Yooka-Laylee (Playtonic's spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie / ONE, PS4, PC)

[Meta77]

I'll wait for some actual known gaming sites and people I know before I pass judgment. Never heard of either of those sites nor seen them in any review.  atm persona will have me busy anyway for now

[JezMM]

Polygon wasn't enamoured: http://www.polygon.com/2017/4/4/15171316/yooka-laylee-review-xbox-one-pc-playstation-4

"A new coat of paint can't fix Yooka-Laylee's old design problems

Yooka-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."

Their summary is while a lot of the content was good, a lot felt like busywork and once they had done all the tasks that felt fun, they were stuck taking on missions they found tedious or boring in order to collect enough macguffins to reach the final boss.

They gave it a 5.5, which to clarify is considered "average" on Polygon's reviewing scale, not bad.

[Junko]

Embargo's up.

As for places not on OC or MC yet (this was before aggregators caught up and I found the larger average scores):

• The Escapist - 4.5/5
• Forbes - 8/10
• GameSpot - 6/10
• The Guardian - 4/5
• IGN - 7/10
• The Jimquisition - 2/10
• Polygon - 5.5/10

[Graystripe2000]

Metacritic so far. 

PC: 73

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/yooka-laylee

PS4: 64

http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/yooka-laylee

Xbox One: 75

http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-one/yooka-laylee

[Meta77]

Reviews are all over the place eh. Mostly a 6 from what I'm seeing.  I'll wait for a sale and after peesona and nier to look into it

[Graystripe2000]

3 minutes ago, Meta77 said:

Reviews are all over the place eh. Mostly a 6 from what I'm seeing.  I'll wait for a sale and after peesona and nier to look into it

It seems to be one of those games where it's a love it or hate it kind of thing. 

[Meta77]

9 minutes ago, Operationgamer17 said:

It seems to be one of those games where it's a love it or hate it kind of thing. 

Atm seems like it.

[JaidynReiman]

 

Even GameXplain seem meh about it. At least Ash Paulson, in any case. He Liked it, but complains heavily about performance issues.

[JezMM]

This repeated line of "performance issues" do give me concern about the Switch version now, I'll say that.

[Kuzu]

Damn, the age of 3D platformers really does seem gone...

[Meta77]

I didn't expect this game to revive them this was just a callback to 90s. Mario oddesy is the game we need

[JaidynReiman]

1 hour ago, JezMM said:

This repeated line of "performance issues" do give me concern about the Switch version now, I'll say that.

Eh, I'm a little iffy on that, but overall, not too worried. Playtonic themselves are making the Switch version (I think? Playtonic were focusing on the Wii U and PC versions, so I assumed they were working on the Switch version, but I don't see anything online about that). Team 17 ported the Xbone/PS4 version. The game's performance issues are definitely caused by optimization and I fully expect to be fixed before too long on Xbone/PS4.

[Soniman]

now i just have to wait for hat in time to bomb and its back to only mario and sonic to depend on for big name 3D platforming in any capacity, sheesh 

 

oh ratchet to

[Milo]

6 minutes ago, Soniman said:

now i just have to wait for hat in time to bomb and its back to only mario and sonic to depend on for 3D platforming in any capacity, sheesh 

Personally I think A Hat In Time will be fine, but that's just me. Though I do think its going to get way more scrutiny on whether it can deliver as a KS-funded throwback platformer on the heels of Yooka-Laylee and MN9 failing to live up to expectations in that specific category. There's also the Crash N-Sanity remake trilogy, if that's worth anything. Granted, not new games, but if they do well it can definitely result in a new Crash game in the near future.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

9 minutes ago, JaidynReiman said:

Eh, I'm a little iffy on that, but overall, not too worried. Playtonic themselves are making the Switch version (I think? Playtonic were focusing on the Wii U and PC versions, so I assumed they were working on the Switch version, but I don't see anything online about that). Team 17 ported the Xbone/PS4 version. The game's performance issues are definitely caused by optimization and I fully expect to be fixed before too long on Xbone/PS4.

Considering all the statements have been coming from Playtonic themselves, and how they, not Team 17 are working with Nintendo means that they are indeed working on that version. They are also very skilled programers who are great at working on optimizing an engine for hardware(the PC version is solid, I have no doubt the Switch version will be). Good chance the Switch version will have minimal performance issues.

