I finally finished the main story of Yooka-Laylee after about 16 hours of play time. I've been dying to put my thoughts about the game as a whole down in writing. I'm going to be listing the pros and cons about my experience playing this game.
Keep in mind that I was not a Kickstarter backer. I was aware of this project when it was announced, but after it so quickly raised $1 million dollars, backing it hardly seemed necessary. I was excited at the funds raised though, and hoped that Playtonic would follow through with their plans on delivering a collect-a-thon title that reminded us of the "Rare" era of games from the Nintendo 64 (Donkey Kong 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie).
Things I liked..
1. It was true and genuine on what it said would be delivered.
I was pleasantly surprised when Yooka-Laylee really did feel like playing a new Banjo-Kazooie game, simply replacing the bear and bird with a chameleon and a bat. Yooka is identical to Banjo in personality, and Laylee's personality mirrors Kazooie's. It didn't feel like a lazy "clone" type design choice on the part of the devs. It still managed to feel fresh and fun, was designed well, and the dynamic between the two really is a highlight. The game features inanimate objects, animals and other creatures (like BK/BT did) that all speak using sounds as opposed to words (and googly eyes are back!) This is one again a classic throw back to the Rare games and it instantly brings a wave of nostalgia along with it.
The funny sense of humor and puns are also back. The controls are much more refined, although I did feel like the camera still needed some work at times. Players advance very similarly as they did in older Rare games - by collecting items, learning moves, completing challenges/puzzles, and exploring new areas. The collect-a-thon is back in full swing, and all of the collectibles all still happily dance! ♪ A snake named Trowzer (I see what you did there) now serves as your guide on learning moves in the different worlds. You will need to learn all of the moves in order to make progress, and back tracking to previous levels is also present. They've even brought back the quizzes!
2. Appealing visuals and audio.
This game just puts you in a good mood. The art style fits the feel of the game perfectly. It's bright, it's colorful, and it has great sound effects and music. It never felt "too cartoony", and really brought back nostalgia of graphics from the Nintendo 64 era. They get an A+ for presentation.
3. Varying difficulty for players of varying skill level.
Since there are 25 pages to collect in each world, there is a good chance that you will be able to collect a great deal of pages without having to go that extra mile. They've thrown in a variety of different challenges to obtain a 100% completion rating in each world. However, they are very generous in not halting further progress if you'd like to move on to another world and try again later. For those of you out there who like to try and get everything, you'll certainly be met with some challenges while trying to get a few select pages. For those of you who simply want to play the casually, it won't be taxing or stressful to get enough pages so that you'll be able to progress.
4. Expanding each world is satisfying.
It's always fun to see something grow right before your very eyes. In Yooka-Laylee, you use your pages to expand each of the five worlds. Rather than go to many different levels, they instead chose to make the five that they have as expansive as possible. It's really amazing to see just how big each world can get, and it really makes you eager to explore every last inch.
This is also a good way to keep the player from feeling overwhelmed. It's much easier to track your progress by slowly expanding the world, rather than being presented a large world right away. You can explore an area, and once you're sure you've done everything, you can move on to the next area. Each time the world is expanded, it presents different challenges and gives the world a new look.
5. Not overly demanding or time consuming.
This is a very easy game to just pick up and play. It has auto saves, and if you quit, it will automatically save your progress. When you load, it will load you next to the world that you were last in, so it's easy to find where you left off. There are status screens for each level to let you know just how much left you have to complete. My play through took me roughly 16 hours (blind). I was very slow and took my time, but even still, this isn't a lot of time for somebody who only has a free moment here and there to pick up games for an hour or two at a time.
What I didn't like...
1. Repetition
I'm not saying that other Rare games (or games in general) don't have repetition, because they do. But it's enjoyable repetition. Yooka-Laylee just doesn't have enjoyable repetition if you're not giving yourself enough time in between play sessions. There are several tasks in Yooka-Laylee that I wished I was able to avoid altogether, but unfortunately, it was present in every single level. The "Kartos Mine Challenges" were the worst. These stages are a direct throw back to Donkey Kong mine cart stages.. although it's a nice throw back, I found them challenging and frustrating. Finishing Kartos' challenge in each level is required for a Pagie. In Stage 4, you MUST complete his challenge in order to fight the boss for yet another pagie.
Rex's arcade games are another example. You will be able to win two pagies from Rex in every world: one for completing his games, and one for beating the high score. While the mini-games themselves aren't bad, having to play them more than once is awfully repetitive. Rex is another character who appears in every single world, with the same objectives in every world. With Rex and Kartos combined, that's already three pagies in every world guaranteed that I'm already dreading have to attempt.
There are also a lot of timed "go through rings" challenges and timed challenges. The game needed much more variety in puzzles and challenges than what was presented.
2. The Transformations
The transformations are by far the biggest disappointment in this game by a long shot. There's not a single one that I thought was very useful or fun. The pirate ship in Galleon Galaxy is about the only one that I felt had a decent amount of use and was utilized in a creative way.
In Banjo-Kazooie and Tooie, transformations were all used in very inventive and fun ways. From playing mini-games, to solving puzzles, to getting jiggles and unlocking doors. Each transformation gets a decent amount of mileage in the game and feel very helpful. Plus, they are all themed to each world and were very creative. Yooka-Laylee falls short in all of these aspects. Each transformation is good for a few collectibles (if that) and will maybe help you get 1 or 2 of the 25 pagies in a world. Sad.
3. Confusing Over World
Although the game only has 5 levels, it has a massive over world. This is in part because the game doesn't want you to miss any of the moves that you can learn. It's often the case that you can't advance without learning a new move. The secondary reason is that there are also pagies spread throughout the over world, and they needed to give enough space in order to place them around. Although I understand this, it took me a long time to be able to navigate around Hivory Towers.
There are shortcuts around, but they don't seem to help all that much. I actually had to memorize which shortcuts led to where, it wasn't something that felt automatic or like common sense.
4. Few Levels
I know that I put expanding the worlds as a positive, but it's a double edged sword. It was a neat new concept to make each world bigger, but I prefer the old formula that was used: smaller worlds that vary. This makes the game feel longer, showcases the creativity of the game designers and breaks up the monotony of playing each stage for a long period of time. With more collectibles in each level, you end up feeling burnt out faster if you're forced to spend more time in a level you don't like.
One of the things I liked about the older Rare games was having choice. If there was a particular level I was stuck on or didn't like, I was able to spend a minimal amount of time in it before moving on to the next level. With how the game was designed, I would (in all likelihood) be able to finish the game without having to return to that particular level. With only 5 (main) levels in Yooka-Laylee, there isn't much that you are able to skip, and you're still expected to spend a decent amount of time in each level. In my case, the world I was looking forward to was actually the worst level in the game. I couldn't simply ignore it.
Overall...
I would give this game a solid 7 out of 10. It has many enjoyable aspects to it. I would still recommend this game whether or not you have played the older Rare titles. Fans of N64 era Rare games will be able to relive some of their nostalgia through this game. For those of you who have never played the older titles, you do not have any expectations to compare this game to and you might be pleased with how this game performs as a stand-alone. There are flaws, but no game is without them. I feel as if this was a game that held true to its values and was made with love and care.
Yooka-Laylee is available on Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC.
