Yooka-Laylee

 PlayStation 4
User Score
6.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 269 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 139 out of 269
  2. Mixed: 51 out of 269
  3. Negative: 79 out of 269
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  1. CanadianYeti
    Jul 17, 2017
    4
    Yooka’s main goal is to remind players of how great Banjo-Kazooie was back in the day, and I feel it accomplished that with me. In my entire time playing I found I’d much rather be playing Banjo than this worse homage to it.
  2. mrnice
    Apr 8, 2018
    5
    Creative enough to appeal to genre fans. The cheery presentation and characters deserved a more fun game. For example, I laughed out loud at my own frustrations during a mini-game about driving a mine kart through an obstacle course. The minigame was reused five times in the game, one of which had a bossfight locked away behind the minigame. So I had to beat it although I wanted toCreative enough to appeal to genre fans. The cheery presentation and characters deserved a more fun game. For example, I laughed out loud at my own frustrations during a mini-game about driving a mine kart through an obstacle course. The minigame was reused five times in the game, one of which had a bossfight locked away behind the minigame. So I had to beat it although I wanted to ragequit and get rid of the Yooka Laylee disc. The minigame exemplifies much of the annoyances with the overall game. It looks like fun, and it should be fun... but somehow, it's just tweaked a bit towards annoying the player. When it works and it doesn't annoy, then there are some great moments of basic platforming fun. But the joys are spread thin and the game has a lot of backtracking and confusingly laid-out mission 'hunt'... where the player can go look for next mission, but find that it requires better power-ups, only to have to return to earlier levels and try to find something there, and then traverse all the way back to newer levels with the required power-ups... etc.. I see no reason why the game shouldn't have been a linear, laser-tight experience without the gimmicky filler content. The game has enough ideas for an epic campaign, but the gameplay is spread out in a slightly confusing way, and technically the game does not assist the player in an enjoyable way, rather it can sabotage some moments spread throughout the game.

    I fondly remember Banjo-Kazooie, and Goldeneye... but it seems like the classic studio took a long time off and didn't keep their skills sharp... so naturally when they reunited to build Yooka Laylee, their resources didn't really fit the ambitions very well.

    It's a pretty long game, at 15+ hours for reaching the final boss. Getting there requires 100 small missions/tasks. I spent the last few hours of my game time 'scrambling' for decently fun missions to beat. It didn't get too stale or desperate... but I did feel the good content was already used and the only option was to think strategically about where the last few good missions could hide.    … Expand
  3. Vapor96
    Dec 29, 2019
    6
    While the game has a lot of charm and personality, Yooka-Laylee is so true to its genre roots that it tells the player pretty much nothing. Often playing it consists of roaming around huge areas hoping to find some challenges to beat, and this is just not my idea of fun. Add to that some grindy repetition and major camera problems, and you have yourself a throwback that falls right intoWhile the game has a lot of charm and personality, Yooka-Laylee is so true to its genre roots that it tells the player pretty much nothing. Often playing it consists of roaming around huge areas hoping to find some challenges to beat, and this is just not my idea of fun. Add to that some grindy repetition and major camera problems, and you have yourself a throwback that falls right into mediocrity, despite funny characters and a great soundtrack.… Expand
  4. majr
    Apr 17, 2017
    5
    While far away from a bad game, it has its fair share of flaws (mainly the camera). I would love to see a tooie and see if they can fix the issues and maybe cut back on the forth wall breaking a tiny bit.

    Well worth playing, but if you can wait out for a sell. I got mine for $30 and I feel I should of waited for a bit to get it closer to $20
  5. SOLIDSNAKEN64
    Jan 19, 2018
    6
    As a Banjo-Kazooie fan who has found memories of playing it back on my N64 as a kid. I was really stoked when i found out that the creators of the franchise decided to make a spiritual successor since they couldn't make a squeal. I do love platformers but this game was just ok to me, the story doesn't really pull you in and make you want to read every dialogue box. I do like the mainAs a Banjo-Kazooie fan who has found memories of playing it back on my N64 as a kid. I was really stoked when i found out that the creators of the franchise decided to make a spiritual successor since they couldn't make a squeal. I do love platformers but this game was just ok to me, the story doesn't really pull you in and make you want to read every dialogue box. I do like the main characters and there are a lot of memorable NPCs. The world designs are decent but the main world design was terrible trying to figure out where the next tomb is was more of a challenge then some of the in-world puzzles. Speaking of puzzles they ranged from really easy to hard, and I can say I enjoyed solving them and exploring the different tombs that you have to unlock by collecting the Gold Pagies. Environments ranged from really cool looking, detailed and unique to dull and lifeless. The enemies are more annoying than threatening, they could really use a more verity of enemies as well. Controls definitely need work and tightened up, camera was atrocious, never pointing in the direction that i need even when im the one directing it. The final boss is a cheating piece of **** I was about ready to rage quit! I feel like if platonic decides to create a sequel to YL there is plenty of room to improve on.… Expand
  6. Contempt
    Sep 6, 2017
    5
    First and foremost this game was released incomplete and the consequences to my experience was dire.

