Title: Yooka-Laylee
Genre: Action, Adventure, Indie
Developer: Playtonic Games
Publisher: Team17 Digital Ltd
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC [Reviewed]
Release Date: Apr 11, 2017
Yooka-Laylee is everything that backers of the Kickstarter could have wanted, but with its reliance on nostalgia comes some self-imposed limitations that only show how far we have come since the 3D platformer days of the N64.
After getting a few weeks with the final review build of the game I can safely say that if you loved Banjo-Kazooie, then you are going to be head over-heels for Yooka-Laylee. This is as close as possible to a follow-up of that game series (almost scarily close), but that is also the very thing that holds it back from being great.
Yooka-Laylee plays nearly identical to the Banjo-Kazooie series, so much so that I had to pop in my copy of the game to see if there was much of a difference. Yooka-Laylee does add and refine a lot of what made those games great, but as with nearly every 3D N64 platformer, the camera is not going to be your friend or let you enjoy the game as much as you’d like. You’d think after multiple console generations they would have fixed this, and it’s one of the reasons why relying too hard on nostalgia can sometimes be a crutch.
Yooka-Laylee is about as much Banjo-Kazooie as legally possible. This means fans already know what you can expect here. You get some large stages, all based on unique themes, connected via a large hub-world. This hub-world was the first thing that drove me a little batty (I once spent 40 minutes just looking for a new stage to play). I know this isn’t anything new with this type of game, but it felt a bit overly complicated to navigate, so much so that I completed the first world to 100% completion simply because I had no idea where to go next.
Again, we’ve come a long way and game design isn’t the same as it was in that pre-2000s era of 3D gaming. So much of Yooka-Laylee, outside of the main levels felt more of a hindrance to the overall enjoyment. Maybe it’s just me, but I remember these hub-worlds being a little more easy to understand and navigate as a kid. This isn’t a deal breaker in the grand scheme of things, but what might be is the camera system.
It’s been over twenty-years since Super Mario 64 hit and in that time we’ve learned a lot about how to implement a camera in these sorts of games. Unfortunately, Yooka-Laylee is far more Mario 64 than anything modern in this respect. You are going to be spending a good portion of your time fighting the camera which will lead to a number of cheap deaths and some unneeded frustration.
Yooka-Laylee isn’t a hard game, but the forced dedication to nostalgia does make it frustrating at points. I don’t mind a spiritual successor to a franchise by a new or old team, but I do expect for it to also evolve with the times. I can point to DOOM doing just that, being a classic franchise that gets updated to take advantage of not only modern graphics, but of modern design.
I absolutely love Kickstarter, but a game like Yooka-Laylee shows how designing to a niche audience can limit a games success. I came into the Banjo-Kazooie game in my adult life, so I have no deep connection with it. In this respect, all the small issues with Yooka-Laylee are highlighted as I’m not wearing any sort of nostalgia glasses. I often felt like I was playing a remastered N64 game and I’m not sure how I feel about that.
All that said, Yooka-Laylee is a gorgeous looking game. It’s bright and colorful and you’ll be running about some truly vivid worlds. I tend to complain a lot about how modern “adult” gaming seems to really love earth-tones and angst, and playing through Yooka-Laylee really highlights this. It’s hard not to play through the game without having a big smile on your face most of the time.
Gameplay is about what you would expect. Yooka and Laylee have a number of abilities, and working in tandem is still a fresh concept, even today. The duo can run, jump and glide about stages, although the controls do feel a little loose for my liking. You have the ability to well, upgrade your abilities on your adventure via all the collectibles you pick up. Upgrading will allow you to access new stages, or go back to old stages and reach new section.
The games main goal sees you collecting “Pagies” (torn pages from a magical book) that remind me of the money from Conker’s Bad Fur Day. The more of these you collect can be turned in to open new worlds, but also to expand worlds you have already played. This is a nice touch that encourages going back to old levels and means that all the time spent replaying levels isn’t just a chore.
As the people behind Yooka-Laylee are made up of old Rare people, collecting stuff comes with the territory. That said, it isn’t nearly as bad as it was in Donkey Kong 64. And because these are old Rare folks, the comedy is really heavy, almost too much so. You have references to the N64 and old Rare titles, as well as classic games in general. For the most part this is really silly and cute, but there where times where I just smashed the skip button as it got a bit wordy.
But because this is old Rare that means the music is hands-down the highlight of the experience. It’s utterly charming and I never once got sick of it. This is important because the game is one heck of a padded experience. Levels aren’t really levels in the traditional sense. In many respects it feels like you are simply tossed into one giant puzzle that you have to work out without much guidance.
I’ve touched on some issues with Yooka-Laylee already, but the biggest problem with the game is that, for all its color and silliness, the game is sort of boring, aimless and without a real direction. On more than one occasion I nearly fell asleep from either boredom, or from having no idea where/what to do next. Yooka-Laylee hits you hard in the nostalgia feels, but after that it faces one steep drop-off.
Yooka-Laylee is a silly and colorful adventure that is probably exactly what Kickstarter backers wanted. That said the biggest failings come from exactly what it set out to be. That makes it a strange game to review and I’m sure the scores are going to be all over the place. In the end I like Yooka-Laylee, but when I can just pop in the remastered Banjo-Kazooie games on the RARE Replay, is it really all that necessary?
Final Score:
3.5/5
“Good”
A copy was provided for this review
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