I've Played Yooka-Laylee: My Thoughts (Spoiler-free)

[Taylor]

I was fortunate enough to get my hands on Yooka-Laylee; I've collected everything, explored all the worlds and played through to the final battle. My total playtime is 40 hours. I loved it.



Impression:
Let me first say that Yooka-Laylee is definitely successful in recreating the Banjo vibe that we all love. The game is brilliant; creative, beautiful, challenging, and most importantly fun. I couldn't put the controller down, or stop smiling -- it really is everything I hoped for, and then some. There were moments I laughed out loud at the dialogue and visual humour, and there were moments I felt like pinching myself at how wonderfully nostalgic the entire experience was. You are instantly transported back to an era of gaming that you either love, or loathe, depending on the sort of gamer you are. I'm sure all of us here know exactly what game we are expecting, and I can promise that it is exactly what Playtonic have delivered. Yooka-Laylee truly feels like a sequel to Banjo-Tooie.

Performance:
I played the PC version; my computer is outdated and sat in my loft for two years before I booted it up again. I'm not going to pretend that I never experienced any technical issues, but these were minor for me and rarely took away from my enjoyment. I suffered from occasional slowdown. The only time this struck me as somewhat of an issue was on a couple of Kartos tracks, causing me to miss a jump and fall to my death. It's worth noting, however, that I was able to repeat the challenge straight away and, on a second attempt, did not have the same performance problems -- when it happened, it was intermittent, random and short-lasting. I'm positive that a better computer than mine would not have suffered at all.

Mini-games:
The Kartos tracks themselves are fun. They may take a few do-overs, but they're not frustrating or annoyingly difficult, and you get a real sense of satisfaction upon completing them. Likewise, Rextro's mini-games bring a nice sort of variety to the game -- they're comparable to the arcade machines in Donkey Kong 64. I will admit, though, that once I completed these mini-games and unlocked the Pagie, I had no intention of ever revisiting them. It was a good challenge, but after gaining the reward, I don't feel it's anything more than that. I cannot imagine playing these mini-games with friends for more 10 minutes before moving on to something else. I would rather explore the main game with them, passing the controller to each other after collecting each Pagie. The puzzles, challenges and platforming elements outside of Rextro's world are phenomenal; you should keep in mind that Rextro and Kartos offer just a combined total of 15 Pagies out of a massive 145.



Camera:
I've read some negative opinions about the game's camera. All I can say is that I had no problems at all. If you are accustomed to the camera in Banjo-Kazooie, you will not notice much difference in Yooka-Laylee. I was manually adjusting the camera with the right analogue stick, it felt natural to do so, and I found the freedom of this manual camera perfect for my play style. If I wanted to reposition, I did it easily and without thinking about it, just as I've done for years when playing Banjo-Kazooie. I can only presume that the negative opinions come from people that are not used to doing this themselves.

Story:
After playing through Yooka-Laylee, I feel completely invested in the 'Playtonic Universe'. The game has established itself with strong, interesting characters and worlds, and there is an intriguing storyline (which won't be spoiled here) that I look forward to unravelling in future titles. There is so much potential for these characters and worlds to appear in a whole host of new games; I'm genuinely excited to see what the future brings!



Summary:
I'm more than just satisfied with Yooka-Laylee. There may be a few small hiccups here and there, but the overall experience is everything I've wanted to see in a game for over a decade. I'm sure, without a doubt, that the majority of people that enjoy Banjo-Kazooie will not regret picking this game up; and, like me, you will become thirsty for more of this new and exciting, yet fantastically familiar, universe!

Score:


If anybody has any questions, feel free to ask and I'll try and answer them to the best of my ability.

Edit:

[Xellos]

How many ideas from the forum were implemented in Yooka-Laylee?

[Taylor]

[Tek]

A very well written review, and the only one I've actually read. Thank you for making it truly free of spoilers!