    I bought this software upon release with the idea that I would 100% complete the game with no hesitations. This resulted in me being stuck on the Casino level looking through every pixel to find the very last Pagie. After a frustrated Google search I came to find that it was in fact    First and foremost this game was released incomplete and the consequences to my experience was dire.

    I bought this software upon release with the idea that I would 100% complete the game with no hesitations.

    This resulted in me being stuck on the Casino level looking through every pixel to find the very last Pagie. After a frustrated Google search I came to find that it was in fact the programmers fault as it was a glitch keeping me from enjoying the final Pagie. I put the game away and over the months it collects dust.

    After approximately three months the news of a massive patch is released for Yooka-Laylee, with reluctant persistence I place the CD back into the Ps4 and try again. After a few hours I get to the final boss and defeat him after many attempts, most of which being from dying from the buggy controls rather than a lack of platformer precision.

    After the boss is defeated I am enthralled as I assume I will be able to unlock the final tonic, the one that makes the game look like it has N64 graphics. How hip I think to myself as I rush to the nearest tonic dispenser. However, the tonic is still locked away. Despite having a score of 100% on the PlayStation network.

    After another angry Google I am to find the tonic is still locked away as the developers have yet to complete to mode in question. Sorry; am I old fashioned or am I in my rights to be experiencing an anger blackout over this situation? Why have the promise of the tonic in the game if it cannot be unlocked?

    So to this day I have searched every pixel and completed Yooka-Laylee as far as humanly possible but the constraints of lazy programming have not once but twice stunted my gamer experience. Imagine if classics such as Bloodborne or Mario Kart needed to be patched before you could enjoy the fruits of your labour? This is not a direction in which we want our hobby, the humble console gamer to be going in. We as a community must make sure that we never ever fall into the trap of rewards being 'Coming Soon' as this will surely put off future generations of platforming fans. if the reward is in the making then do not have any hint in the product until the entire mode is unlockable.

    Regards,

    Panther.    … Expand
  7. leetl1
    Mar 4, 2019
    6
    I love Banjo Kazooie, but this game is lacking because the controls suck and the game feels even more flawed than Banjo Kazooie, which is sad because this is a 2017 game.
  8. AltruXeno
    Apr 12, 2017
    7
    Yooka-Laylee is precisely what it promised to be: a 3D platformer for the people who grew up playing 3D platformers. If you remember Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, and other collectathon games fondly, this game may be for you. If you've never heard of these games or their ilk, then its probably be best to stay away. I still regularly play N64 platformers at the behest of my 3 year oldYooka-Laylee is precisely what it promised to be: a 3D platformer for the people who grew up playing 3D platformers. If you remember Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, and other collectathon games fondly, this game may be for you. If you've never heard of these games or their ilk, then its probably be best to stay away. I still regularly play N64 platformers at the behest of my 3 year old son, so I am acutely aware of what this game had to offer, both good and bad... because for better or worse, Yooka-Laylee is true to its origins:

    Pros:
    Nostalgia - Sure, not really something one might be looking for in a review but I've no doubt that if you enjoyed 3D Rare games when you were a child (as I did) that you will have fun playing this game. In almost every way this is a graphically updated version of those games.

    Visual Style - As mentioned above, this is basically a more beautiful version of an N64 platformer. The visual are stunning, the characters gorgeous, and the environments fitting. The draw distance is basically infinite and I've noticed no pop-ins or other artifacts to distract from the beauty (as a game developer myself I am sensitive to these things and unfairly find them jarring).

