Yooka-Laylee

 Xbox One
User Score
5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 129 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 62 out of 129
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 129
  3. Negative: 50 out of 129
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  1. Bure1088
    Oct 27, 2019
    10
    Shame on all of you for rating this game so low. This game is great. Funny characters at times. Big interesting worlds. Puzzles are interesting and smartly made. Really enjoyed this game and highly recommend it especially if you’ve played Banjo Kazooie before.
  2. bubblegumfuji
    Apr 12, 2017
    10
    Absolutely unique, beautiful, and a blast to play. Yooka Laylee's gameplay is centered around one simple concept: fun. You'll spend the roughly 30-40 hour quest playfully exploring giant colorful dreamscapes filled with a surprising amount of challenges and a plethora of quirky (and quite needy) characters.

    Yooka-Laylee doesn't hold your hand while forcing you along a linear    Absolutely unique, beautiful, and a blast to play. Yooka Laylee's gameplay is centered around one simple concept: fun. You'll spend the roughly 30-40 hour quest playfully exploring giant colorful dreamscapes filled with a surprising amount of challenges and a plethora of quirky (and quite needy) characters.

    Yooka-Laylee doesn't hold your hand while forcing you along a linear path--instead, it trusts you to play the game at your own pace. This freedom not only provides a fantastic and epic adventure but also a great sense of accomplishment as you see your collectable list fill up with tokens marking your achievements.

    This game is a stunning creation by a very passionate team of developers and deserves a place in gamer's hearts. An instant classic!    … Expand
  3. ooo77
    Apr 14, 2017
    0
    This game isn't trying to revive 3D platformers, it's just copying banjo kazooie so that they can get money from everyone who played it as a kid. The camera is awful, the lever design is bad, and it has horrible frame rate issues. Skip this and play banjo kazooie for a good platformer similar to this, or the newest Mario game for a modern one
  4. duperghoul
    Apr 11, 2017
    7
    A gimmicky camera, I can handle. You get used to it after several hours. Only having 5 levels outside the main hub to explore, is doable. This is because there are tons of objects and tasks to do in the worlds.

    The main thing I can't stand are the fodder enemies. There seems to be a small amount of them. Not to mention, all fodder enemies look and act the same. They'll act scared of you    A gimmicky camera, I can handle. You get used to it after several hours. Only having 5 levels outside the main hub to explore, is doable. This is because there are tons of objects and tasks to do in the worlds.

    The main thing I can't stand are the fodder enemies. There seems to be a small amount of them. Not to mention, all fodder enemies look and act the same. They'll act scared of you and then run at you moments later.

    I don't care about the JonTron controversy with the game. JonTron was promised to be a voice actor, but got cut due to his political views, so what? He wasn't in Banjo-Kazooie games and he said himself that he respects Playtonic Game's decision.
    The so-called voices annoyed my father within seconds. As kids the mumbling voices were fine, but now depending on the person, it hasn't aged well.    … Expand
  5. 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 !!!
  6. DavidJS
    Apr 14, 2017
    3
    Yooka-Laylee, dubbed the spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, is a platforming game and the first game developed by new studio Playtonic Games, who are partly comprised of ex-Rare employees. The game aims to recreate some of the magic that old platformers of the past managed to achieve, while also innovating and providing some new experiences.

    Yooka-Laylee has gone some way in    Yooka-Laylee, dubbed the spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, is a platforming game and the first game developed by new studio Playtonic Games, who are partly comprised of ex-Rare employees. The game aims to recreate some of the magic that old platformers of the past managed to achieve, while also innovating and providing some new experiences.

    Yooka-Laylee has gone some way in achieving this. The game is colorful, the dialogue contains some wit and humor, there are some good character designs, the controls are decent and the various sounds when picking up collectibles or unlocking something give you that happy burst of excitement. A feeling you may be familiar with when having collected a jiggy in the Banjo games for example.

