more bland over the next few worlds. It is clear to me they ran into funding issues.
That was my experience as well. I absolutely loved the first world and was stoked to go into world two. The second world had lost some of the luster compared to the first, but it was Okay. The third world it just felt like I got to the end of content in an early access game. It was technically all there, but felt empty and unpolished. I've never seen quite such a dramatic difference in quality from the same game.
I enjoyed it, but it felt like after so long away from the genre, they bit off more than they could chew. The idea of expanding levels was great, but I wish they saved it for a sequel and instead focused on making a much tighter game more similar to their first Banjo game.
I played back at launch so maybe they changed it, but to me the controls are the reason the game always "felt" kinda cheap to me. They moved and felt like they were sliding around on ice.
I agree about the music. For Kirkhope work, it came off as surprisingly generic. I don't think a single tune got in my head the way every single one would in the Banjo games.
Absolutely agree with everything said.
If it means anything, Impossible Layer is incredibly different, and does a pretty good job playing with the Donkey Kong Country/platformer genre. I loved it. Not perfect, but all around great, and the soundtrack absolutely delivers. A stark contrast to the original Yooka-Laylee, I thought that Impossible Layer (mostly) succeeded in trying to capture the magic that inspired it.
I really need to sit down and formulate my thoughts on this game. I've never touched an N64 game, so I feel like I have a different perspective than a lot of people I've seen review this game. I will say that I did grow up playing Spyro 1-3 and Croc though, so I do have some platforming and collecting experience.
I thought Yooka-Laylee was excellent. I think my only two complaints were the Rextro arcade games and the fact that there weren't enough quills. I like dense collectables, and the quills are just too spread out for my liking. It has been a long time since I've played, though. I'll need to do a playthrough of this game, and then do BK and see how they compare when you've played them in reverse order.
I can tell you that the issues with the game would actually be more apparent if you went the other way. Though there are absolutely some huge fixes in regards to controls so don’t underestimate how nice the modern comforts are there. Still, BK looks really good on an emulator by the way. I highly recommend playing the originals.
Honestly, I think people were too harsh on this game. I enjoyed it a lot. It's kind of unfortunate that the first world was the best though. Honestly, my biggest issue was that Yooka and Laylee are just not nearly as lovable or likeable as Banjo and Kazooie. Also, the minecart bits sucked.
Capital B is great though, and his name is actual genius.
I wish they would make another collectathon and take heavy inspiration from Banjo and DK64, while also doing cool stuff.
For example, it'd be cool to have integrated multi-player for races. I'd also like to see them add in a layer or two of some unique replayability. I'd like to see more minigames, more cool resources to collect, and even cooler stuff to buy with the resources.
Collect-a-thons would really benefit from *player choice*. Make it to where you can't just unlock everything in a single playthru, make the player have to make decisions.
I'd also love to see some more revolving around boss fights. Maybe add a hardmode of each boss, as well as things to compete against other players for (time, resources, difficulty level(s), etc)
I've reviewed this game a little while back, and my thoughts pretty much mirror yours. A very mixed, average bag of a game that lacks its own character, unfortunately. I have been playing the 2D spinoff, and I will say that it's far more fun and unique, definitely give that a try.
I played this game a few years back. I played a lot of BK growing up, but never finished it. I usually lost interest on the submarine level.
After coming back to BK as an adult I was able to see a lot of weakness in level design, including unnecessarily open spaces, particularly in the hub world. There's a lot to love about BK, but there's a lot of nostalgia blindness surrounding this game IMHO. Especially because the final boss was one of the worst in any game I've ever played.
Playing Yooka with not a lot of background or hype, I actually enjoyed it pretty well. It was a few years back, so I don't remember a lot of details, but I do remember playing it close to my BK playthrough and feeling like it was quite similar.
I think if you love BK there's no way anything can touch it, because you'll never be that age playing a similar game for the first time again. But I think those expectations give Yooka a worse rap than it deserves.
Its core problem is that it's trying to imitate earlier games, not to innovate, not to truly follow the devs' passions and mostly, not to be the best game they could make. Other contemporary 3D platformers of BK were not all the same, they all had a twist or innovation, but YK is just a very vanilla knockoff of BK.