    Difficulty - I find the difficulty to be just enough. Most of the "Pagies" are pretty straight forward and easy to get. However, I came across a few puzzles or areas that I had difficulty completing or reaching and those are where I had the most fun. Again, I've been playing these types of games for over 20 years so any introductory puzzles or barely hidden secrets were going to get completed and found almost instantly, but I was pleasantly surprised by some of the challenges that this game presented.

    Humor - Again, if you followed this game through its Kickstarter campaign and beyond you knew exactly what to expect: cheeky characters, strange voices, and fourth wall breaking dialogue. I was, for the most part, not disappointed. Sure, there were a few places where I think they tried too hard but in most cases I gave an audible chuckle.

    Cons:
    Camera - Let's just get the obvious one out of the way. I would almost venture that the camera is WORSE than in the 64 era, but only because the Nintendo 64 restricted the camera movement more (you could typically hit the left and right C-Keys to rotate a pre-determined amount around the character). Because of the freedom allotted by the new hardware the camera often gets stuck or pushed around by objects in ways that not only take away from the gameplay, but can often break it completely (i.e. riding up an elevator and as soon as you jump off of it the camera does a full 180 and instead of moving left towards the ledge you move back towards the platform from which you jumped! If there was one thing I was hoping that this game would fix, it was the camera. I was disappointed.

    Backtracking - The worlds that you get to explore are huge and each present their own unique challenges. However, as a person who feels that they need to collect everything before moving on I often found myself trying to get to places that I could not yet reach. The game itself readily advertises that you can unlock additional moves in any order, but then proceeds to lock abilities in different worlds (essentially forcing you to go through other levels and unlock abilities to get enough resources to unlock further levels.) I often found that I would come back to earlier worlds once I unlocked new abilities, trekking through places I've already sniffed out thoroughly, only to find that the abilities that I unlocked aren't what I need. I'll have to come back a third time with a new ability to get this. A relic of the games of yore, but because the levels are much larger, and the need of almost every ability in every level, this particular case seems hyperbolic.    … Expand
  9. SuperkenGaming
    Apr 18, 2017
    6
    Yooka Laylee
    From Great to disappointing
    3D platformers were all the rage in the late 90s all the way through the PlayStation 2 era and then they faded away... Of course everyone misses the good ole days, so some veterans from the banjo kazooie team brought it back with yooka laylee, a game with potential that never delivers… In yooka laylee you play as yooka the iguana and laylee the    Yooka Laylee
    From Great to disappointing
    3D platformers were all the rage in the late 90s all the way through the PlayStation 2 era and then they faded away...
    Of course everyone misses the good ole days, so some veterans from the banjo kazooie team brought it back with yooka laylee, a game with potential that never delivers…
    In yooka laylee you play as yooka the iguana and laylee the bat, you set off on an adventure to get all of the pagies and stop capital b and dr quack from snatching all of the worlds books.
    You start out in a hub, with 5 levels inside... to get to each of the 5 levels you need new powers... so to get these powers you enter the levels 1 at a time to explore these sandboxes, complete all of the tasks around the world for the initially charming characters in return for a pagie, and collect the quills to purchase new super moves from the trowzer snake
    or trowzer the snake..
    Yeah... idk, the humor is questionable in this game... I’m not sure who this game was really made for…
    The first world is the best world in the game…
    There’s heart here, nostalgia, humor, character…
    A sense of adventure…
    ghost creatures hidden in the world to collect... items to find for characters…
    fun platforming sections, a race…
    And then the game just falls apart…
    Collecting pagies is important to unlocking new levels, and the quills are important for unlocking moves to complete the tasks here…
    But pagies can also be used to extend the levels...
    These extended versions of the levels add new missions, characters and a boss battles to help you on your journey to collecting 100 pagies needed to get to the games end…
    And that journey to 100 pagies, is an uninteresting and frustrating grind…
    Sadly the levels literally get worse as you go..
    characters are recycled…
    missions are recycled…
    the levels feel like little to no effort were put into them
    the game starts to feel lazy…
    it introduces new moves in every world but nothing cool is ever done with these abilities…
    It’s just becomes a joke by the games end…
    The 2nd to last level is just a bunch of time your slam right slot machine games…
    And the final level had a space theme
    fitting because of how empty it felt.
    Yooka Laylee has good bits to it...
    The hub world is great…
    forcing you to unlock new moves and the idea that these moves will keep you coming back to past levels is great…
    there’s arcade games in here to play with friends for high scores
    The first level is great and exactly what I want out of a 3d platformer…
    But beyond level 1, the hub world, and the hook of bringing your new moves back to past levels…
    Yooka Laylee is a pretty mediocre game…
    I Give Yooka Laylee
    a 6/10    … Expand
  10. TheHumbleGamer
    Jun 28, 2017
    7
    To start, I'd like to say I was a backer of this game on Kickstarter. I won't disclose how much I backed it for here, but I'll say it was quite a lot. I'd also like to say I honestly don't regret backing this game, even though it turned out not to be as good as I (and many others) expected it to be.