    While Yooka-Laylee shows sparks of potential, it never quite delivers. The game's biggest problem is its level designs. The levels are big, confusing, lack a distinct feature and feel haphazardly put together. It feels like things were dumped or added there bit by bit, each time a new pagie needed to be put into the game and the levels don't feel unified or memorable. You will find yourself backtracking and visiting places you have already visited multiple times, often by accident as you struggle to navigate your way around the level or forget where certain things are due to the levels poor design. Before long you get fed up of searching for things to do and revisiting the same place again and again.

    The game's music, while technically sound, isn't as exciting or memorable as that from games of the past. Grant Kirkhope, who wrote the music for Banjo-Kazooie, writes most of Yooka-Laylee's music. For the level and hub music, Kirkhope has gone for a more ambient style, which doesn't live up to the more melodic and upbeat music he wrote for past games. While you could argue the music fits the big, uninspired levels, it is still boring and not anywhere near as good as his work on games such as Banjo-Kazooie.

    The transformations that you can do on each level are extremely boring and feel rushed. They may as well not be in the game and I feel that this is a huge opportunity wasted for creating some exciting and meaningful transformations. The moves that you can learn throughout the game start off feeling purposeful, but towards the end of the game feel forced in just to fill content and tick boxes.

    I did not find the camera or the character voices to be an issue, something that many people are mentioning. With that said, they are not done as well as games of the past.

    Overall, Yooka-Laylee is not a terrible game, but it is also not a good game. I would consider it average at best. What the game does well, such as certain character designs, sound effects, witty dialogue and attractive menus, it can only match at best to older games it is inspired by. The game is let down mostly by the poor level designs, that often leave the gamer feeling frustrated, bored and lost. The game also suffers from rather boring music, pointless and dull transformations and learn-able moves that by the end feel forced into the game just to fill content. Many aspects of the game feel haphazardly put together and the game lacks overall polish.

    I wouldn't recommend buying this game at full price, although fans of the old games this game was inspired by may want to pick this game up in a sale. Being a fan and a player of such games myself and a Kickstarter backer of this game, I was left disappointed by Yooka-Laylee.    … Expand
  7. unknownhero
    Apr 14, 2017
    4
    Edit: With constant frame rate drops and unresponsive controls, I'm lowering my score to a 4. It makes already unbalanced mini games impossible, especially to get the 'high score' pagies. I found myself about to get the high score on the arcade mini games only to have the game jump suddenly, screw me up and have to start again. What pains me more is there's no 'retry' button on the pauseEdit: With constant frame rate drops and unresponsive controls, I'm lowering my score to a 4. It makes already unbalanced mini games impossible, especially to get the 'high score' pagies. I found myself about to get the high score on the arcade mini games only to have the game jump suddenly, screw me up and have to start again. What pains me more is there's no 'retry' button on the pause menu, meaning having to go out of mini game, read the same irritating dialogue again and again and restart the game for it to happen again.

    I signed up to Metacritic just to review this. I've been waiting (unknowingly) for this game pretty much since finishing Banjo-Tooie when it came out on the N64 - "Just you wait 'til Banjo-Threeie!'. I have to say, I am a little bit disappointed with it. It looks nice with vibrant colours and nice textures, exactly what you'd expect from a graphical upgrade. The music is also really nice and features the same sort of BK/BT sound effects for NPC's and upgrades. The characters are also quite funny at times, however, a lot of the jokes seem to miss the mark by trying to be 'down with the kids', in a sense.

    This game, however, does fall short in several place; the levels are far too big with very little direction or guidance. I get that this is all part of the adventure, running around and what not, but it leaves it feeling very empty. It can be very easy to miss a tiny crack in a wall or whatever and just spend half an hour wandering around bored. I bet this is why Nuts and Bolts added vehicles and obvious challenges to try and avoid this (I can't believe I'm justifying N&B) - just to break up the boring emptiness.

    BK worked in the sense that the smaller levels and reduced number of things to collect meant that this wasn't too strenuous a task. However, instead of 100 notes and 10 jiggies, it's now 200 'quills' and 25 'pagies'. As an adult now, I'm finding it really difficult to find the motivation to spend so much time exploring every nook and cranny to find that 1 quill hidden in some ambiguous crevice. You now have to spend pagies to 'expand' the level to make it bigger to get everything, so before this you're exploring what looks like a half designed level!

