Yooka-Laylee

At a glance, this looks like a great successor to Banjo Kazooie. The character designs and graphics are spot-on and the music is exactly what fans of Banjo Kazooie would expect. When moving beyond aesthetics, however, the game fails to live up to its predecessors. My biggest complaint is that the levels lack an intuitive flow. The musical notes of Banjo Kazooie were arranged in such a way that they led players through the levels and hinted at the locations of jiggies. The quills of Yooka-Laylee are sparsely strewn about in a seemingly random manner. Progression through the worlds isn't nearly as smooth as it could have been. Secondly, the objectives for obtaining pagies are often more tedious than fun. Running through a series of rings before time expires is repetitively used and feels a bit generic. The snow world has an objective where players must find and return hats to five different snowmen. The snowplow form used in parts of this objective controls poorly and finding them all becomes more bothersome than fun. Finally, the system for projectile power-ups is a step back from the game's predecessors. In the BK and BT, eggs could be collected as ammunition and players could use them at any time. In Yooka-Laylee, consuming a projectile power-up results in a timer beginning and it can only be used for a set amount of time before expiring. Eating an elemental berry and rushing to the area of its intended use before time expires is not especially fun. While Yooka-Laylee successfully captures the look and sounds of a Banjo-Kazooie title, it only succeeds on a superficial level. The actual gameplay and level design are a pale imitation of the game's inspirational material. If you long to once again experience the fun and silliness of Banjo-Kazooie, I would recommend simply playing Banjo-Kazooie.

PC Port: There is no keybinding that I can see, and the options menu is incredibly lacking. I believe Playtonic rushed out the game to release and be compatible on a large variety of platforms at once. I HIGHLY recommend playing this game with a controller as using the keyboard is frustrating and involves a lot of trial and error to learn what every button is mapped to. Graphics: It's colorful and vibrant. The character designs are all very clever, and I personally found a lot of charm and heart in it. There were some animation bugs that I noticed, in particular with NPCs, and some rough, stretched textures and low-poly models. It definitely feels like a previous-gen game in some regards. Sound: It is about what you'd expect from a Banjo-Kazooie successor. The way I tend to judge the quality of video game music is whether or not I would enjoy listening to it on its own. I can say about 75% of the Yooka-Laylee OST passes this "test" with me. Some of the tracks, however, are a bit too "noisy" for my tastes. Some people might find the way the characters "talk" to be annoying, but I find it a nice throwback to the old Banjo games. Writing/Story: Lots of puns and breaking the fourth wall. I think it's funny, others might not. Cutscenes aren't skippable (correct me if I'm wrong), which is frustrating, but they got me to chuckle. Gameplay: I am enjoying it. I feel that some level designs and puzzles are a little weak in comparison to the original Banjo games and I don't feel as "immersed" in these worlds than I did in Banjo-Tooie. Camera can be a little wonky. I don't like the quiz sections. I enjoy collecting things, however, and learning new abilities and visiting old worlds. Over-all: It's charming and enjoyable. I think it needed another year to polish it up though. The Banjo franchise is a hard thing to live up to. Keep your expectations tempered and you'll probably enjoy Yooka for what it is. -1 star for bad PC port, -1 star for other minor annoyances.

Do you replay Banjo-Kazooie like all the time? Miss the days where you collected things in a 3D environment? Miss Rare before Microsoft bought it? This game is for you! Most of the original Rare team got together and made this gem. Looking forward to the next 3D adventure from them!

First, I give it 3/5 but I don't mean it as a bad way (where, nowadays, anything below 8/10 or 4/5 is bad). YL is the perfect example of a "good enough" game. The game is perfectly playable, has some charm, and will last you a solid 10-15 hours. But ultimately, it's all there is to it. you're unlikely to be struck in awe by anything in the game. It's worth playing, you'll have a good time for sure, but it certainly won't be anybody's GOTY, and it shouldn't be.

Great game. Great to look at, and a bit nostalgic(in idea). Pros -Graphics are cartoon-ish and good. -Gives a feel and vibe of Banjo Kazooie/Tooie and Conquer Bad-Fur Day -Story line is fun and silly. I would have liked it better if it where more like Conquer Bad-Fur Day. <-my opinion and in no way game breaking. -Music is Fantastic and Vast! though it does repeat in the worlds, no fault given. Cons -Controls are good, but a little wonky at some times. (especially when you change form) -The Worlds are HUGE! This is both good and bad. The collect fest tension increases and becomes a bit tedious. -It lacks the "feel" of a "modern" game.. in some good ways, and some bad. I would note that this is a throwback to Banjo. All in all... I rate it 4/5 Stars Due to the Collect fest frustrations that are a bit dated/tedious, however it is the core of Banjo Kazooie.