    I can't say I'm not disappointed with this game, but I want to be one of the reasonable    To start, I'd like to say I was a backer of this game on Kickstarter. I won't disclose how much I backed it for here, but I'll say it was quite a lot. I'd also like to say I honestly don't regret backing this game, even though it turned out not to be as good as I (and many others) expected it to be.

    I can't say I'm not disappointed with this game, but I want to be one of the reasonable people who tells you it isn't as bad as many have said. It certainly isn't flawless, but it still has a charm to it. There are parts of the game where you can clearly see the effort that went into it. As far as I'm concerned, this game was pretty much what was promised by Playtonic, although most of us agree that may not have been the best thing now that we've played it.

    I'd like to take you through my personal quarrels with the game before telling you the things I liked.
    For starters, the story was not as charming as classic rare titles, the characters didn't really have that same importance or personality that characters had in classic titles. The game does nothing new with the 3D platformer/collectathon genre and just simply copied Banjo-Kazooie (for the most part) in its style. I think this is what ticks me off the most about this game, it's entire style is a rip-off of Banjo, and that isn't what most of us wanted. We wanted a Banjo style game yes, but we wanted something new with that formula, not the exact same stuff. The game has a neat variety of levels to explore, all expandable by using pagies you collect (this games jiggies), but here's the issue, the worlds follow the Banjo-Tooie Style and not the Banjo-Kazooie Style, they are vast expanses that can take a while to fully explore. My major issue with this mixed with world expansion starts with the fact that you don't know when you've collected and done all you can in a non-expanded version of a world, it never tells you what you can and cannot do in a non-expanded world, which makes it really difficult to know if the things your missing are in the expanded version of a world or if you can get them before expanding it and with worlds being as large as they are (and with no warp points like Banjo-Tooie), getting around them to explore and find the last few missing items in non-expanded (or even expanded) worlds is an annoying, unnecessary headache that Playtonic honestly should have realised was bad design. My last real quarrel with the game is Rextro's minigames. Whoever designed a couple of these needs to be thrown into the nearest volcano. Up N Over and Hurdle Hijinx (especially the latter). These two mingames were by far the things that angered me the most out of anything in this game. Hurdle Hijinx is especially poorly designed as a mini-game, it took me over 4 and a half hours to do because I have terrible hand/eye co-ordination. It is hugely flawed and I'm pretty sure thousands of players would agree with me.

    Now with all my personal problems with the game out of the way, I want to tell you what this game does right, starting with how I genuinely felt while playing it. As a huge Banjo-Kazooie & Banjo-Tooie fan I was really hopeful about this game and even through it's flaws I focused on what I found the most fun. For starters, I think the music in this game is fantastic. I know some don't like the tracks, but i think they all fit and are all memorable in there own right. I liked the large worlds (despite what I said above). Whenever I was exploring hunting for pagies and quills (and other secrets!) I felt just like a kid exploring the vast worlds of Banjo-Tooie, or even Spyro. it was actually fun and honestly made me feel like that kid again. The boss of each world was unique (albeit a bit silly in some cases) and were all pretty fun to fight and really reminded me of the banjo-Tooie boss fights. I Loved the hub world (Hivory Towers) and slowly getting through it was fun. Many of the pagies were extremely rewarding to collect and that feeling of success I had solving many of the harder puzzles is unrivalled in all of my gaming history.

    This game had some serious potential, and it does a heck of alot for copying the banjo formula. My hope would be that Playtonic learns from the flaws of this game and (if it makes another) decides to make something truly worthy of the title 'Rare-vival'    … Expand
  11. ThereIsNoSpoon
    Apr 13, 2017
    5
    30FPS is horrible for this game, and makes it so much more difficult than it should be. This is a platformer--it needs to be smooth. I sold this version and picked up the PC version instead, and it's worlds better. I don't understand why they couldn't hit 60fps on PS4. This isn't Uncharted 4. It just feels laggy all over.
  12. FromKanga
    Jul 12, 2017
    6
    Yooka-Laylee was okay, as a fan of Banjo-Kazooie and Conker's bad fur day, I must say I am dissapointed in this game, it's not as bad as other people said but it's still pretty weak.