    I suppose you could argue that this game isn't for adults (it is VERY hand holdy to start with), however, with some of the adult jokes the kids would miss ('The Bat Ship Crazy', or a snake named 'Trowser' anyone?) along with the obvious n64 BK/BT references in there, this game was clearly intended for old fans as well as new. I also keep seeing things around and being like 'oh, that's just the Yooka-Laylee equivalent of X or Y thing in Banjo; I get that it's a spiritual successor but nothing seems very original at all. The new power ups just feel more like ticking boxes than anything fun - 'this puzzle is solved by shooting this thing into that thing as it's places right next to it'.

    The camera is absolutely dreadful, whereas BK games would just let you control it and platform as you please, YL insists that on certain parts that it'll swing around willy-nilly and lock into place, making the (dull) combat and platforming more difficult than it should be. I'm all for challenge, but not created by technical limitation. I also can't stand the equivalent of the 'talon trot', where Laylee jumps on Yooka and runs on him as a ball; it just simply doesn't turn properly making going around corners a nightmare and resulting in you plummeting off of high ledges and needing to climb everything all again.

    The enemies are completely boring, there are about three different re-skinned enemies you see throughout the game's worlds. They have absolutely no unique personality or charm and can easily be killed by just running up and spinning at them. It makes everything very unchallenged and tedious. Even the BK enemies were relevant to the theme of each level and had unique designs and attacks.

    A lot of the puzzles are far too convoluted also, I've experienced incidences where I've thought I had the right answer straight away, but it didn't work. Then I'd look up a guide when stumped and it would tell me that I did have it right to begin with, but you just have to do the same thing multiple times - that's just bad game development. There was another puzzle where you'd have to do a certain thing to a very certain spot, otherwise you can't progress. However, the spot is just like any other and there would be no way of telling unless you just happened to do it by accident - it's a bit like the secret shine sprites randomly placed in Mario Sunshine.

    It actually breaks my heart only giving this game a 5, I had such high hopes for it after waiting for so long. I like the direction they tried to go with it, but it just seems uninspired from how groundbreaking old games were. It certainly isn't bad if you have a lot of time on your hands; as well as not costing £50 like most triple-A games recently    … Expand
  8. Mathew714
    Apr 12, 2017
    8
    I found this game to be quite enjoyable. The characters and abilities are interesting. The only world I've really had a problem with is the second one. It's a mess with all the caves and tunnels that connect different locations. Other than that the game is good. I rarely had problems with the camera. If you want a nice 8-12 hour platformer that will be a fun time then I recommend you try this out.
  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. 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.
  11. Daniel17
    Apr 18, 2017
    9
    I don't care what the critics have got to say, I love this game. Yooka-Laylee is one of the most underrated games of 2017. It perfectly captures to revive the 3D collectathon platforming genre from the late 90s to the early 2000s. Despite the camera issues, it had a solid story, loveable characters, incredibly fun and enjoyable gameplay, smooth and responsive controls, beautiful graphics,I don't care what the critics have got to say, I love this game. Yooka-Laylee is one of the most underrated games of 2017. It perfectly captures to revive the 3D collectathon platforming genre from the late 90s to the early 2000s. Despite the camera issues, it had a solid story, loveable characters, incredibly fun and enjoyable gameplay, smooth and responsive controls, beautiful graphics, cleverly imaginative designs, great music, great humour, lots of collecting and challenges to do, creative and innovative moves, and engagingly challenging boss battles. I highly recommend it to Banjo-Kazooie fans who grow up with this game with the feeling of nostalgia. I gave it a 9 out of 10.… Expand
  12. seynie
    Apr 18, 2017
    9
    Great game!
    I've finished Banjo Kazooie again in the rare replay,
    and this is what it said it would be a new Banjo game without the licence of Banjo!
    i love it and def deserves a bigger score on here.
    but next time no unity! there are some performance issues that shouldn't be there.
  13. shouldbeatwork
    Apr 15, 2017
    9
    For a long time fan of 3d platformers like Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie, this game really hit the spot! It's gorgeous, fun, and I think successfully expands on what was great about Banjo games of the past while striking a nice balance between previous design decisions (e.g. levels start out large but not too large (like in Banjo Kazooie), and then can be expanded to really open things up andFor a long time fan of 3d platformers like Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie, this game really hit the spot! It's gorgeous, fun, and I think successfully expands on what was great about Banjo games of the past while striking a nice balance between previous design decisions (e.g. levels start out large but not too large (like in Banjo Kazooie), and then can be expanded to really open things up and be huge (more like Tooie)). If you're looking for more of the kind of fun you had playing Banjo Kazooie and the like, look no further. If you didn't really enjoy Banjo Kazooie and are hoping this iteration is largely different, you might want to check out something else. I think Playtonic succeeded magnificently in making a spiritual successor to their previous work.