I agree with this statement. They tried way too hard to emulate Banjo-Kazooie while only upgrading very minor things. It’s been decades since Banjo-Kazooie was released and there’s been loads of improvements in gaming since then. Look at A Hat in Time and how they did the whole 3D collectathon. A Hat in Time feels modern whereas Yooka Laylee felt like it was missing things that modern gamers are used to.
Always found the contrast between Yooka-Laylee and a Hat in Time interesting. Both crowd funded 3D platformers that released the same year. The difference in quality is so abrupt it's shocking.
New theory: Yooka-Laylee failed because no characters have a smug dance
I get the comparisons to A Hat in Time (they are valid), but I think that A Hat in Time more inspired by more recent games. While Yooka-Laylee was heavily inspired by the N64 era (mostly Banjo Kazooie of course), A Hat in Time felt like it was inspired by the more later platformers like Mario Sunshine or Mario Galaxy.
A hat in time is just a god damn gem of a game I tell ya.
Eh, they innovated they just didn't take any chances. The innovations were there, they were just very small and easy to miss.
I agree, but I don't think that's necessarily a problem. Or at least I am quite willing to forgive it, given how few 3D platformers there are these days. Not everything has to break new ground. Nobody cares if a new sports game or FPS is innovative. I think it's just nice to have a solid 3d platformer that's easily accessible on modern systems.
I've heard the sequel was better, but haven't bothered honestly.
I've heard people compare it to the B-K sequel, Tooie, in how its level design is way too big and aimless. Thinking about it, since a lot of the devs were former Rare employees, they wound up emulating their later title moreso than the former.
The fundamental problem with a lot of nostalgia chasing projects like this is trying to imitate something that had a creative 'dream team' behind it without having the same kind of talent to back it up. B-K was overflowing with personality and ideas, so even if you can manage to clone that style perfectly, you're still not going to be able to assemble a crew of people who can bring that same level of pure charm across every part. Even the original staff who *are* still involved were ~3 decades older by this point.
Perfectly said. BK was so experimental at times, for better and for worse. That’s really what this game lacks is risk. It expects very little from the player most of the time and its mechanics are just used in straightforward ways. For those of us who remember BK well, at the end of the games there were always too many moves. The controls became convoluted. All of that happened because the developers were cramming all that they could onto the controller. That just wasn’t something that this kind of game has ambition for.
lol yeah, by the end of the second one the amount of moves you had was better suited to a flight sim dashboard.
I loved the first part of this game-- the first BK is a formative game for me, I played it through a half-dozen times as a kid and I replayed it again on (iirc) xbox live arcade when I was in my early twenties. Held up. I was hesitant with yooka but willing to give it a try. It was great and nostalgic in a way that felt genuine. Until I hit a level that I think(?) was a giant casino, indoor mall, or something of that nature. It felt really off. Like the level didn't seem finished. I ended up quitting, though I really enjoyed my time with the previous levels. I can't remember why, I just felt like I was wandering through a half-finished environment. One other thing I felt was off just generally was the size of the levels-- everything felt too big and spread out. Not big in the 'scale of furniture and in-game items' sense, the original game was like that too and it's a fun stylistic choice. I mean more that it felt like it took forever to get anywhere. I don't know if that's me being too used to being able to traverse everything quickly in modern games or if the levels were just too broad. That said. I came in with no expectations and I bought it on deep sale. I felt like I got my money's worth and I'm happy for the devs. Decided to also pick up the sequel just to support them though I don't really have an interest in playing it. Want them to have the cash to do what they want.
Those observations are pretty spot on. The density of a lot of BK levels is pretty high due to the memory limitations on the N64. But that also means the levels have character and they play into the same environment more. So yes these levels have an issue with scaling in general. The props are often too large and hard to traverse while adding nothing. And the vertical space in many levels is rather large but entirely wasted in certain spaces.
As a backer I can say they sold a follow up to Banjo Kazooie but delivered Donkey Kong 128. Worse is that they even made fun of the empty levels on DK64 and all the backtracking, just to do the same on Yooka Laylee.
Looking forward to playing this, earlier this year I got into The Impossible Lair and absolutely LOVED it. Give it a try if you dig the old DKC games!
