Early first Spoiler free review is in! 8/10

[Yavga]

Bottom line:

Its commitment to nostalgia is both Yooka-Laylee’s greatest strength and its greatest weakness. The characters are largely annoying and the writing and delivery is almost universally bad, but man, that gameplay is still very special indeed. Having been largely starved of traditional 3D platformers for the past 15 years, this serves as a perfectly timed reminder of why the genre was so popular in the first place. With its fantastic mechanics married to a selection of sprawling words chock full of challenges and a fantastically addictive sense of progression, Yooka-Laylee overcomes its occasional rough edges and lack of polish to deliver the finest 3D platformer this side of Super Mario Galaxy.

8/10

[Pokemaniac Dan]

I'm interested in the fact that the reviewer didn't enjoy the mumbling voices or the dialogue. I feel like that's part of what gave the Banjo games their charm. To call Trowzer "horribly designed and incredibly annoying" seems like this reviewer just doesn't get this style of game play. I love Trowzer's design and his personality from what we've seen so far. Plus his mumble voice is my favorite thus far. I'm interested in seeing how I feel about YL dialogue and voices now twenty or so years after Banjo. I have a feeling I will still love this, though.

Would it be possible for someone to run a thread like this, showing only spoiler free reviews? And a second thread with spoilers included reviews? Would be easier for people to avoid potentially being spoiled of story or game information...

[smashbro596]

8s pretty fair. but, a lot of these complaints won't bother bk fans like myself.
"bad writing?"
nah from what i seen it is just as fun as banjo kazooie 1 was.

[Xellos]

Another review has been found: .

It’s testament to Playtonic Games pedigree, that throughout Yooka-Laylee the only grumbles I can muster are a few camera issues and a lack of voice acting. It’s a delightfully beautiful return to classic platform gaming and shows when done right that there’s still life in the old dog yet.

Pros:
+ Beautifully colorful worlds and characters
+ Challenging platforming and puzzles throughout
+ Huge levels to explore
+ There is a LOT to collect!

Cons:
– Camera can lose track at times
– Give them all voices!
– There is a LOT to collect!

9/10

[Taylor]

"The characters are largely annoying and the writing and delivery is almost universally bad."

I actually love the characters. As for the writing, I think it's intentionally cheesy, which makes it funny -- everybody in Britain groans at a pun, but we still love them.

If this reviewer gave it an 8, with the above being the only 'negatives', I think most Banjo fans would rate the game even higher.

Edit: Seems a lot of reviews want actual voice acting. I am so torn on this, myself. I love the throwback and I just cannot imagine the characters with voices -- it would be like giving Banjo a voice, which is super weird. However, if they want younger children to be interested, voice acting would definitely be a selling point... and let's face it, children are probably the primary audience besides nostalgic adults (who are looking back to a time they were children themselves).

[Yavga]

[smashbro596]

[Taylor]

[Pokemaniac Dan]

This voice conversation reminds me of the Lego games, and how in the early days the cut scenes just had mumbles and grunts, but you would still be able to infer what was meant by the facial expressions and actions. Now, Lego games have voices and dialogue. I personally prefer the grunts and mumbles, as it adds more humor, charisma, and charm imo, but can understand since the newer games have dialogue how that's more preferred for some.

[Gorjo]

The mumbling voices can be used for comedic effect, BK for example used burps for Captain Blubber and sexy sounds for Game-Over-Gruntilda. Wonder if we'll have stuff like that with YL.

[Rueckkoppler]

[bigfanofoldrare]

ton of thing to collect..

8/10 and 9/10..

awesome

[Piet]

Naizzzzz!

[Scrubber]

[Piet]

[GeneralWalnut]

[dotEXE]

The reviewer clearly doesn't understand Banjo's characterization. I'm ready to give this game a spot in my top 5 games of all time if "voice acting" is the only gripe lmao. Talk about missing the point though, yeesh.

[Piet]

[dotEXE]

It's a great score, but it's still missing the point of the game entirely. To complain the voices are like Banjo Kazooie is to complain Picasso overuses basic shapes. I suspect we're going to see a lot of this as most reviewers will not have the same deep connection to the project.

[Piet]