    Other notes: I play this game on an Xbox One S. I was concerned with early reports of frequent frame drops and a bad camera (pre the release-day patch). I haven't had any performance issues while playing -- it runs great and the few times I've notice the frame rate drop after playing for 10+ hours were brief and didn't effect gameplay. The camera took a little getting used to (I came straight from playing Banjo on the 360) but after a short while I didn't have any issues (not sure if I got used to it, or if it just was annoying in a few places that I haven't come back to regularly).    … Expand
  14. TheVirtualDude
    Feb 24, 2020
    10
    Any kid that grew up with an n64 will love this game. This game helped me get back into adventure games and platformers instead of just playing sports games. I completed it 100% on switch and Xbox one. This is a game that I was thankful to play because it reminded me so much of growing up with banjo kazoo I’ve and Mario 64. The camera is amazing compared to the older style games on 64
  15. AJ_antipop
    Jun 30, 2017
    7
    The main criticisms that seem to sprout from this game overall is that it's "just a banjo-kazooie clone" and that "it doesn't try to build off of past elements in any way"... to which I say, while yes, it IS the true spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie and yes, it does share many elements from that game including the overall sound and visual design in general, but look just a little bitThe main criticisms that seem to sprout from this game overall is that it's "just a banjo-kazooie clone" and that "it doesn't try to build off of past elements in any way"... to which I say, while yes, it IS the true spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie and yes, it does share many elements from that game including the overall sound and visual design in general, but look just a little bit further past that and I'm confident you'll find a truly rewarding, relaxing, and uplifting 3D platformer experience in this title. Not only is this game incredibly engaging and hilariously clever in it's script-writing, but it's jam packed with an absolutely VAST variety of challenges and obstacles to overcome within it's stunningly gorgeous worlds. Add in the adorable character designs, and often ridiculously funny voice sounds, and you've got a fantastic hit all-around, in my opinion at least.

    On a side note, these average scores make me kinda ashamed to be part of the human race lol    … Expand
  16. BKComerford
    Apr 12, 2017
    10
    Liked the game despite the fact that fat nerd was kicked off production. The less fat nerds working on games the better. They should all play Dungeons and Dragons instead, like Dan Harmon or his fatter, nerdier counterpart, Ron Weasley
  17. Digitalhero
    Apr 11, 2017
    0
    Uninspiring and unoriginal.

    Some things just need to stay in the past. This is one of those things.

    There are other games that are better worth your 40$. Wait till this game goes at least half off.
  18. Kmonahan45
    Apr 16, 2017
    10
    This game is absolutely great. If you are hating on this game it's unwarranted. I couldn't be more excited to play this game everyday. Can't wait for Twoka - Layleee to be released
  19. TheQuietGamer
    Jun 25, 2017
    8
    Yooka-Laylee is one of those rare games that actually delivers on what it promised. It brings back a style of gameplay that we just don't see anymore. Whether or not it will live up in your mind to Banjo-Kazooie and the other 3rd person platforming games we all so lovingly remember from the past console generations I cannot say for sure. What I can tell you is that it's a well-madeYooka-Laylee is one of those rare games that actually delivers on what it promised. It brings back a style of gameplay that we just don't see anymore. Whether or not it will live up in your mind to Banjo-Kazooie and the other 3rd person platforming games we all so lovingly remember from the past console generations I cannot say for sure. What I can tell you is that it's a well-made reminder of what makes this genre so great and sorely missed. It's also got enough satisfying challenges of it's own to ensure that it's more than just nostalgia making things interesting.

