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[Akuza89]

All the way back when Yooka-Laylee was nothing more than a hopeful Kickstarter campaign, one of the promised additions was a way to play the game with 64-bit graphics, in order to complete the obvious throwback to Rare's late 90s platformers. It's been a long time since then, but it looks like Playtonic Games is finally ready to bring the long-awaited update to its colourful title.

As you can see in the above teaser, 64-bit mode will be made available as one of the many game tweaking Tonics available from character design disaster, Vendi. Once you've selected it, the game adopts a low poly, low detail visual style, complete with a scanline filter and a capped frame rate. It looks pretty convincing, to be honest -- we reckon the retro heads among you will get a kick out of it.

The free update is coming soon, but no concrete date has been given. Will you be giving Yooka-Laylee's 64-bit mode a try?

Source

 

[hariseldon]

Shame the game is utter turd

 

[Leonard Washington]

Shame the game is utter turd

Where is your avi from? Looks like Mad Professor Moriarty on the Amiga.

 

[xviper]

great, now i can play the Switch version on my PS4

 

[Yoshi]

I do not think this looks like an N64 game, but it's better than the early screenshots. Since Yooka is such an amazing game and I have already preordered the LE Switch version, I may as well try the filter on my next playthrough. Now please make Yooka-Laylee 2!

 

[hariseldon]

Where is your avi from? Looks like Mad Professor Moriarty on the Amiga.

Indeed it is (utterly loved the game as a kid), although I played it on the Atari ST. Superior computer obviously

 

[Griffon]

That stretch goal was bad anyways. For one I'm glad they're done with it and didn't use way too many resources to get it done.

 

[Mochilador]

The models still look good. I was expecting something like Banjo-Kazooie.

 

[Codes 208]

They cant even make a downgrade correctly...

Because if their definition of 64 bit is ps2 graphics than sure.

 

[Castef]

Actually It says that the new mode is coming to every platform. Why you just added PS4 in the title?

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

Shame the game is utter turd

I don't think it is THAT bad, but I was very disappointed at launch.

 

[hariseldon]

I don't think it is THAT bad, but I was very disappointed at launch.

No I mean it's actual turd. Performance is horrible for what it is, graphics are obviously very nice, but the game itself just bogs down into boringness, much like A Hat In Time. Now if someone were to remake Croc...

 

[iconmaster]

great, now i can play the Switch version on my PS4

Oh you.

It's a decent approximation of N64 in motion. The eighty-sixed framerate really "helps."

 

[LordOfChaos]

Shame the game is utter turd

I really hope this didn't further bury desires for a proper Banjo Threeie

 

[Vawn]

Ah, shucks, you didn't have to do that. I thought your game looked crappy enough already.

 

[TheDuskwalker]

That looks bad, and not in the 90's graphics bad way.

Meanwhile......

 

[Akuza89]

Actually It says that the new mode is coming to every platform. Why you just added PS4 in the title?

I dunno... Just copied the title haha

To be fair not a lot of people will care about this, it wasn't exactly a brilliant game...

 

[Yoshi]

No I mean it's actual turd. Performance is horrible for what it is, graphics are obviously very nice, but the game itself just bogs down into boringness, much like A Hat In Time. Now if someone were to remake Croc...

I cannot agree on that, Yooka-Laylee is a fantastic game and precisely what they had promised. The first good collectathon since 2003's Vexx. However, considering your comments on Croc (which I also very much like) and A Hat in Time, I suspect you are more of a fan of semi-linear 3D platformers. If, by any chance you haven't played Rayman 2, it should be your jam.

@Duskwalkere: Now this is a 64 bit mode (or rather 32? It looks a bit like a middle way between PS1 and N64, even though the geometry is of course beyond what either system could produce)!

 

[SonGoku]

YIKES that scanline filter is gross

 

[Akira1983]

Is yooka Laylee really that bad as a huge fan of n64 era collectathon platformers?

 

[Tarkus98]

I get the feeling of nostalgia and stuff, but seriously why would someone want to make the game look worse then it already does by implementing this?

 

[kizito]

Is yooka Laylee really that bad as a huge fan of n64 era collectathon platformers?

