- Publisher: Team17
- Release Date: Apr 5, 2017
- Also On: PlayStation 4, Switch, Xbox One
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
- Unscored
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May 7, 2017Quotation forthcoming.
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Game World Navigator MagazineApr 25, 2017Level design also feels dated: there are a lot of ways to attract player’s attention where it’s needed, but Yooka-Laylee ignores them all: you can spend dozen minutes platform-jumping to reach a door – only to find out it won’t open because you missed something. Sure, it could be called “fair” or “realistic” – but how fun is it to run in circles? [Issue#219, p.80]
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Apr 26, 2017You can't remake the charm of Banjo-Kazooie while disguising it as another game. Yooka-Laylee is a package of nostalgia that aged badly. There is a lot to love here but at the same time, there is a lot to be outraged about. Nonetheless, it is a recommendation you should tread carefully on.
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Apr 4, 2017Yooka-Laylee contains all the pieces needed for a fun, enjoyable throwback to the 3D collectathons of the 64-bit era. The characters are charming and funny, your set of abilities is vast and entertaining, and four out of five of the worlds are fun playgrounds to explore. While it lacks the heart and polish of some of its incredible predecessors, it’s a good reminder that this genre, once thought to be dead, still has some life left in it.
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Apr 4, 2017A decent revival of the N64-era 3D platformer, but with all the flaws that carries, as well as some new ones of its own.
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LEVEL (Czech Republic)May 15, 2017Likeable and (sometimes) funny 3D platformer in an open world does not even try to keep up with time. The acknowledged spiritual successor of the first Banjo-Kazooie is precised up to the last detail to give the same gameplay as its 1998 ”original”. [Issue#274]
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Apr 8, 2017What it manages to faithfully recreate from the past is merely a facade that quickly shatters as you dig deeper into the game and stumble through its numerous faults. All that’s left is a platformer that fails to rise above mediocrity, in this day and age or any other.
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Apr 4, 2017The luster wears off as the game wears on; and boy does it wear in those latter stages as the level design peters out and the global Pagie population diminishes. For several hours, Yooka-Laylee gave me the kind of thrills that I’d long been looking to rediscover, but that initial warm blast of nostalgia quickly fades, revealing this to be a mirage of the 3D platforming golden years, rather than their long-desired comeback.
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May 9, 2017I recently revisited the original Banjo-Kazooie as part of the Rare Replay compilation and still found it to be the best of its genre, and I’m not one of those people who believes that a mascot platformer has no place in the modern gaming scene. I was ready to celebrate the return of this genre, but Yooka-Laylee is simply a chore to play. The folks at Playtonic have demonstrated that they can recreate the spirit of old-school 3D platformers. Now, critically, they need to recreate the quality.
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Apr 4, 2017Yooka-Laylee looks the part of an updated platformer, but some of its mechanics should have stayed back in the era it came from. There was a reason we haven’t seen more games like Banjo Kazooie on modern platforms, and it wasn’t just because Rare as we knew it was gone; its ideas were very specific to a gameplay era that we’ve evolved past. Fourth-wall breaking dialog, shiny characters and lush graphics can’t save Yooka-Laylee from the dated framework that it’s built on.
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Apr 12, 2017Ultimately, nostalgia has never been, nor will ever be, the reason behind a purchase of mine; nor should it ever overshadow gameplay and mechanics so much that care about how the release plays falls by the wayside. It definitely brings the 1990s era to the modern day, but some things just should be left in the past.
| This publication does not provide a score for their reviews. | |
| This publication has not posted a final review score yet. | |
| These unscored reviews do not factor into the Metascore calculation. | |
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Apr 4, 2017Tearing away all of the bloat, Yooka-Laylee is a challenging and satisfying platformer. When it focuses on the basics, it succeeds with considerable flair. Yet, these moments arrive in short bursts that are padded out by confusing and hostile design. They point towards a far more enjoyable game than the complete package. The parts are significantly greater than the whole. There’s fun to be had but it doesn’t come easily. And if I never have to collect another shiny again, it’ll be far too soon.
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Apr 4, 2017Yooka-Laylee is bright, it’s positive, it’s daft and it wants to play with you. And that’s lovely.
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Apr 12, 2017While it’s tempting to blame the game’s lackluster final state on its nostalgia-chasing Kickstarter or the inherently dated nature of its genre, Yooka-Laylee shouldn’t be used as evidence to condemn either. The fault lies squarely with Playtonic, who, by merit of the game’s better half, has shown that this singular style can work just fine in 2017, but whose spotty execution and lack of vision will undoubtedly lead many to shout otherwise.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 196 out of 339
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Mixed: 43 out of 339
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Negative: 100 out of 339
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Apr 11, 2017
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Apr 11, 2017
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Apr 11, 2017