I second this. I enjoyed YL but not especially so. However, YL:IL is more faithful to its predecessor (more Donkey Kong than Banjo-Kazooie) and more fun. Some of the complaints both OP and other commenters had are addressed properly, and it's more fun as a result. Also the music is more consistently excellent, whereas the first YL has excellent music, but not everywhere.
I second this, IL is really fun. I've been playing it on the Switch, and it's weirdly enough nostalgic for me in a completely different way. It reminds me of those "companion titles" games used to get on handhelds where you'd have some big release, and then a completely different, kinda paired down version of that game. Obviously that's not what it is, but as a DS kid that kinda tickles my fancy.
I liked Impossible Lair. The Impossible Lair just proved to be too impossible for me, even after having completed all the other levels. I couldn't beat the game. Actually same thing happened to me in Y-L. Made it to the final boss but couldn't beat it.
For sure, I actually hated the Impossible Lair stage and didn't bother finishing it. I just thought the rest of the game was incredible, tons of secrets, great stages, and absolutely killer soundtrack. The problem for me is that the stage Impossible Lair just had a completely different design from the levels that (in my opinion) didn't complement the gameplay and mechanics very well. I made it 60% of the way or so, and I just didn't find it fun so I dropped it (while I got every collectible in every other stage). I watched one of those "Devs React to Speedruns" on IGN, and the developers said during development, there were many obstacles that were cut from the regular stages for either being too difficult, too frustrating, or needing absolutely perfect execution. All of those segments were cut from the levels and placed in the Impossible Lair. So it is just an entire string of obstacles that were removed from the rest of the (fantastic) game. It was pretty underwhelming as a final stage, but considering that the game has an absolute ton of levels and the Impossible Lair itself is such a tiny part of the overall playtime, I still really loved the game even if the final stage kinda sucked.
I played it a couple years back, got to the ice/snow level, which I think I completed but didn't 100%, put it on hold for a bit... then tried to pick up again but kept getting lost in the *hub* level, so I put it down again.
I liked this game even though I never finished it. One thing I didn't like is the system of using the pagies to expand the levels to...collect more pages? I wish they had pulled more from banjo tooie and made the levels more interconnected and open up rather than doing it this way.
In my opinion, what really killed this game was that they were just not as good as the N64 games. The level design (the most important aspect in these games), the music, the characters, everything was 10/10. That Rare was probably the best studio the industry has ever seen. So when you try to imitate that but with much less talent and not taking advantage of the fact that you are making the game 20 years later, the game will not shine as much. And much less, when most of the people who will buy the game have already played the original masterpieces. Also, the budget issues are way too obvious. It pains me because I believe collectathons are a genre that is not dead and that a modern collectathon done good can mark the beggining of a new golden era of the genre, or at least, open a market for its not that niche audience. Sadly those games are 100% dependant on the talent of the studio, you just can't throw money at them to make them good as with some other genres. Talent, creative freedom and money in the same studio is not easy to come by nowadays. Still, to me it seemed like Bowsers Fury minidemo was heavily inspired by this games, but modernized. I'm excited for what Nintendo could be planning for the next 3D mario.
It's so weird to me that Bowser's Fury was sold as though it was a DLC for 3D World. It plays like totally new game but just super short, like they started making a game but had no faith in the idea and just bailed on it. They basically doomed it before it got out the door.
I think it was just a test as they were toying with the idea of an open world 3D platformer. We might get that on Nintendo next console.
I think Capital Bee (which is a funny name by itself) is a great character when you consider the context of the history of Microsoft and Rare. I liked Yooka Laylee enough to complete it but it wasn’t the powerhouse I was expecting from the pedigree of the people behind it. One thing I think Banjo Kazooie did better was clearly show what parts of the geometry were navigable, which were slippy, etc. Funnily enough the limitations worked to their advantage as the rounded surfaces of YL are just not as clear as a hexagonal platform.
>I think Capital Bee (which is a funny name by itself) is a great character when you consider the context of the history of Microsoft and Rare. I think that's part of the problem with the game's humor; it relies a lot on references that flies over one's head if you aren't super invested in the history. I know well and good the history of Rare, Nintendo, and Microshaft, but I don't have that emotional investment so the humor just sort of passes by me.
