Now Playing: Yooka Laylee

Yeah I showed a bit of skepticism for this game before, and who knows notably it's length and price. But I got a slight discount, and was told the game has up to 20+ hours, so I took a risk and got it alongside a secured pre-order of Prey, thus ending my hype list for the short-term. Truth be told, I still have hope, and a desire for this game to be as awesome as possible. How is it so far? Well, in the green, but I'm not exactly ready to announce it the ultimate fantastic return of Rare or 3D Platforming. Of course, I don't see the hyper-critical dismissive side as having an ounce of validity to their arguments either. An 8-ish range is about right if you want to score it, I can imagine a 6 from people who just aren't suited for this type of thing.

Let's get address that downside of the internet real quick, because that's what's on my mind as I look at the fun I just had, compared to those so easily tossing it aside. Even unpatched, the camera is mostly fine, even better than what I was complaining about in the last article on the issue with it's toybox problems (though not perfect, but I have yet to hit anything bad enough worth putting it in a review). The collectibles? Fine, and quite fun. The setting, and character voices? Fine. The platforming? Fine, save for some stubborn sliding (you won't believe how easy it is to miss that one collectible). The music? Awesome, though maybe just a tad bit too on the shadow of B&K. If you're just not able to get into this kind of game, I get it, but I don't see where the outright hatred or easy dismissals are coming from. As Ratchet and Mario Galaxy will tell you, 3D Platforming never died because of any quality or design issues, so quite pretending it was "obviously" going to underwhelm when those games have been hits in the past recent years. The game does it's job just fine. But you know what, if you hate jumping that much, this ain't your game. It's not that kind of below 40%* broken mess just because you couldn't get that down right, or because your career in gaming gets you to hate collectibles. That sort of area on practically every game's code index, including a certain one that gave it that score, is for broken games with hardly a passable attribute to be found at all. Yet the music, the colors, and the point of the game are all present and running.

*I know there's the angry fanatic stigma out there that takes this kind of attitude up a few notches, so let's be clear here: I'm frustrated with the dishonesty of a few critics, but not to the point of attacking them or breaking their sites. I do not endorse that sort of idiocy, and I honestly don't even agree with numerical scoring systems in the first place. However I'm not going to remain silent when a couple seem to be blatantly exaggerating any possible problems, and it's prominently clear even through just gameplay video that the game is not on tier with broken disasters that lack redeeming qualities.

Who can hate playing in the snow anyway?

Alright, so what are the issues from somebody who actually knows what they're talking about with the genre? Well, my problems with it oddly aren't ones I've seen mentioned. The game starts off slower than I would have liked. That whole unlock things from Trawser is really there in full force, I'm honestly flattered they even allowed you to jump in the beginning from how tight it is (though that and walking is about all you have). Something as basic as the gliding comes after the 1st world, and you have to get the tall jump inside of the 2nd (and pay for it). So basically, if you though Moneybags was bad from Spyro, well you forgot modern game design is all about Moneybags X12 where they make you "upgrade" to even breath if they could, and it might be one of the few things Yooka-laylee did to modernize. Look, let me have my basic damn abilities of movement. This slow feeling was also helped by just how talkative everything is in teaching you how the world works, and certain issues with polish that could have been avoided. I had to talk to trawser about an upgrade, unlocked a mini-game with it, had to let the guy blabber about where to find him to play it, and then I go all the way down there and load another section only for him to tell me THEN that I don't have the ability for his game... which the game itself was unlocked by another ability in the first place, and he could talk to me from there, and he didn't tell me the real requirement while I was right beside the spot to get it! The game is riddled with odd little quirks of inconvenience like that. I rage-quite a race because the butterflies used to power it weren't respawning right with the retries, I had to endure unskippable dialogue on the quiz that refuses to let you skip the one part they should know was going to be repeated a ton, and there was a part of a level where there's 3 door-ways that lead nowhere, but they still function to load the screen as if to trick you into thinking something was there. But the camera is the problem? Really!?

Now the only issue I have with the platforming so far, is that the power meter is a really stupid core concept. Okay, you want to limit abilities? Just make them have a limit, or work really intense ones in with their own natural restrictions. Like make invisibility last only 7 seconds, or do exactly what you did with the projectile power. I have yet to see any sensible reason for why something as basic and fun as the rolling has to drain the power bar like the last drop of a slurpee. Every other game in the book, including this one (projectile) has a better built core design that empowers or restricts the player without some lame system like this, EXCEPT for the spyro games that people hate. So... nice job there. But really, I guess I'm just complaining because it's much easier for me to say what I don't like than what I do. What I love is the playful adventure in these games. What I love is sliding around, bumping into a secret, and the finding out you stumble into this secret path that fetches you the ghost writer you saw earlier. What I love, is the fun puns and insults Capital B shouts at you when you're just idly exploring his Hub world. It's hard to stay focused on that when it's intuitive, friendly, and just warm and charming. That's ironically why it's easier to focus on the problems, and yet why I'm also just eagerly defending the game from it's harshest of critics, because the hatred from some of them seems kind of heartless at the end of the day. It's just a fun and harmless game, and while it has it's issues, it's still something that kind of brings a great spirit to the table that you just can't put your finger on.

I've also got to say, I feel a bit sorry for doubting the 5 world system. I mean some of the concern still stands. However, it's not just five levels of been there, and done that in a three hour game. It's five levels that continue to expand, and encourage you to revisit them later after you've dipped your toes elsewhere. It's a subtle nod to metroidvania mentality, without the gadget puzzle crap. You get some key pieces, and you get to earn a new world and look to it for some variety, but then when you've got enough piled on high you feel like going back and hunting for what's different. It's like a kid on an easter-egg hunt in a park, you just get to keep digging, searching, having those ah-ha moments, and watching each world evolve around you as you continue to find treasures. It's pretty fun, and even though things like the energy meter, or some stupid unpolished quirks pop theirs heads out, so to do all the happy animations, or those NPCs that bring out a surprisingly fun game like Hiding seek mashed up with riddles. Stuff like that is what really keeps games like these a very fun and endearing adventure. If you're not up for that, and the crazy number of collectibles and occasional frustrations it brings, then I understand and I'm not recommending this game to you. However there's a lot of people out there, myself included, that fell in love with gaming because of games that do exactly this, and let you just absorb yourself in a quirky full and 3D world of fun and games, and freedom of movement. I don't understand why the bulk of gaming left that behind, but it's not obsolete, and I'm sure glad Playtonic formed off the back of Rare and revealed that some people will always have the heart to bring us these experiences. Yooka-Laylee isn't the king of such a position yet, but it's still a damn fun game I'm glad to be playing at about two worlds in.