    Collection and exploration are the main focuses of the game. You'll explore several worlds along with the main hub connecting them all. Your job is to collect everything you can get your hands on. Each kind of collectible serves a purpose towards your progression outside of just a 100% completion ratio. The more you collect, the more worlds you'll be able to unlock and expand. You also purchase new moves with your collectibles that allow you to access new areas and challenges.

    In each world you'll interact with various characters who will give you tasks you must complete in order to get the more important "Pagie" collectibles, which are necessary to beat the game. There are also platforming challenges built into the world's themselves which will also give you a Pagie and usually require a specific move in order to be completed. Going back to previously visited worlds with a new ability and being able to collect more items, which in turn allows you to gain access to further areas of the game makes for an addicting and satisfying loop. Especially since the vast majority of the challenges are incredibly well-made. The "Capital Cashino" world does take a slight dip in quality compared to the rest, but for the most part they are all a blast to explore. The exciting boss battles are also a particular treat.

    Yooka-Laylee isn't without some flaws though. For example the lack of any sort of map system makes finding new areas kind of a pain, especially when returning to an area you haven't been in a while. Tracking down those last few, elusive collectibles can be a bit of a pain as a result. The lack of any sort of fast-travel system means that you have to recover stretches on the large hub-world in order to revisit a previous world. The backtracking gets a little tedious after a while, even with a few shortcuts being hidden around here and there. Multi-stage boss battles can also have some frustrating moments due to the fact that a death means you have to start back from the beginning of the fight. That one isn't too bad though as, with the exception of the Cashino and final boss, they aren't too challenging. The mumbling dialog that accompanies the story gets dull fast. I get that it's meant to harken back to older platformers, but I still would have rather had voice acting rather than all that reading and annoying grunting from the characters. The biggest flaw is the camera though. It's usually fine, but every now and then will just freak out and it has the tendency to hung up on the geometry of the world(s). There are few things more frustrating in these kinds of games than having your view obscured and dying as a result.

    Before concluding the review, I'd like to talk a little more about the positive aspects of Yooka-Laylee. With the gameplay having already been discussed that leaves the presentation and writing. The bright, colorful, and cartoonish graphics are wonderful in a time where gaming is still covered in the grays and browns of war. The soundtrack is excellent and it's a very funny game. Dialog is filled with clever jokes and it's self-referential nature is a blast. There are quite a few laughs to be had here.