    The story is ridiculous but charming, it feels like the good old days were the stories were simple but funny enough to keep you playing. The game's downfall is the gameplay, the camera is annoying and the    Yooka-Laylee was okay, as a fan of Banjo-Kazooie and Conker's bad fur day, I must say I am dissapointed in this game, it's not as bad as other people said but it's still pretty weak.

    The story is ridiculous but charming, it feels like the good old days were the stories were simple but funny enough to keep you playing.
    The game's downfall is the gameplay, the camera is annoying and the controls are very slippery, banjo-kazooie and donkey kong 64 had the same problems, but the levels in yooka-laylee are weaker, it has a great first level but the other levels are forgettable, it's not fun to explore the hidden places like it was in the old games.
    This game is way too forgiving with the power-ups making the game really easy (exept that final boss), it's never challenging so it takes away all the fun of the other RareWare Games.

    I do want to point out, the reason why I can forgive the camera and controls on the nintendo 64 games is because the games came out in late 90's-begenning 2000, so it's understandable, but we're in 2017 now and I expect more out of games, I hope playtronic will learn from their mistakes and make a much stronger sequel, because there is still a lot of potential here.    … Expand
  13. William91
    May 13, 2017
    9
    I much like many people my age grew up right between the jump from 2D gaming to 3D gaming. Rare in collaboration with Nintendo made the jump into the third dimension with incredible ease. Switching from the Donkey Kong Country series into games like Golden Eye, Donkey Kong 64 and of course Banjo Kazooie. Easily my favorite game as a child growing up (and for most of this blog post will beI much like many people my age grew up right between the jump from 2D gaming to 3D gaming. Rare in collaboration with Nintendo made the jump into the third dimension with incredible ease. Switching from the Donkey Kong Country series into games like Golden Eye, Donkey Kong 64 and of course Banjo Kazooie. Easily my favorite game as a child growing up (and for most of this blog post will be used as a comparison) it was a huge shock to me when Rare and now Microsoft released a glorified cart racer in the place of Banjo Thriee. So admittedly since the announcement of Yooka Laylee back in 2014 I was watching it like a hawk. So did the former Rare team now Playtonic Games capture the magic of the originals? Here is my review of Yooka Laylee for PS4 (also available on Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch sometime in the near future) Full Review here http://wp.me/p8GO4V-i… Expand
  14. roo7788
    Apr 12, 2017
    5
    El juego se puede resumir basicamente como banjo kazooie 3 para el n64 realmete es un juego de n64 recrearon todo incluso los problemas que tenian los juegos de n64 en especial la camara la cual es molesta y tan eratica que lastima.
    es un buen juego y espero que solucionen el problema de la camara pero mientras no lo solucionen tiene el juego una baja calificacion por que no voy a jugar    El juego se puede resumir basicamente como banjo kazooie 3 para el n64 realmete es un juego de n64 recrearon todo incluso los problemas que tenian los juegos de n64 en especial la camara la cual es molesta y tan eratica que lastima.
    es un buen juego y espero que solucionen el problema de la camara pero mientras no lo solucionen tiene el juego una baja calificacion por que no voy a jugar algo que lastime la vista por la camara    … Expand
  15. UnsafeMuffins
    Apr 19, 2017
    10
    This game is everything a fan of classic Rare 3D platformers could dream of. It promised to capture the charm and humor of Banjo-Kazooie while also keeping it fresh and bringing in a new and memorable cast of characters, and it does just that. I've personally had no issues with the game whatsoever, the platforming is smooth and easy while the mini-games can be a bit challenging, it'sThis game is everything a fan of classic Rare 3D platformers could dream of. It promised to capture the charm and humor of Banjo-Kazooie while also keeping it fresh and bringing in a new and memorable cast of characters, and it does just that. I've personally had no issues with the game whatsoever, the platforming is smooth and easy while the mini-games can be a bit challenging, it's perfect for fans of the Nintendo 64 and modern gaming alike.… Expand
  16. metachirrup
    Apr 17, 2017
    7
    This is pretty much what I wanted from the Kickstarter campaign (I'm a backer) but I feel like there was too much box-ticking and not enough vision and enthusiasm in design. Everything is there but not organised with the enthusiasm I believe they had when creating Banjo-Kazooie. I guess they just weren't inspired by this genre anymore?
  17. KarmaCharmeleon
    Apr 11, 2017
    8
    Despite some camera issues and maybe some fps problems in the console versions (of which i've experienced none of the PS4 so far), Yooka-Laylee is truly the "rarevival" the developers were going for.