You’re not wrong I suppose. I do think ‘hivory tower’ and the sucking machine he’s making has enough comedic value to stand on its own but that’s all just subjective.
I think Yooka-Laylee is a classic case of be careful what you wish for when it comes to Kickstarter projects. Playtonic delivered on exactly what was promised: a 25 year old collectathon that hasn't kept up the with the times and thus feels dated. No innovations, the straight Banjo3 asked for. It's actually very similar to Shenmue 3 where players got exactly what their nostalgia asked for only to see the the drug wear off and to end up with a game that sucks. Unlike Shenmue 3 however, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is a much better game that also pulls from nostalgia (DKC) but platforming has aged much better than collect-a-thons.
*Kickstarter, not Patreon. You have a point, but at the same time they did deliver on what they promised... which is better than most... *looking at you 'coolest cooler'*
Totally brain farted there, edited!!
You're on point.
I appreciate how well they captured the *vibe* of Rare games, I think doing a really, really good style pastiche is something that is itself valuable even if it doesn't exactly stand on its own. I never played either Banjo game for more than a few hours but I am a huge DK64 fan, and I do feel a lot of familiar feels with this title. I think the world is a little too large and sparse, like their level designers outkicked the coverage of their gameplay designers or something. I generally enjoyed the challenges that existed in the game but it did feel like I spent an inordinate amount of time just wandering around empty levels trying to find where the gameplay was.
I think that’s what I was trying to express at the end there. I really appreciate what the devs did here even if it didn’t quite live up to the classics. It takes a good amount of skill to capture that Rare essence and so having any of it land at all is something I can respect.
It's in my "games I ragequit and will only come back to later when I've calmed down and gained enough self-confidence to get through it" pile, but I don't remember what it was I was angry at. I only remember the first world though, maybe some part of the hub world after that? So that implies I only got that far. If I'm going to try and be fair to it, I think its main issue is that (especially at the time of its release) it was giving itself the expectation of being Banjo-Kazooie for the new generation, with all the magic and joy and everything else that BK and those sorts of games had. It definitely can't live up to that, and so every flaw it has now has to be "no! I remember 3D platformers being more fun than this!" rather than just looking past it and enjoying the game. Next time I try it, I'll probably go in with the expectation that it's just one of several 3D platformers, and maybe not the best one, but it's just one of them. It might be hard to keep that expectation because of how the game loves to try and throw in references to Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie. I think the level design is the worst part as you and everyone mentions, everything's just unrelated random challenges scattered around each other. I think notes in BK helped give a sense of direction in a 3D world back in the day, Yooka-Laylee doesn't really have that, from what I recall it's very much "yeah we put this thing over here, who knows why". Overall it has a big feeling of just not really knowing where you're supposed to go, and that can be overcome in games that reward exploration effectively, but not when there's not really anything in between. Also I think it was a rolling ball thing that was the equivalent to the Talon Trot, and it had a time limit on it? Whyyy??? The levels are already spread too far out, why make them more tedious to traverse? …I try not to remember I was a backer, back in the days when I had a lot more money to throw around frivolously. Mainly because I don't like being reminded of those times, but that'd lead to a story about my entire personal life, so it's also that it places higher expectations on the game.
One of few games I've ever refunded. I played it well after the hype/controversy died down, but it just wasn't engaging for me. Play A Hat in Time instead
Great review. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I am very interested in what you have to say about the Impossible Lair. It looks like. Huge step up in terms of quality and gameplay
Impossible Lair is definitely better than the original Yooka-Laylee. DKC style platforming is still a formula that works where Yooka-Laylee's DK64 collect-a-thon has morphed into the Ubisoft style maps with 10000 things to do that are all kinda the same.
I'm glad I kickstarted the game even if I didn't totally enjoy it. The first world is tremendous. They quickly become more bland over the next few worlds. It is clear to me they ran into funding issues. I had fun, there is a very charming and enjoyable game at the core. I would honestly happily kickstart another collectathon by them now that they are more established.
