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[SxtX]

Another review has popped up (and then down again). "It's a delightfully beautiful return to classic platform gaming and shows when done right that there's life in the old dog yet." 9/10

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...h.com/2017/04/video-game-review-yooka-laylee/

 

[JustenP88]

I'm just looking for a decent collect-a-thon that handles reasonably well. Something I can dip my Switch in and out of periodically over the next several months. Kinda like I'm doing with Snake Pass. This game is in a weird place where a bunch of 6/10 reviews wouldn't really deter me.

Also, lol @ the 'bad characters' stuff. Like, no shit. I thought that's what we wanted? I always thought Banjo and crew were corny as hell.

 

[Camjo-Z]

Another review has popped up (and then down again). "It's a delightfully beautiful return to classic platform gaming and shows when done right that there's life in the old dog yet." 9/10

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...h.com/2017/04/video-game-review-yooka-laylee/

aw yea

Both reviews so far have praised the worlds and said nothing about Capital Cashino, which suggests it's probably just as good as the rest of the game and not a boring empty mess like a lot of people assumed from the IGN video.

 

[Garrett Hawke]

after playing snake pass and enjoying it i'm much more interested in this now. if it comes to switch soon after launch on other platforms i'll def pick it up

 

[March of the Crabs]

I'm so relieved these are positive. I really want this game to succeed so collectathons can make a comeback. 6 year old me & adult me are both so excited!

 

[pretty done]

BrashGames' review of Rain World also leaked before the embargo.

They gave it 10/10.

lol doesn't that game have a 50 metacritic? I wouldn't read too much into this...

 

[Mihael Mello Keehl]

Damn when is the Switch version? I'm really scared I might break down and just buy the Xbox One version

 

[Ghost_Messiah]

Another review has popped up (and then down again). "It's a delightfully beautiful return to classic platform gaming and shows when done right that there's life in the old dog yet." 9/10

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...h.com/2017/04/video-game-review-yooka-laylee/

Jim Sterling and LKD had me genuinely worried - so these reviews that are leaking out are reassuring. 8/10 and 9/10 are great scores even if they're from obscure outlets. Looks like the initial worry may have been over minimal performance issues as most of us suspected, as opposed to the quality of the game which these reviews are saying is really excellent.

Glad this game is reviewing well so far! Even if we only have two reviews. Really wanted this to be excellent, so Playtonic can keep making games. Reassuring thread!

EDIT: Predicting a strong ~80 Metacritic.

 

[benzopil]

Jim Sterling and LKD had me genuinely worried - so these reviews that are leaking out are reassuring. 8/10 and 9/10 are great scores even if they're from obscure outlets. Looks like the initial worry may have been over minimal performance issues as most of us suspected, as opposed to the quality of the game which these reviews are saying is really excellent.

Glad this game is reviewing well so far! Even if we only have two reviews. Really wanted this to be excellent, so Playtonic can keep making games. Reassuring thread!

EDIT: Predicting a strong ~80 Metacritic.

There's definitely a reason why some reviewers in that thread didn't understand what Jim and Laura were talking about.

 

[ramparter]

If this ends up higher than 80% on metacritic I'm gonna cry. Hope game is even more succesfull than its kickstarter campaign. Big publishers should notice, imagine new Spyro, 3D Rayman, Jak etc getting announced...

 

[Skyzard]

Another review has popped up (and then down again). "It's a delightfully beautiful return to classic platform gaming and shows when done right that there's life in the old dog yet." 9/10

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...h.com/2017/04/video-game-review-yooka-laylee/

Sweet!

90 metacritic or game journalism was a mistake

 

[LordOfChaos]

A solid 70s-80s score on metacritic seems good to me. I was worried this one would do worse after some comments. I'm in.

 

[Wok]

There's definitely a reason why some reviewers in that thread didn't understand what Jim and Laura were talking about.

None of the two reviews deny what Jim and his crew hinted at.

Regarding the stuttering accusation, we this in the 1st review:



Regarding the "puke-a-laylee" accusation, we find this in the 2nd review:

 

[Skyzard]

The reviews don't harp on about those issues as if they are a major problem like Jim implies.

 

[TyMiles2012]

None of the two reviews deny what Jim and his crew hinted at.

Regarding the stuttering accusation, we this in the 1st review:



Regarding the "puke-a-laylee" accusation, we find this in the 2nd review:

A lot to collect is a con? Isn't that the point of a collectathon?

 

[Spieler Eins]

Seriously, the fanbase that backed this game did so BECAUSE they want an absurdly pointless storyline with over-the-top silly puns and humour

At least, I want to play this game and groan at the jokes, but laugh anyway.