 

And yeah, it's sounding great to me overall, it's mostly classic Rare banjo style action, and those who aren't fans are bashing on it, but overall reception is good. Personally I'm excited, and can't wait to play... but have to because I'm going with the Switch version XD

[Meta77]

From what I've seen heard it's a solid 6.5. Uber fanboys will love it. 90s fans will enjoy it. Does it reinvent anything? No. Will it be some huge selling game ? Doubtful. But it looks like a fun fame to play for a few in afternoons when needing a break from bigger games

[Blue Blood]

This game really deserved to be good, considering it was the fruit of real passion. I'm disappointed that the criticisms are what they are, because the game shouldn't feel nostalgic and retro at the cost of being outdated. 

[PC the Hedgehog]

What's with all the gloom and doom? Just because Yooka-Laylee apparently didn't turn out to be the amazing return of the 3D platformer the internet was clamoring it was going to be doesn't mean it's not still good for what it is. If it gives me a similar feeling to playing Banjo-Kazooie at a kid, that's all I want. Maybe my standards are just lower than the average gamer.

[Blue Blood]

3 hours ago, PC the Hedgehog said:

What's with all the gloom and doom? Just because Yooka-Laylee apparently didn't turn out to be the amazing return of the 3D platformer the internet was clamoring it was going to be doesn't mean it's not still good for what it is. If it gives me a similar feeling to playing Banjo-Kazooie at a kid, that's all I want. Maybe my standards are just lower than the average gamer.

Sure. I know I'll still get some fun out of it and lots of others probably feel the same way. But the fact that it's not living up to all of its incredible hype is disappointing. You can't slice it any other way. 

[Dejimon11]

Reviews are pretty much what I expected. Suck I really wanted this genre to come back. Oh well 

3 hours ago, Meta77 said:

I didn't expect this game to revive them this was just a callback to 90s. Mario oddesy is the game we need

Even if Odyssey is a big success I doubt that will encourage other major publishers to try to make 3D Platformers. Especially since Mario Galaxy's praise was universally praised nobody tried to replicate it or top it.

[Meta77]

1 minute ago, Dejimon11 said:

Reviews are pretty much what I expected. Suck I really wanted this genre to come back. Oh well 

Even if Odyssey is a big success I doubt that will encourage other major publishers to try to make 3D Platformers. Especially since Mario Galaxy's praise was universally praised nobody tried to replicate it or top it.

Well companies do not take the risk they did in the 90s. many can not afford to i assume

[Agie]

I might still give it a shot. But it sounds like a love-it-or-hate-it type thing. At best.

Though it doesn't seem as disasterous as Mighty No. 9. But I never backed this one either, so...

[Dejimon11]

46 minutes ago, Meta77 said:

Well companies do not take the risk they did in the 90s. many can not afford to i assume

I just don't feel like they don't have to spend a whole bunch of money on it like if it was given the same budget as YL I don't think anybody would be complaining too much. Then again I'm sure it's a lot more complicated than that and I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I know how the gaming industry works. Just saying that if YL was able to get funded that fast within less than an hour then it seems like there's still an audience for that these types of games.

[Meta77]

1 minute ago, Dejimon11 said:

I just don't feel like they don't have to spend a whole bunch of money on it like if it was given the same budget as YL I don't think anybody would be complaining too much. Then again I'm sure it's a lot more complicated than that and I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I know how the gaming industry works. Just saying that if YL was able to get funded that fast within less than an hour then it seems like there's still an audience for that these types of games.

There is a audience. No doubt about that. But companies do not want to risk it. Its like hmm we see people want this and miss this in games..........but its best not to test fate. What if it fails. Then they know to never try again. Thats why a lot of times companies go it on their own to bring things back through kickstart and many like Wayforward just cause they can.

[Kuzu]

While it does suck that the game isn't living up to the passion and love that went into it, we should also consider that the gaming scene has changed drastically from the late 90's/early 2000's. Platfomers simply aren't the hottest thing anymore and probably never will, gamers want more than just a colorful world, cartoony world with some platforming levels nowadays.  Even Mario isn't exactly the juggernaut he used to be and is only really relevant among fans who either follow the franchise closely or those who played the series when they were younger. Sonic is in a similar boat. Mario & Sonic can last as long as they did because they're literally two of gaming's oldest icons and have enough fame (or infamy in Sonic's case) to ever truly fall out of style.

It's telling that the biggest complaints about this game so far are aspects that were either overlooked or praised back when Banjo-Kazooie came out. While I doubt this game will bomb, I hope Playtonic just kind of dial back and focus on the audience that play these games, as niche as they may be.