    It's a title that's perfect for all ages and serves as a very enjoyable throwback to a genre that was unfortunately largely left in the past. Even if you find it doesn't live up to your favorites from back in the day, such as the Banjo-Kazooie to which this serves as a spiritual successor to, you should still find that it makes a strong case for this style of gameplay should make a comeback. There are some flaws from the past that have stuck around, but Yooka-Laylee is a heck of a lot of fun. If you've ever thought to yourself, "dang I wish they made some games like the ones from back on the N64," this is very likely going to make your day. Or rather your week. There's a lot of content here. It took me about 21 hours to make it to and beat the final boss. So on top of all the well-made gameplay and old-school appeal, there's plenty of bang for your buck as well.    … Expand
  20. BenLink
    Jun 1, 2017
    6
    The game had a lot of potential. I really liked the characters in the game. The writing is witty and funny. My problem with the game was the direction and checkpoint system. If you die, it's very punishing. You spawn way back at the beginning of the level, or back at the last loading screen you came out of. It gets very frustrating. If you make one little platforming mistake and fall. BackThe game had a lot of potential. I really liked the characters in the game. The writing is witty and funny. My problem with the game was the direction and checkpoint system. If you die, it's very punishing. You spawn way back at the beginning of the level, or back at the last loading screen you came out of. It gets very frustrating. If you make one little platforming mistake and fall. Back to the beginning. Not sure how this was overlooked. Also, there is not really any direction or feeling of completion within each world. I explored almost everything in World 1 and 2 but never got prompted to move on or go fight a boss. So I found myself roaming around wondering what to do next. As a result I got extremely bored after awhile and ended up wanting to quit. Which was weird because I really did like the characters. To end my review I must mention the camera. It's pretty bad. It catches onto geometry and gets you killed a lot. The camera definitely needs improvement. I would be willing to try out a sequel but the design needs to match the characters and writing to be something special.… Expand
  21. njja02
    May 15, 2018
    3
    A terribly controlled an charmless adventure that frustrated me so much. It looks nice and there are some cool sections throughout each of the worlds. But overall it was a slog.
  22. jthegamer96
    Apr 26, 2017
    7
    A lot of people like to compare Yooka Laylee to Banjo Kazooie, as the game was meant to be a spiritual successor made by people who worked on the original. While that is not a bad comparison, I believe that the game should be compared to Banjo tooie, as Banjo tooie is more similar to Yooka laylee than Banjo Kazooie is.

    To sum up my position, Banjo tooie was not as good as Banjo Kazooie,    A lot of people like to compare Yooka Laylee to Banjo Kazooie, as the game was meant to be a spiritual successor made by people who worked on the original. While that is not a bad comparison, I believe that the game should be compared to Banjo tooie, as Banjo tooie is more similar to Yooka laylee than Banjo Kazooie is.

    To sum up my position, Banjo tooie was not as good as Banjo Kazooie, but it was an excellent sequel and introduced new mechanics that made the game fresh and interesting. Yooka laylee seems like it wanted to follow the path of Banjo tooie, but the game was too ambitious with what it was trying to accomplish.

    First off, the maps were simply too large, especially when extended. While the idea is interesting, it just creates empty space, increasing the travel time to get to all the challenges and unnecessarily extending the playtime. The player does not receive an efficient means of travel until on the path to World 5.

    Next, there are simply too many useless collectables. The quills become useless after all the moves are bought (the same for pagies and opening/extending worlds), and you end up with an excess of a few hundred quills, 70 extra pagies, 5 secret collectables that don't do anything, and play coins, which (along with the arcade itself) felt like it was added in to extend the playtime. The only collectables that are worth getting 100% are the health/energy extenders, as they make your life easier. over the course of the game.

    Third, the challenges felt too simple and felt isolated from each other, rather than each world being cohesive like Banjo Kazooie, and to a lesser extent, banjo tooie. Since there are a large amount of collectables, some of the challenges get repeated, only reskined and the execution is made more difficult.. Because of the variety that Banjo kazooie and tooie offers, no challenge repeats itself, and each puzzle is unique to it's environment.

    Overall, it's not a bad game. Like other kickstarter projects, it just got too ambitious, with too big of worlds, too many useless collectables and to simple challenges. It seems like the type of game a parent could use to introduce their child into the world of gaming in a friendly environment, rather than the Banjo Kazooie successor that everyone was waiting for.

    For the hardcore fans, I recommend either buying banjo kazooie and tooie again for the Xbox one (both combined are cheaper than yooka laylee) or buy the rare replay (also cheaper than yooka laylee with tons more value) and wait for the price to drop before picking up Yooka laylee    … Expand
  23. Broyax
    Apr 4, 2020
    0
    Beuaaarrrgh... quelle horreur, ce truc en 16 couleurs avec surtout du vert, duvert et du verdâtre... on se croirait presque dans le sale truc à **** kévins, Fortnite ! des graphismes pour des gamins de CE2 en somme !

    On dirait clairement un jeu comme les daubes à Nintendaube ou les daubes de Rage Software et leurs univers gogols à n'en plus pouvoir, niaiserie et stupidité réunies pour    Beuaaarrrgh... quelle horreur, ce truc en 16 couleurs avec surtout du vert, duvert et du verdâtre... on se croirait presque dans le sale truc à **** kévins, Fortnite ! des graphismes pour des gamins de CE2 en somme !