Uh, humour can be badly written too, man. You know, like that rap video they've made.

 

[robotrock]

A lot to collect is a con? Isn't that the point of a collectathon?

Well, where do you stand on Donkey Kong 64?

 

[Seik]

A lot to collect is a con? Isn't that the point of a collectathon?

For their defense, they marked it as a plus too.

 

[muteki]

Another review has popped up (and then down again). "It's a delightfully beautiful return to classic platform gaming and shows when done right that there's life in the old dog yet." 9/10

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...h.com/2017/04/video-game-review-yooka-laylee/

I'd wish the genre wouldn't be considered "old dog".

 

[Diprosalic]

Largely annoying characters? What the shit? That's not what I expect from the old Rare when they brought us Banjo Kazooie that had some really great characters.

well this is not from the old RARE.

 

[Eusis]

Honestly it's kind of baffling in a way still. The move to 3D means there's more room to add exploration and that can be improved dramatically with new hardware each time.

I guess other open world stuff just filled that niche better for more people while 3D platform can be tricky to work with. Though cameras have improved a ton since the 32-but days too.

 

[Ghost_Messiah]

There's definitely a reason why some reviewers in that thread didn't understand what Jim and Laura were talking about.

Yeah I think these early reviews reaffirm the vague embargoed but still positive comments we got from people with review code. Makes me a little annoyed that Jim and Laura would say something like that, harming the success of the game when their claims seem to be completely unwarranted. Looking forward to review day tomorrow and hoping for more good scores.

 

[grap3fruitman]

Can you imagine how Kazooie's run sound would be treated these days? You hear it through 75% of the game, and it's just two sounds repeated on a 1 second loop.

I remember jumping with her just to hear it less.

 

[.Anema]

Terrible writing? LOL
Seriously, we need to stop this "terrible writing" thing. Almost 95% of games has terrible writing, full of cliche, bad characters and bad endings. Gaming has never been a source of great writing (except a few glorious examples) so we need to stop this bullshit, PLEASE!

 

[Sponge]

aw yea

Both reviews so far have praised the worlds and said nothing about Capital Cashino, which suggests it's probably just as good as the rest of the game and not a boring empty mess like a lot of people assumed from the IGN video.

But the internet told me it was empty and never to back a Kickstarter!!

Looking forward to more reviews.

 

[greelay]

This is going to be such a long wait until the switch version releases.

 

[lucablight]

Give me the charismatic over the top writing and characters of the Donkey Kong Country snes trilogy over the blandness of the retro games anyday. I'm guessing playtonic has a lot of those old rare writers?

 

[Sponge]

Give me the charismatic over the top writing and characters of the Donkey Kong Country snes trilogy over the blandness of the retro games anyday. I'm guessing playtonic has a lot of those old rare writers?

They have quite a bit of veterans. You can check for yourself here.

http://www.playtonicgames.com/team/

 

[QuantumZebra]

8/10? What is this trash! Hype Destroyed!!!

In all seriousness, looks about in line with what I expect from reviews, given what we've seen so far. I predict the metacritic score to fall in the high 70's to low 80's.

I think it settles between 80-84.

People outside of the Nintendo walled garden have been sorely neglected when it comes to good 3d platformers. (New Ratchet was good tho)

 

[Tesser]

Reviewer here, waiting for the embargo to drop so I can discuss a bit more in detail about my experience with the game as well as seeing how fellow writers/critics felt in the inevitable Review Thread. I'm interested especially in how the Xbox One version fairs - though a fellow staff member is currently providing coverage for that alongside my official review - and how many people reviewed this on Microsoft's platform.

Without running the risk of breaking embargo with less than 24 hours to go, I will say I've got plenty to write up a couple of additional editorials over. A good kind of plenty? A bad kind of plenty? We'll see.

 

[Ghost_Messiah]

I think it settles between 80-84.

This is what I'm thinking too. ~80 or a little above when all is said and done. Sounds like it's an excellent game held back by some minors issues which might be down to Playtonic being such a new and small studio - but other than that it's a genuinely good game.

Guess we'll find out more tomorrow. Curious as to how the more notable outlets (like IGN, or Edge) are going to score it.

 

[Brandon F]

Ok, that is a pretty garbage design. It's like something out of VeggieTales.

I had a similar thought.

 

[Exuro]

Well, where do you stand on Donkey Kong 64?

That's a little bit different. Repeating the same levels with different things to collect as each character was really annoying. I'm always up for more collecting if it means more levels and unique things to do.

