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For a good few years RARE haven’t been the same, as the great platformers seem long gone and the onslaught of great titles turned into a trickle. However, a brand-new studio has risen from the ashes in the form of Playtonic Games with veteran game developers from RARE bringing us their new game “Yooka-Laylee”. Which is a classic platforming adventure, something that we don’t see as much in the modern gaming climate as we used to back in the 90s era.

“Yookya-Laylee” started out as a Kickstarter project that raised a budget of 2Million with 73,206 backers to be exact, the game boasted vibrant colours and lovely artwork, which arched back to the RARE of old, (ya know before Kinect games n stuff). For the most part, Playtonic have created an enjoyable game full of interesting characters (literally nearly everything talks to you, even shopping trollies) The story consists of two pals Yooka & Laylee whose book is stolen by Capital Bee, a “Bumble Bee businessman” who has decided to steal every book in the world to acquire an all-powerful book! This is where your adventure begins when you break into to Capital Bee’s digs to acquire their lost book and the Paiges from it (and yes Pages are spelt Paiges in this game don’t ask why) thus your adventure begins.

People can say and think what they want about “Yooka-Laylee”, but no one can take away the fact that the game looks freaking awesome graphical-wise.

Visually, “Yooka-Laylee “pops with color, and the environments are vibrant and interesting to explore as you run, jump and roll around. The worlds are varied and are packed with challenges to complete. So there are lots of Pagies to collect and other collectables to find from extra health pick-ups and arcade coins that let you play a little retro style arcade game for each world. They can be played alone or with a friend, some of the mini games are okay, but for the most part, they are a bit naff. However, if there is four of you, then the games to get a boost in the fun factor. Nevertheless, it didn’t hold the attention of my pals. You can also buddy up with a friend via couch Co-Op to play the game together controlling Yooka and Laylee individually.

The worlds you go to are quite impressive, the first one really sets the bar with vibrant colours and eye pleasing view. Furthermore, there are countless places to go and explore, and they can also be returned to when you have gained new abilities (It just looks nice, and this rings true with the other worlds). They all have their own themes, bosses and secrets, and they can even be expanded unearthing new areas to explore. This is done by using the Pagies you collect to expand the worlds thus unlocking even more areas to find Pagies! Thus taking you the way to the final showdown, but there are a few little interesting qwerks to get there, you’ll even have to answer some quiz questions to proceed to new areas. It’s worth pointing out that these questions can be quite tricky too. So much so that they might even hinder some players. I mean, do you think you’ll remember how many Pagies you found in world one?

Reach new heights, then be sad when you fall from said heights.

Of course, when it comes to platformers gameplay is king and Playtonic have cooked up plenty of things to keep you busy. As the duo has access to a huge variety of abilities that can be acquired via their pal “trowzer snake”, and I’m talking about everything from doing a sonic style spin attack to turning invisible. So there are plenty of abilities at your disposal, and you will need to use all of them to get those precious Paiges. In some circumstances though, you will even need to change your anatomy, which can lead to some comical moments. So, what about challenges then? Well, each world offers a new challenge (whether it’s adventuring under water, sliding around on ice or collecting gems in a mine-cart), so “Yooka-Laylee” has you covered.

Despite some wonderful worlds and nostalgic platforming, there are a few niggling issues that I came across while playing. For example, the aiming mechanic is a bit clunky. Because when your pressing the L3 button sometimes nothing happens…And when you do eventually enter the aim mode, you can’t move and shoot at the same time. The camera can also get a bit wonky too. So at times it almost felt like it was wrestling the control away from me. In other words, when I was trying to make some difficult jumps, the right analogue lets you control the camera but the game just constantly fights you for it leading to some frustrating moments resulting into falling to your doom. Finally, the voice acting is well, a bit weird, basically it’s a cut of annoying sounds, while sim characters are more tolerable than others (it’s like “Starfox” but much more annoying. I still found myself just muting and reading the text. However, the music on the flip side is pretty good!

The mini-games feature four player co-op.

Furthermore, “Yooka-Laylee” is a wonderful game bursting with content. As the worlds are fun to explore and offer plenty of things to see and do, and that is how we remember RARE games. So that really proves that there is still room for platformers of that kind in today’s gaming market. However, it’s not without some issues that stop it from being a great game. You see, there were times where I was simply at a loss in what I was supposed to do or where I should go. Hell, some moments of the game were so frustrating I felt like I was just forcing myself to play rather than simply enjoying the game and its challenges.

Collect feathers and then exchange them for new abilities with Trowzer.

Even so, “Yooka-Laylee” still took me back to my childhood. As the game made me remember the days where you could just sit cross-legged in front of a TV screen and just having in and for the most part, “Yooka Laylee” captures that. Furthermore, having the option to play with a friend at your side makes it even more special, capitalizing on more nostalgia sat with a buddy till sundown trying to beat that super hard puzzle that you have been trying to solve for the last three hours. I like “Yooka-Laylee”, there is not all that many decent platformers around these days, and it certainly does more things right than it does wrong, I just hope that Playtonic games will be able to fix the camera problem as soon as possible.

Pros:
+ The game looks lovely
+ Ahhh nostalgia
+ There are tons of things to do

Cons:
– The camera is rather wonky
– The voice acting is an acquired taste
– Yooka-Laylee is tedious and frustrating at times

Gameplay: 4/5
Graphics: 4/5
Sound/music: 2/5
Controls: 4/5
Replay value: 4/5

tgg grade 3.5 out of 5

Verdict: 3.5/5
Yooka-Laylee is the kind of game that you felt like you’ve played it before, because it’s technically Banjo Kazooie, but with a Lizard and a Bat rather than a Bear and a Bird. However, the game is far from perfect. So don’t expect a nextgen Banjo Kazooie experience, because that’s not what you will get. Nevertheless, Yooka-Laylee is still a pretty decent platformer. In other words, it might be worth of a try if you’re really into games like that.

Title: Yooka Laylee
Developer: Playtonic games
Format: PS4
Genre: Platformer
Resolution: 1080p
Release date: 06/04/17
Difficulty: Medium to hard
Spent time: 8 hours
Average grade internationally: TBA% Gamerankings.com
PEGI age rating: E
Price: £35