    The game platforming feels just right and extremely responsive, platforming is satisfying and gives you more than one way to reach certain areas. The moves that Yooka and Laylee learn feel    Despite some camera issues and maybe some fps problems in the console versions (of which i've experienced none of the PS4 so far), Yooka-Laylee is truly the "rarevival" the developers were going for.

    The game platforming feels just right and extremely responsive, platforming is satisfying and gives you more than one way to reach certain areas. The moves that Yooka and Laylee learn feel extremely fitting and you'll find yourslef using them many times, no moves will feel useless or forgotten. On the bad side enemy variety is lacking and the most common enemies you'll meet feel more like healthpick ups than an actual threat.

    This game has a huge variety of characters that all feel unique and they'll get a laugh out of you for sure, specially Laylee. Modern gaming references and mockery is everywhere during dialogues between the characters.

    Worlds are massive, colorful and full of personality and their own gimmicks, it can get kind of hard to navigate these worlds but after a while you'll know if like the palm of your hand just like in the BK games.

    I could go on and on and on, but it would take me far too long so i'll just give you a pros and cons list:

    Pros:
    -Great and responsive controls.
    -Satisfying and sometimes challenging platforming.
    -Great use of moves to solve puzzles.
    -Progress is customizable as you can choose when to learn a move or move on to another world.
    -Massive and colorful worlds.
    -Hilarious and charming characters.

    Cons:
    -Camera can get very irritating at some points.
    -Lack of threatening enemies.
    -Not exactly a very hard game.    … Expand
  18. Marchbaby
    Apr 11, 2017
    10
    When Playtonic games says there were going for a Rarevival they were telling the truth. Yooka Laylee feels every bit as amazing as their classic platformers on the N64. The sound effects used for the voices may be off putting for some but for old school fans of rare they are one of the many beautiful touches added to make it feel at home with Rare's best days. The music is fantastic asWhen Playtonic games says there were going for a Rarevival they were telling the truth. Yooka Laylee feels every bit as amazing as their classic platformers on the N64. The sound effects used for the voices may be off putting for some but for old school fans of rare they are one of the many beautiful touches added to make it feel at home with Rare's best days. The music is fantastic as well and it would fit into Banjo's games no problem at all. Even the visuals have that fun, cartoony look that reminds me of yesteryear.

    The only real quirk I had was the camera being a bit funky but beyond that no issues. Even the frame rate was steady minus 1 or 2 dips while streaming a 3 1/2 hour session to showcase the game. All in all if you grew up loving Banjo, Conker, or Donkey Kong 64 more than likely you will love this game. For those who are not a fan of those kinds of games this is not for you as it is so similar to them that it will not change your mind.

    Above all else I will say this Rarevival was years overdue and I am so glad I helped back this game so it could come to life. We may not longer have Banjo but Yooka Laylee is the next best thing.    … Expand
  19. L0rzee
    Apr 11, 2017
    10
    Banjo Kazooie and Donkey Kong Country 64 (Wich is also a big part of this game. People tend to forget that) are two of my all time favourite Videogames. The time i spent in those games as a kid trying to get every thing their is to get in the game and that time times 10 as an grown up laughing about the wonderful british Humor and apreciate the wonderful music by Brent Kirkhope and DavidBanjo Kazooie and Donkey Kong Country 64 (Wich is also a big part of this game. People tend to forget that) are two of my all time favourite Videogames. The time i spent in those games as a kid trying to get every thing their is to get in the game and that time times 10 as an grown up laughing about the wonderful british Humor and apreciate the wonderful music by Brent Kirkhope and David Wise.

