Yooka-Laylee

From what I remember about the launch of this game it seemed like everyone was quite critical of how this game was designed. With a bit to much of a focus on collecting way to many things. Yet my first reaction once I got into the first world was that they did a great job at recreating the atmosphere of the N64 era of platformers. Even the collectible aspect doesn’t seem that bad other than having acquire 100 pages to fight the final boss. Which isn’t a problem since each world has enough variety that it only started becoming boring in world 5 thanks to the focus on flying around. So yeah, my expectations were quite low so I was quite surprised by this game. Let’s get into a bit more about what I actually played next.

This is indeed a 3D platformer with a focus on competing unique mini challenges to collect pagies. Which are golden pages from a magic book that were scattered into different worlds at the start of the game. The narrative is by the numbers silliness that fits right in with the many vibrant worlds it is possible to visit. Anyway the gist of the gameplay is using one of Yooka Laylee skills. Which are all gained from a helpful snake named Towzer who will let them buy new skills each new world they visit. They have different uses like being able to shoot elemental magic or just being able to fly. Each one lets the player take on a new challenge that makes use of em. With so much variety in how to complete each challenge it did a solid job of keeping me entertained for the 10 hours it took to see the credits roll.

Additionally the overly cartoony art style lets each world stand apart. The worlds you can visit may not be that unique with the woodland forest and winter wonderland being rather standard for the genre. Yet the winter world went in a direction I wasn’t expecting that was quite fun. Would have been nice to have that kind of gimmick in each world. While the music wasn’t something I focused on it certainly fit the tone of each setting. But nothing really stood out to me.

As I already mentioned the collection focus doesn’t hider this game at all. All of run around and pick up random item parts aren’t required. Everything you need is fairly obvious. Plus all the worlds aren’t huge so it’s easy to get around. Other than the last book dimension which is spread out way to much. The finale is also a little lackluster with the final boss being a bit anticlimactic.

Yet other than failing at the finale I enjoyed my time playing through this game. It hits all the right notes and the assortment of challenges keeps the platforming from getting boring. If you enjoyed N64 platformers I think this would still be a game worth playing.