    On dirait clairement un jeu comme les daubes à Nintendaube ou les daubes de Rage Software et leurs univers gogols à n'en plus pouvoir, niaiserie et stupidité réunies pour les gniards un brin simplets, les moutards un peu "retard" comme disent les Anglais et enfin pour les adulescents qui n'ont pas grandi et sont restés coincés entre les deux .

    En tout cas, il faut sauter dans ce sous-jeu de trisomongols 21, il faut sauter ! c'est un sale jeu de plate-formes à golmons ! alors,viens par ici, petit, petit, oui c'est bien, avance encore un peu... le broyeur est juste là. Maintenant, aie la bonté et la politesse de tomber dedans, tu seras broyé en un instant, vermine d'étron indé !    … Expand
  24. SadPugFace12
    Nov 23, 2017
    9
    Yooka Laylee may not be 'Banjo-Threeie' As most fans may have hoped, however, what we got in return was a truly fun, wonderful, and expansive successor to a beloved franchise. And as for new content, you now have the ability to well... unlock different abilities with a collectible called quills (found commonly) And the writing is simply superb, its self aware, funny, smart, and overallYooka Laylee may not be 'Banjo-Threeie' As most fans may have hoped, however, what we got in return was a truly fun, wonderful, and expansive successor to a beloved franchise. And as for new content, you now have the ability to well... unlock different abilities with a collectible called quills (found commonly) And the writing is simply superb, its self aware, funny, smart, and overall just a joy to read. The only major flaw with the game is the camera. it often times will go beneath Yooka when you are pressing 'A' to jump, leading to unfair death. And the overall controls could be better, in particular moving around with the camera is wonky. In conclusion, Yooka-Laylee judged as a successor, or on its own merits is an endlessly fun experience that shouldn't be missed, Confirm Twoka-Laylee!… Expand
  25. Ilovetechnology
    Feb 12, 2018
    10
    I have been waiting for this game to come out ever since I first heard about it, and have not been disappointed! It is the banjo Threeie that I have waited for ever since I was little! Yes, the plot is relatively simple, and I wish the DNray transformations could be used in a bigger variety of ways, but those things don’t annoy me enough to lower the score even a little. This has been aI have been waiting for this game to come out ever since I first heard about it, and have not been disappointed! It is the banjo Threeie that I have waited for ever since I was little! Yes, the plot is relatively simple, and I wish the DNray transformations could be used in a bigger variety of ways, but those things don’t annoy me enough to lower the score even a little. This has been a wonderful blast of nastolgia from my n64 Banjo kazooie days from the graffics to the music and voices, and I have loved every minute of it.… Expand
  26. MOLEX3000
    Jun 23, 2020
    10
    Great game, great gameplay, great experience ! The Return of platformers from N64! Love it!
  27. neomoonsevin
    Apr 10, 2023
    10
    Very good game definitely has banjo vibes and has some unique powers you wouldn't otherwise think about on that order but it's unique enough to stand alone by itself bring on the sequel to yooka

Awards & Rankings

30
#30 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2017
24
#24 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 39 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 39
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 39
  3. Negative: 1 out of 39
  1. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    May 29, 2017
    70
    Wickedly funny and not afraid to make you work, Yooka-Laylee is diabolically fun. [June 2017, p.69]
  2. Worth Playing
    May 12, 2017
    80
    Yooka-Laylee is classic 3D-era platformer. It brings an updated presentation to the genre, and it provides some solid and familiar platforming mechanics. The large levels provide a nice playground for those abilities, and while the combat isn't anything special, it's a lot of fun to complete the various tasks to collect pagies. If you can deal with the problematic camera, Yooka-Laylee is worth checking out.
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  3. Windows Central
    Apr 14, 2017
    80
    Hopefully Playtonic continues to support Yooka-Laylee with updates and refinements. But even with a few rough edges here and there, this is still a huge game that platforming fans must not miss.
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