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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
GAMBIT
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?