Current Events > Yoka laylee on sale worth?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I heard mixed things
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Its fun enough for what it is, but it plays like it was made by developers who have been out of practice for a decade and were doing everything from memory.

If you can get it for like, less than 20 and are a big fan of the N64 Rare games, go for it.
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It's a throwback to banjo kazooie. And that includes EVERYTHING that being a throwback to banjo kazooie entails. Yooka Laylee gets a bad rap because decades of rose tinted goggles and more recent game evolutions have made people forget about some the less-than-stellar mechanics baked into the old rareware platformers.

Suffice to say, it plays like an n64 rareware platformer. Camera, controls, and all

DarkBuster22904 posted...

It's a throwback to banjo kazooie. And that includes EVERYTHING that being a throwback to banjo kazooie entails. Yooka Laylee gets a bad rap because decades of rose tinted goggles and more recent game evolutions have made people forget about some the less-than-stellar mechanics baked into the old rareware platformers.

Suffice to say, it plays like an n64 rareware platformer. Camera, controls, and all

No it doesnt.

Banjo-Kazooie had real weight to the controls that still feels satisfying. Yooka-Laylee suffers from amateur, Unity 101 floatiness.

BK had tight level design with creative use of theming to present unique challenges. YL worlds are over-large, lack cohesive landmarks for ease of navigation, and many challenges are recycled.

BK has varieties of enemies that complement platforming challenges. YL has recolors of the same set of enemies for every level.

BK has clever item placement to guide exploration. YL treats quills (equivalent to music notes) as just another bauble you need to go out of your way to track down, often with as much effort as the pages require.

Banjo-Kazooie was peak Rare, Yooka-Laylee is amateur hour by comparison. I replay BK at least once every year or two. So the contrast is even more apparent.

Its still fun, but it has a lot of room to improve.
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AlisLandale posted...

DarkBuster22904 posted...

It's a throwback to banjo kazooie. And that includes EVERYTHING that being a throwback to banjo kazooie entails. Yooka Laylee gets a bad rap because decades of rose tinted goggles and more recent game evolutions have made people forget about some the less-than-stellar mechanics baked into the old rareware platformers.

Suffice to say, it plays like an n64 rareware platformer. Camera, controls, and all

No it doesnt.

Banjo-Kazooie had real weight to the controls that still feels satisfying. Yooka-Laylee suffers from amateur, Unity 101 floatiness.

BK had tight level design with creative use of theming to present unique challenges. YL worlds are over-large, lack cohesive landmarks for ease of navigation, and many challenges are recycled.

BK has varieties of enemies that complement platforming challenges. YL has recolors of the same set of enemies for every level.

BK has clever item placement to guide exploration. YL treats quills (equivalent to music notes) as just another bauble you need to go out of your way to track down, often with as much effort as the pages require.

Banjo-Kazooie was peak Rare, Yooka-Laylee is amateur hour by comparison. I replay BK at least once every year or two. So the contrast is even more apparent.

Its still fun, but it has a lot of room to improve.

Hmm.. if its still fun it sounds worth it for what I'm paying
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DarkBuster22904 posted...

It's a throwback to banjo kazooie. And that includes EVERYTHING that being a throwback to banjo kazooie entails. Yooka Laylee gets a bad rap because decades of rose tinted goggles and more recent game evolutions have made people forget about some the less-than-stellar mechanics baked into the old rareware platformers.

Suffice to say, it plays like an n64 rareware platformer. Camera, controls, and all

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Hat in Time is the real throw back to N64 3D Platformers.

Yooka is a huge miss.

If it's cheap enough for you though, go ahead a try it out.

It is pretty fun still yeah.

Yooka-Laylee has a lot of problems, but theres still plenty of competently made challenges and good ideas for a fan of the genre.
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DarkBuster22904 posted...

It's a throwback to banjo kazooie. And that includes EVERYTHING that being a throwback to banjo kazooie entails. Yooka Laylee gets a bad rap because decades of rose tinted goggles and more recent game evolutions have made people forget about some the less-than-stellar mechanics baked into the old rareware platformers.

Suffice to say, it plays like an n64 rareware platformer. Camera, controls, and all

Banjo Kazooie did not have giant unity engine wastelands for levels. Thats YLs greatest flaw and nothing they have made except for Nuts and Bolts resembles it
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Yooka-Laylee captures some of the BK magic but feels a little Brand X in some ways. Most notably, I could feel the game struggling against the Unity engine. As AlisLandale points out, there's a floatiness to the movement. The boss battle and some cutscenes are also somewhat clumsy.

If you're looking to scratch that retro 3D platforming itch then play BK, BT, SM64... even DK64... first. If you've already played all of those and want something new, then Yooka-Laylee is worth a look. It's not bad... just don't expect it to live up to the games that inspired it.
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if you're honestly interested in a modern collectathon try A Hat in Time.
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ultimate reaver posted...

if you're honestly interested in a modern collectathon try A Hat in Time.

Recommending this as well
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It's good but definitely flawed. The levels are too big and there isnt enough stuff to do in them. The last level and first level are probably the best ones. The middle 3 levels are boring imo
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MC_BatCommander posted...

ultimate reaver posted...

if you're honestly interested in a modern collectathon try A Hat in Time.

Recommending this as well

but it aint on switch
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I actually prefer Yooka Laylee over A Hat in Time, both are solid games though.

My biggest gripe with Yooka Laylee is that the levels are for the most part just big areas that you're dumped into and run around in. As others have said, very few notable landmarks, and the items that you collect seem to have been placed without too much thought of linking areas together. The charm is great though, and Trowzers is my favourite character from any of these collectathon games (BK, BT, DK64, etc).
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