    Yooka-Laylee is everything i've hoped it would be! it's not just another banjo title just with another skin. It's a brand new rare game with all i love soooo much. Everything is their! The Wonderful Score by Brant Kirkope in the main levels in cooperation with David wise for everything in beetween and that tropical freeze esk Minecart theme. The Collectibles that are their again with the feathers, Pagies etc. the transformations and God allmighty the sounds characters make when you talk to them is just delightful! i haven't had that much fun in years!
    And by the way i have no peformance issues what so ever with my copy... Maybe because i have a Playstation 4 PRO? :/ idk the PC Version (that i also own) runs very good though    … Expand
  20. 200ft
    Apr 14, 2017
    4
    This game is nothing like the og. Banjo. This is just a big pile of mess. The first world is awesome, I have to give it that. but the rest are just frustrating ugly stages. Every activity you do for a pagie is so boring: fly through circles, kill a bunch of enemies and fly through circles again. Wait for a discount and then maxbe consider buying.
  21. Arma15
    Oct 29, 2017
    10
    Honestly I do not understand the other reviews, the game is amazing and really fun, and even if it was developped by a much less budget as banjo it is really fun as banjo.
  22. Roybusa
    Apr 11, 2017
    9
    Excellent game, it is so old school, I don't understand why people argue because the gameplay or voices, this is why people asked for, an real old school game, maybe this will be the beginning of the new old era of video games
  23. BloodyHellMate
    Apr 18, 2017
    0
    This is the result of attempting to ride the coattails of former successes from an era that has long since passed. 3D platformers dying off was a natural evolution of gaming; working backwards against that flow was bound to produce mediocre results from the very beginning.

    Between a cringe-inducing rip-off of the original DK rap which embarrassingly misses all of its strong points—its    This is the result of attempting to ride the coattails of former successes from an era that has long since passed. 3D platformers dying off was a natural evolution of gaming; working backwards against that flow was bound to produce mediocre results from the very beginning.

    Between a cringe-inducing rip-off of the original DK rap which embarrassingly misses all of its strong points—its originality at the time of its release, its large roster of characters that it discussed, and so on—the constant "t-this'll be just like those outdated 90's games you loved 20 years ago!" reminders, the forced memes and tie-ins to other games (Shovel Knight for example), etc., it's clear as day that they didn't have enough confidence in their product to market it as its own independent game. At every possible opportunity, they had to say, "Look, guys; we're just like Banjo-Kazooie!" Even the character design of the main characters reeks of this nonsense.

    Due to BSODs consistently interrupting whatever I do less than half an hour after starting my computer, I'm going to briefly summarize points that I would normally spend paragraphs describing in detail.
    The level design is as bland as anything you'd expect from a 1st generation 3D platformer. 20 years later, there's no excuse for this hot mess, and no amount of "pretty" (see: acceptable/average/"meh") graphics will make up for that. The "combat" is as bland as that in—to draw comparisons between 90's platformers—the first two Gex games, the first two Crash Bandicoot games, and Super Mario 64. The minigames won't be entertaining to anyone who isn't a minor and recognizes that they have no more depth than any given cash-grab mobile game. Difficulty? What difficulty? This game provides no challenge, and thus no sense of accomplishment for completing anything. The maps/"levels" are so few in number that I couldn't even recommend this game at a $20 price point, let alone the $40 these lunatics are asking for.

    Pick this up for a younger sibling or cousin who's easily entertained by shovelware when this goes on sale for $10 a year or two from now. Otherwise, avoid this outdated, uninspired bargain bin software (courtesy of the Unity engine! I wish I was joking.) like the plague.    … Expand
  24. ByYuxiSs
    Apr 17, 2017
    8
    In if the game is very similar to a classic like Banjo Kazooie and that enchants to me.
    The game itself did not meet my expectations and I was a bit disappointed at the beginning but every time the story progresses, you get more affection for the characters, a very attractive gameplay and dialogues quite similar to that great classic.

    A game fairly well 8/10
  25. rubencube
    Apr 14, 2017
    10
    Undoubtedly the best platform game since n64, the music is great, it gives off pure magic and beautiful gameplay, the dialogues are very well done and they have that spicy Banjo Kazooie spice, awesome game !!!
  26. vgmkyle
    Apr 11, 2017
    10
    First off this is a platformer, and most people are not good at them? Why? I don't exactly know, but the people rating it low for combat are not very smart.

    We all knew what the critics were going to say before they said it: "The combat is no good" and "It's too much like Banjo-Kazooie." If you are saying this -- you are the exact reason why the game industry has become as mundane as it    First off this is a platformer, and most people are not good at them? Why? I don't exactly know, but the people rating it low for combat are not very smart.