It is really that bad honestly. As a big fan of N64 era platformers, I barely could finish the three first worlds before giving up on the game. They missed way too many important elements that are core to the design of a good 64 platformer, that it is impossible to recommend this game. One of the worse 40€ I spent, and probably one of the only games I truly regret buying. I am almost upset at the devs for failing at this game, as I really want to see a comeback of 3D platformers.

 

[-MD-]

Is yooka Laylee really that bad as a huge fan of n64 era collectathon platformers?

Nope, I backed this and am a massive fan of a lot of the old 3D platformers.

I played on PC so didn't have any performance issues. Does it hold a candle to the original Banjo-Kazooie? Not really, but it's still worth trying as I found it enjoyable.

I'd give it a 7/10, it's a solid first effort for Playtonic.

 

[hariseldon]

I cannot agree on that, Yooka-Laylee is a fantastic game and precisely what they had promised. The first good collectathon since 2003's Vexx. However, considering your comments on Croc (which I also very much like) and A Hat in Time, I suspect you are more of a fan of semi-linear 3D platformers. If, by any chance you haven't played Rayman 2, it should be your jam.

@Duskwalkere: Now this is a 64 bit mode (or rather 32? It looks a bit like a middle way between PS1 and N64, even though the geometry is of course beyond what either system could produce)!

Tbh I do rather prefer the semi-linear style, being a bit closer to the old-fashioned 2D platformer, wheras the wandering around aimlessly with poor signposting does little for me (I hated Mario 64 for instance). I'll have a look at Rayman 2, a quick google image search suggests it might be my bag so thanks for the pointer.

 

[Yoshi]

Is yooka Laylee really that bad as a huge fan of n64 era collectathon platformers?

No, it is not. It is a very faithful continuation of Banjo-Tooie and sits, in terms of level design, in between Kazooie and Tooie. It is not a modernisation of the concept, if you are looking for that, you'd have to play Mario Odyssey, but really like a 2002 Banjo-Threeie released 15 years later. In terms of quality, it sits in between Kazooie and Tooie as well. It is not as tight as Kazooie, but it is not as bloated as Tooie either. If you are a fan of N64 collectathon platformers and still like them today (some people have changed their mind upon replay), you will like Yooka.

 

[Meesh]

That's a great idea! Then release it on N64! (Not even port bagging here) The Sony / Nintendo wars are back, baby!

 

[Dr.brain64]

I really liked the game. Even got the plat before all the updates.

 

[Sentenza]

So it's a shitty and way overdone post-process filter.
Got it.

 

[TLZ]

They need to add a 60fps option in there.

 

[Codes 208]

There are plenty of reasons why I dislike this game. Lets take the bugs aside and Ill go with this: Im a huge fan of banjo and collectathons. Im looking forward to spyro reignited and im hopeful the banjo threeie rumors are true. But this game didnt live up to its promise from its kickstarter.

You remember bajo kazooie? How it gave us several simple yet satisfying sandbox worlds with plenty of collectable ala mario 64? Yeah well this game is more like tooie, a large set of lobby worlds with interconnected worlds with a mkre complocated approach. On top of that, while certain character designs are amazing, it made no sense to me that they kept reusing characters in YL in the worlds with changing their appearance to make them actually look like they belong there. As for gameplay, there are times i had no issue getting around but others the camera would act up and screw up my chances trying to get a pagie. Qnd thats another thing, the game is rather uneven. Theres plenty of pages early that need a power-up from later worlds, but the geometry is so messed up that players can parkour themselves getting the pagie when they shouldnt, other times when you use the flight power up its only then that invisible walls seem to make a difference. (Flappy flight also made the platforming sections completely redunadant)

Oh yeah, and the worlds are so large that they needed to divide them up making for frequent loading screens.

But overall it felt like slopjob. Not overly bad but not great either. I was hoping for a spiritual successor to banjo kazooie, not banjo tooie-er

I'd give it a 7/10, it's a solid first effort for Playtonic.

Wasnt playtonic founded by former high-end rare employees?
This is hardly their first effort.

 

[-MD-]

Wasnt playtonic founded by former high-end rare employees?
This is hardly their first effort.

It's literally their first game as a studio, those people hadn't worked together for years and it's not an all ex-Rare studio.

Boss Key's first effort was Lawbreakers, doesn't mean Cliffy B has never made a game before.