40 hours sounds like a nice amount of playtime to me. Out of curiosity, how would you describe your play style with regards to the time you completed it in? Did you play with the intent of finishing it in as timely of a fashion as you could for review purposes, or did you play at a more casual pace and still end up at 40 hours? I ask because I usually take longer to finish a game than the generally accepted average play time for games.

Also,

[Rueckkoppler]

Wow, I understand now what some people were moaning about when they had problems with the camera. And that I'll probably won't have these myself. With the N64 as my first console, I was basically conditioned to permanently adjust the camera, which felt natural to me at the end. When I remember some friends playing 3D games, it was sometimes really hard to watch because they had no feeling whatsoever for adjusting a camera properly. This really seems to be a big problem for many, apparently.

Alright, one negative down for selfish-me!

edit: So this is one of these "missed opportunities" in modernising the genre. Yeah, it's a legit minus. But not a problem for me.

[Taylor]

[Tek]

[Preston]

My question for you is how long is the game compared to Kazooie and Tooie? Yes I know you took about 40 hours to 100% the game, but how long does it take you to normally 100% kazooie and Tooie if you didnt already know the game like the back of your hand? I think this would give us the best idea of how long the game really is compared the the banjo games.

[Taylor]

[Rueckkoppler]

Random question, Taylor, but are there many "inside-areas" like the Napper shell (or the turtle and several npc homes) like in Banjo-Kazooie?

[Taylor]

[Octopeart]

Spoilers:

[Taylor]

[bigfanofoldrare]

first throught lucky

second , i am glad you like it a lot, so i will probably love it a lot too.

[Pokemaniac Dan]

Great to hear from someone on this forum who's played the game and has the same feel for what was wanted like most of us. This eases any concerns I had.

As far as the camera is concerned, do the changes affect gameplay at all? For example in one video it showed an area of Tribalstack Tropics with the blocks that blow you off, and as you traverse the structure, the camera changes view. Does this happen often and does it really get in the way of platforming successfully? I don't recall this really happening much in BK or BT (or if it did, it didn't ruin gameplay in any way).

And also, are there areas that really stump you that make you think "hmm, how do I get/do that..." or was obtaining 100% completion straight forward in the sense that you know how to get everything, it's just some are more difficult than others.

Thanks for the insight! Glad to see you enjoyed it!

[Taylor]

[rocho]

I'm pretty sure that if you loved it and if you are being 100% honest here then I'm going to love it too! Because we have realized most if the people in the forum have very similar tastes and a preconception of what a "rare" game is.

I can only say it was nice from Playtonic to let you play the game early so you won't spoil yourself managing the forums and all the new info coming!

Lucky! But you deserve it man!

[dotEXE]

From having talked to you for, what, almost two years now? I'm almost certain my opinions will line up almost exactly with you Taylor. Thanks for posting, can't wait to play this!

[Yavga]

I am really glad to see you enjoyed it that makes me very happy and now I trust that I will like it just as well!

Let's talk later when I played as well, really curious!

What do you think about the game's replayability?

[Taylor]

I guess it's also worth mentioning that because you are able to either unlock a new world, or expand an existing one first, people will experience the game differently. I decided to try and do as much as I could in an unexpanded world before progressing to the next world; after world five, I went back and expanded the worlds from beginning to end.

I believe this method is the best way to experience Yooka-Laylee, even though I was adamant about playing the game linearly (expanding and completing each world 100% in order) before I actually got my hands on it. The reason I am happy about changing my original intention: Yooka-Laylee's end-game abilities are so beneficial to earlier stages.

I'm not going to tell you what moves you unlock, but without them, I would have had a really difficult time completing even the first world's expansion. Some people may enjoy the challenge of having a limited moveset, but if you take this approach, you are kind of stifling the late-game's abilities to a single level, which seems like a wasted mechanic.

It was also great fun to change the atmosphere to a new world more often, and it made revisiting the old worlds feel fresh. The unexpanded worlds are large enough to satisfy you with its theme, and your mind can begin to wonder about the worlds that wait ahead.

P.S. World 5 is my absolute favourite!