    We all knew what the critics were going to say before they said it: "The combat is no good" and "It's too much like Banjo-Kazooie." If you are saying this -- you are the exact reason why the game industry has become as mundane as it has. The people saying this are the same people playing Call of Duty and Dark Souls year after year.    … Expand
  27. OmegaTigerWoods
    Apr 12, 2017
    3
    The developers turned the game political, which is never a good sign. On top of that, the game is complete garbage, and devoid of the charm the original Nintendo 64 Rare games had. The levels feel emptier than Tooie, the camera jerks at the worst times and the humor is painfully unfunny.

    Don't waste your time with this rubbish. There are better games out there.
  28. MrReviewerMan
    Apr 11, 2017
    0
    In hopes of cashing in their nostalgia card after its expiration date; Playtonic released a game that really no one asked for or wanted. Yooka Laylee is a "love letter" to a genre of games that got married, started a family and moved on with their lives. It offers nothing new to the genre, but instead aims to cash in on old mechanics and gameplay in hopes that the rose-tinted glasses ofIn hopes of cashing in their nostalgia card after its expiration date; Playtonic released a game that really no one asked for or wanted. Yooka Laylee is a "love letter" to a genre of games that got married, started a family and moved on with their lives. It offers nothing new to the genre, but instead aims to cash in on old mechanics and gameplay in hopes that the rose-tinted glasses of gamers today would convince them to spend their hard earned money at such a shameless cash grab title. Everything from visuals to audio is mundane or even ear-splitting as the "mumbling" that characters do when they talk aren't in any way close to how tolerable it was in games like Banjo Kazooie. Instead, we just have someone making a bunch of grumbles and grunts and passing that off as kosher when there was no mixing or imagination put into said sound design unlike Rare's earlier titles with sound mixing. Gameplay-wise, it's as fresh as that loaf of bread you left in your pantry for a month past expiration. Sure, you can still toast it to make a hot new sandwich but you're still eating a stale, moldy experience that's way past its due date. Controls are stiff, nearly unresponsive when it comes to platforming (which is a huge deal in these kind of games) and the biggest crime of all is the final boss which is nothing more than a shameless ripoff of another famous collectathon's final boss. To conclude, that's what this game is. Shameless. It takes pride in ripping off older genres and adding nothing to them but instead slapping their "I made this" sticker on it and calling it their own. Playtonic, if this is the game you're bringing to the table, I surely hope you're ready to take it back to the kitchen and start over from scratch.… Expand
  29. fykins
    Apr 25, 2017
    0
    This game is not worthy of being mentioned in the same sentence as banjo kazooie. There are just so many reasons not to get this game, just another early access game that turned to trash. Oh sure they took your money upfront and that's exactly why they don't need to deliver at launch time.

    Play Rachet and Clank instead.
  30. RidleayRomero
    Apr 14, 2017
    9
    It may not be perfect, but it is what we were promised in the Kickstarter campaign. I'm having a lot of fun with the game, despite it's many flaws. I was somehow blown away at that the entire game runs on Unity, maybe it's because I don't see it used that much; only a few games I know of use it. The best part is having fun exploring the environments all set to music by Grant Kirkhope, theIt may not be perfect, but it is what we were promised in the Kickstarter campaign. I'm having a lot of fun with the game, despite it's many flaws. I was somehow blown away at that the entire game runs on Unity, maybe it's because I don't see it used that much; only a few games I know of use it. The best part is having fun exploring the environments all set to music by Grant Kirkhope, the only bad thing I can find so far is the Snow Plow transformation (which controls like garbage). With what they learned making this game, hopefully the next game will be more critically friendly.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

58
#58 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2017
78
#78 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 53 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 53
  2. Mixed: 31 out of 53
  3. Negative: 2 out of 53
  1. Power Unlimited
    Oct 19, 2017
    87
    Yooka-Laylee at times feels more like a remake of Banjo-Kazooie than a completely new game, that's how much they are alike. But in this case it is only meant in a positive way. The world needs more games likes this, you know.
    Read full review
  2. Wired UK
    Aug 30, 2017
    50
    When the original is so readily available, and still so thoroughly playable, Playtonic's recreation of the recipe can't help but fall flat.
    Read full review
  3. Playstation Official Magazine Australia
    Jul 7, 2017
    70
    Much more fun than it is frustrating, and don’t go in expecting evolution. That said, this is still a quill in the cap for a genre that is slowly making a comeback. [June 2017, p72]
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