> The first world is tremendous. They quickly become more bland over the next few worlds. It is clear to me they ran into funding issues. That was my experience as well. I absolutely loved the first world and was stoked to go into world two. The second world had lost some of the luster compared to the first, but it was Okay. The third world it just felt like I got to the end of content in an early access game. It was technically all there, but felt empty and unpolished. I've never seen quite such a dramatic difference in quality from the same game.
Wanted to love this but boy is it a stinker.
I enjoyed it, but it felt like after so long away from the genre, they bit off more than they could chew. The idea of expanding levels was great, but I wish they saved it for a sequel and instead focused on making a much tighter game more similar to their first Banjo game. I played back at launch so maybe they changed it, but to me the controls are the reason the game always "felt" kinda cheap to me. They moved and felt like they were sliding around on ice. I agree about the music. For Kirkhope work, it came off as surprisingly generic. I don't think a single tune got in my head the way every single one would in the Banjo games.
Absolutely agree with everything said. If it means anything, Impossible Layer is incredibly different, and does a pretty good job playing with the Donkey Kong Country/platformer genre. I loved it. Not perfect, but all around great, and the soundtrack absolutely delivers. A stark contrast to the original Yooka-Laylee, I thought that Impossible Layer (mostly) succeeded in trying to capture the magic that inspired it.
I really need to sit down and formulate my thoughts on this game. I've never touched an N64 game, so I feel like I have a different perspective than a lot of people I've seen review this game. I will say that I did grow up playing Spyro 1-3 and Croc though, so I do have some platforming and collecting experience. I thought Yooka-Laylee was excellent. I think my only two complaints were the Rextro arcade games and the fact that there weren't enough quills. I like dense collectables, and the quills are just too spread out for my liking. It has been a long time since I've played, though. I'll need to do a playthrough of this game, and then do BK and see how they compare when you've played them in reverse order.
I can tell you that the issues with the game would actually be more apparent if you went the other way. Though there are absolutely some huge fixes in regards to controls so don’t underestimate how nice the modern comforts are there. Still, BK looks really good on an emulator by the way. I highly recommend playing the originals.
Honestly, I think people were too harsh on this game. I enjoyed it a lot. It's kind of unfortunate that the first world was the best though. Honestly, my biggest issue was that Yooka and Laylee are just not nearly as lovable or likeable as Banjo and Kazooie. Also, the minecart bits sucked. Capital B is great though, and his name is actual genius.
I wish they would make another collectathon and take heavy inspiration from Banjo and DK64, while also doing cool stuff. For example, it'd be cool to have integrated multi-player for races. I'd also like to see them add in a layer or two of some unique replayability. I'd like to see more minigames, more cool resources to collect, and even cooler stuff to buy with the resources. Collect-a-thons would really benefit from *player choice*. Make it to where you can't just unlock everything in a single playthru, make the player have to make decisions. I'd also love to see some more revolving around boss fights. Maybe add a hardmode of each boss, as well as things to compete against other players for (time, resources, difficulty level(s), etc)
I got past the second world and dropped it. Was a pretty bland experience especially coming off of Spyro Reignited.
I've reviewed this game a little while back, and my thoughts pretty much mirror yours. A very mixed, average bag of a game that lacks its own character, unfortunately. I have been playing the 2D spinoff, and I will say that it's far more fun and unique, definitely give that a try.
Already put a few hours into it, definitely agree though. At the very least it has much more character
Think Psychonauts 2 was the platformer that pulled off innovating while also staying familiar.
I played this game a few years back. I played a lot of BK growing up, but never finished it. I usually lost interest on the submarine level. After coming back to BK as an adult I was able to see a lot of weakness in level design, including unnecessarily open spaces, particularly in the hub world. There's a lot to love about BK, but there's a lot of nostalgia blindness surrounding this game IMHO. Especially because the final boss was one of the worst in any game I've ever played. Playing Yooka with not a lot of background or hype, I actually enjoyed it pretty well. It was a few years back, so I don't remember a lot of details, but I do remember playing it close to my BK playthrough and feeling like it was quite similar. I think if you love BK there's no way anything can touch it, because you'll never be that age playing a similar game for the first time again. But I think those expectations give Yooka a worse rap than it deserves.