 

[Salty Hippo]

It will be lucky to stay in the 70s. Still think it'll end up on mid to low 60s. The more recent videos were just bad. Not gonna fool myself because of 2 random reviews.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

It will be lucky to stay in the 70s. Still think it'll end up on mid to low 60s. The more recent videos were just bad. Not gonna fool myself because of 2 random reviews.

Unless the game is terrible garbage (which previews and the demo have shown is likely not the case), it won't crack the 70s.

Probably around the low 80s is my guess.

 

[Col.Asher]

Reviewer here, waiting for the embargo to drop so I can discuss a bit more in detail about my experience with the game as well as seeing how fellow writers/critics felt in the inevitable Review Thread. I'm interested especially in how the Xbox One version fairs - though a fellow staff member is currently providing coverage for that alongside my official review - and how many people reviewed this on Microsoft's platform.

Without running the risk of breaking embargo with less than 24 hours to go, I will say I've got plenty to write up a couple of additional editorials over. A good kind of plenty? A bad kind of plenty? We'll see.

Oh you tease.

 

[TheGreatMightyPoo]

Uh, humour can be badly written too, man. You know, like that rap video they've made.

You mean the cute, funny one???

 

[jrcbandit]

Why did the developers go with Unity? It runs like crap on consoles 90% of the time, glad I picked PC for the Kickstarter.

 

[Poltergust]

Why did the developers go with Unity? It runs like crap on consoles 90% of the time, glad I picked PC for the Kickstarter.

Most likely for Wii U compatibility.

 

[Sponge]

Most likely for Wii U compatibility.

Makes sense if that was the case. I'm hoping they go for UE4 for their next game.

 

[thenexus6]

Never played any Banjo games. I just want a cool 3D platformer, and the price is budget for this game which is tempting. However if it doesn't run well I'll be skipping it.

 

[March of the Crabs]

Terrible writing? LOL
Seriously, we need to stop this "terrible writing" thing. Almost 95% of games has terrible writing, full of cliche, bad characters and bad endings. Gaming has never been a source of great writing (except a few glorious examples) so we need to stop this bullshit, PLEASE!

If anything, Rare were one of the few developers to get video game writing right by not trying to write a screenplay. Obviously this doesn't work for more serious games, but I'll take light, fourth-wall breaking and overall fun instead of trying (And failing) to be a serious movie like a lot of newer games.

Hopefully this carries over to Yooka-Laylee.

 

[a916]

A lot to collect is a con? Isn't that the point of a collectathon?

Depends. Is it like Assassin's Creed where there not really fun to collect... so it really depends on how fun it is to collect it or if it feels like a chore.

 

[Salty Hippo]

Unless the game is terrible garbage (which previews and the demo have shown is likely not the case), it won't crack the 70s.

Probably around the low 80s is my guess.

I think reviewers today are quite a bit more critical than you might think. Terrible garbage doesn't stay in the 70s. I'd say not even in the 60s.

 

[Raptomex]

Well, where do you stand on Donkey Kong 64?

I don't think collecting is a con. However, DK64 is just tedious. But not because of the collectibles but because of the way you need to collect them. I prefer just finding stuff just by exploring.

 

[Drayco21]

Expecting mid to high 70s; pre-release has looked fairly okay but unremarkable to me.

Terrible writing? LOL
Seriously, we need to stop this "terrible writing" thing. Almost 95% of games has terrible writing, full of cliche, bad characters and bad endings. Gaming has never been a source of great writing (except a few glorious examples) so we need to stop this bullshit, PLEASE!

"But most games do a thing badly" is a pretty poor defense for a thing a game does badly. Bad writing, like bad frame rates or poor graphics, deserves criticism.

 

[muteki]

DK64 would improve quite a bit in my eyes if there weren't different sets of colored bananas for each character. I like the idea of SM64 coins or BK notes (even when they disappear) but having to comb each level over and over again was a big negative for me. There is little value in exploring the same space with different characters to me.

The minigames though were more what pushed me over the edge and made me drop DK64 though. Hope that isn't the case here.

 

[Raptomex]

I really hope this is more like Kazooie than Tooie. The excessive minigames are the only thing I didn't like about Tooie.

 

[TI82]

I think reviewers today are quite a bit more critical than you might think. Terrible garbage doesn't stay in the 70s. I'd say not even in the 60s.

A recent AAA title is in the 70s when it shouldn't even that high...

 

[e_i]

I wonder which reviewers will be reviewing the PC version, or will be the PS4/Xbone versions? The review up top said they reviewed the Xbone version.