The best part about Yooka-Laylee is it's movement. Jumping and exploring the world feels really good, and the moves you are given allows for some fun with different ways to approach challenges. Like any good 3D platformer, the fun is in mastering the movement of the character. The game also allows you to platform on stuff that most games would put an invisible barrier around, which I very much appreciate.
Unfortunately, the game is very hit or miss when it comes to the challenges themselves. Sometimes I'll be exploring a new world and enjoying myself, but then I have to stop and do a tedious puzzle or a minigame that just stops the actual fun of this genre dead in its tracks. Or I find myself wandering all over a giant yet seemingly empty world looking for one last collectible or even just looking for where the rest of the level is. And while you can platform to a lot of out of reach places that are clearly not in the intended path, very rarely do those places actually have a decent reward, if there is any at all.
I also feel like this game is at times too adherent to the formula that this team used in the Banjo series. Nearly every level in this game uses a theme that has already been done in one of the previous games. The quizzes that were the finale of the previous games are now just placed in between every other level and have any of the fun completely squeezed out of them, as if the team felt like they had to have quizzes but couldn't figure out how. The music sounds so much like previous games that it might as well not be there. So much is done to emulate the older games, but half the time it either doesn't feel as good or just holds the actual game back
I want to see the team behind this game to really improve on it if there ever will be any follow-up game. The movement is so much better than Banjo that I don't see why they can't try to escape the confines of that series and really make something that better fits what I talked about in the first paragraph. More fun with platforming, less arcade games. I know I spent a large chunk of this review whining, but seriously, I really like moving around in this game, and sometimes that's all I need. When the game is good, it feels just like you remember the best parts of the best 3D platformers. If you like 3D platformers the way I do, that's probably all you need to hear. I'm kind of mixed on it, but overall I enjoyed my time.
Unfortunately, the game is very hit or miss when it comes to the challenges themselves. Sometimes I'll be exploring a new world and enjoying myself, but then I have to stop and do a tedious puzzle or a minigame that just stops the actual fun of this genre dead in its tracks. Or I find myself wandering all over a giant yet seemingly empty world looking for one last collectible or even just looking for where the rest of the level is. And while you can platform to a lot of out of reach places that are clearly not in the intended path, very rarely do those places actually have a decent reward, if there is any at all.
I also feel like this game is at times too adherent to the formula that this team used in the Banjo series. Nearly every level in this game uses a theme that has already been done in one of the previous games. The quizzes that were the finale of the previous games are now just placed in between every other level and have any of the fun completely squeezed out of them, as if the team felt like they had to have quizzes but couldn't figure out how. The music sounds so much like previous games that it might as well not be there. So much is done to emulate the older games, but half the time it either doesn't feel as good or just holds the actual game back
I want to see the team behind this game to really improve on it if there ever will be any follow-up game. The movement is so much better than Banjo that I don't see why they can't try to escape the confines of that series and really make something that better fits what I talked about in the first paragraph. More fun with platforming, less arcade games. I know I spent a large chunk of this review whining, but seriously, I really like moving around in this game, and sometimes that's all I need. When the game is good, it feels just like you remember the best parts of the best 3D platformers. If you like 3D platformers the way I do, that's probably all you need to hear. I'm kind of mixed on it, but overall I enjoyed my time.