Yooka-Laylee
Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 5:15 pm
Playtonic Games, a.k.a. the reunion of 90's Rareware, just released Yooka-Laylee, their long-awaited revival of 1990's-style 3D platforming. As someone to whom Banjo-Kazooie and Super Mario 64 and the like hold more meaning than for most (they started me on the road to game development as a career), this game has been long overdue. Super Mario Sunshine was the last open-world 3D platformer that I can think of, and it released clear back in 2002. That's 15 years the genre has been (prematurely) dead!
Having spent some time with Yooka (about 9 hours in the first 30 hours since release), I have to say I've been loving having the chance to revisit the genre with new characters, worlds, and concepts. It's definitely a game built for the 1990's platforming fan. The characters are basically Banjo's cast in everything but name and appearance, and their dialog is loaded with the same humor and attitudes seen in Banjo. There are even the same sorts of lewd jokes thrown in all over the place. (Pay attention when first talking to Kartos the minecart as he remarks about "how much fun you'll have once you're inside him.") They even take some jabs at their habit of putting googly eyes on everything, including an enemy that is literally just a pair of googly eyes that will possess nearby inanimate objects in order to attack.
Unfortunately, it seems to be a little *too* rooted in the 90's - for every bit of charm it brings back from those golden days, it also brings back a bit of the frustration and awkwardness that came with those early days of 3D gaming. The camera is just as wonky as ever, for instance, and some of the platforming challenges are frustratingly precise, made all the harder by modern-day polycounts, which has led to detailed collision meshes that either catch you off-guard and send you plummeting or can be exploited to reach areas you shouldn't be able to yet. There are also too many challenges that have you literally jumping through hoops to get Pagies (this game's Jigsaw Pieces or Power Stars).
If you're like me and have spent the last decade and a half pining for more 3D open-world platforming action, this game is for you. If you were never that into 3D platformers, I'd suggest skipping this one as it caters to that specific niche to a fault.
Is anyone else playing? What are your thoughts so far?
Having spent some time with Yooka (about 9 hours in the first 30 hours since release), I have to say I've been loving having the chance to revisit the genre with new characters, worlds, and concepts. It's definitely a game built for the 1990's platforming fan. The characters are basically Banjo's cast in everything but name and appearance, and their dialog is loaded with the same humor and attitudes seen in Banjo. There are even the same sorts of lewd jokes thrown in all over the place. (Pay attention when first talking to Kartos the minecart as he remarks about "how much fun you'll have once you're inside him.") They even take some jabs at their habit of putting googly eyes on everything, including an enemy that is literally just a pair of googly eyes that will possess nearby inanimate objects in order to attack.
Unfortunately, it seems to be a little *too* rooted in the 90's - for every bit of charm it brings back from those golden days, it also brings back a bit of the frustration and awkwardness that came with those early days of 3D gaming. The camera is just as wonky as ever, for instance, and some of the platforming challenges are frustratingly precise, made all the harder by modern-day polycounts, which has led to detailed collision meshes that either catch you off-guard and send you plummeting or can be exploited to reach areas you shouldn't be able to yet. There are also too many challenges that have you literally jumping through hoops to get Pagies (this game's Jigsaw Pieces or Power Stars).
If you're like me and have spent the last decade and a half pining for more 3D open-world platforming action, this game is for you. If you were never that into 3D platformers, I'd suggest skipping this one as it caters to that specific niche to a fault.
Is anyone else playing? What are your thoughts so far?