A real tribute to platform games and especially to Banjoo & Kazooie, Yooka & Laylee borrows many aspects from its elder and takes us back to our earliest childhood from the first minutes. Here, no bear dressed in shorts and a backpack but a green lizard accompanied by a very cute bat. If the design of the duo is not intended to be as striking as its predecessor, Yooka and Laylee still manage to lead us into their adventures thanks to a character design that is pleasing to the eye and a well-felt humor, which is aimed at adults. like toddlers. Like Banjoo and Kazooie, the game is based on the complicity between our two protagonists, which directly influences the gameplay. Like their eldest, the duo also uses the abilities of Yooka, the green lizard, and Laylee, the bat. Thus, Yooka will be responsible for sticking mandalas to his enemies while jumping on the various platforms that make up the levels of the game, while Laylee will allow us to hover and use his sonar to discover the secrets scattered throughout the levels. Always in the purest line of platform games, the game offers easy-to-access gameplay but which will require a good dose of patience and precision. On the pay, Yooka-Laylee has all the ingredients to offer a rich and enjoyable adventure, and if on the whole everything works well, we can not help thinking that the game always stops where it begins to become truly awesome.
READING IS REFUSING TO DIE
If Yooka & Laylee is mainly aimed at fans of the Nintendo 64 era, the game does not forget children and keeps a light and simple storyline as hello. As our heroes bask quietly in the sun, Laylee's book, as well as all the books in the world, are sucked into a strange machine, located in the center of Capital B, a company with dubious intentions. Determined to recover their book, Yooka and Laylee then set off for Capital B to recover their due, but very quickly, our heroes will realize that a tedious adventure awaits them. Indeed, Laylee's book has been separated into several magical pages (called Pagies), scattered across five distinct worlds and the Hive, which acts as a crossroads between the worlds. Once again, the game pays homage to its elder and, as in Banjoo and Kazooie with the puzzle pieces, the Pagies will allow you to unlock the five worlds of the adventure.
To recover these Pagies, all you have to do is complete the multiple challenges offered during your adventure, while surveying the smallest corners of an area, in search of Pagies hidden in unsuspected places. If you will be entitled to many challenges during your adventure such as time trials, trolley phases in side view or even retro arcade mini-games, hard not to feel like a certain redundancy after discovering a few worlds. If each zone has its own challenges such as the labyrinth of the swamp, the other challenges always remain the same with a higher degree of difficulty. Very quickly, we have the impression of having a succession of soulless trials to the point of becoming generic, although some challenges, such as the transformations of Doctor Puzz, manage to be renewed each time. You will understand, Yooka and Laylee does not shine by its challenges but fortunately, the exploration of the five Worlds makes it possible to quickly forget this disappointment.
A LA CARTE EXPLORATION
Although some challenges will seem tedious to you, they will be essential in your quests since they will allow you to recover Pagies and thus unlock new worlds. Five in number, the worlds offer substantial game areas, each immersed in a specific universe. Among the worlds offered, we find the classic jungle and the land of ice cream, but also a casino, where players will have to collect Pagies by winning mini-games inspired by casinos. A priori, five worlds might seem a bit light for a game of this ilk, but it is important to specify that each level can be enlarged by getting rid of a few additional Pagies. Indeed, the worlds are quite large and the developers wanted to offer a freer experience to players who can choose to complete a level at 100% before moving on to the next. If this does indeed allow players greater freedom, it is difficult not to see it as a simple extension of the worlds already visited. Fortunately, the environments are sparkling and offer a well-thought-out level-design, which pushes the player to visit every nook and cranny without ever pushing him over the edge.
A FLYING LÉARD? THE END OF THE WORLD IS NEARING
To better understand the dangers and obstacles of the game, you will have at your disposal a range of moves and talents, which will be sold to you by Trowser at the start of each World. In addition to the classic jump, you can count on abilities specific to your characters, such as gliding or the possibility of camouflage like a chameleon. But above all, the lizard obliges, Yooka will be able to use his tongue to swallow various "edible" foods such as fireballs or ice cream, but also pomegranates or honey. Some foods can be used as projectiles while others will modify the structure of Yooka's body. Thus, when he swallows a cannonball, Yooka becomes heavy enough to withstand strong winds. From then on, it becomes necessary to be constantly attentive to one's environment in order to best use the powers of the duo. The gameplay offers good sensations once the controller is in hand and makes exploring levels very pleasant. We simply regret a slightly wobbly aiming system that will require a lot of patience from the players. Regarding the camera, no big problems to report, except for a few movements that are sometimes difficult to manage when you are in motion.
Of course, in a good platform game, Yooka-Laylee offers clashes against Bosses at each level. Unfortunately, the latter offer no real challenge and the patterns of the Bosses are far too simple to understand. Certainly the game is aimed at a wide audience, but this does not mean that it should neglect its difficulty. Here, even the most neophyte of children will have no trouble getting rid of these Bosses, which are painful to see. Challenges, on the other hand, are the opposite of bosses. Not always easy to learn, these arcade mini-games offered by Rextro (a dinosaur stuck in the 90s) manage to make us smile but are not very pleasant to play. The controls are approximate and after a few tries, the players will quickly pass their way as it is difficult to reach the best scores. Besides, the victory conditions to win a Pagie are ridiculous. A lot of times, you'll just need to complete the mini-game without really giving it your all. In short, nothing very exciting except the pleasure of meeting Rextro and his good face. Unfortunately, the tests are quite representative of the game which is intended to be generic. We take a certain pleasure in surveying the worlds of Yooka-Laylee but very quickly, we can't help but think that this little something is missing, which could make the game great.
NO SMOKE WITHOUT FIRE, NO FIRE WITHOUT SPARK
One of the most striking examples remains that of enemies. It's simple, you will always come across the same opponents, but depending on the worlds you visit, they will be made up differently. As a result, the clashes quickly become off-putting to the point that after two or three hours of play, you end up not paying any attention to the fights. The same goes for the NPCs, who struggle to make themselves interesting. If some benefit from a nice character design, others do not provide any emotion and it is not the approximate dubbing in French that makes conversations more fun. It is therefore difficult to soak up the universe of the game which, despite attractive graphics, does not manage to find a real identity. If the 15 hours of play spent with Yooka and Laylee have succeeded in making us relive the best hours of platform gaming, the adventure remains banal and struggles to stand out. Yooka-Laylee has everything to be a good title but it still lacks that little spark and a lot of settings to reach the level of a classic of the genre such as Banjoo & Kazooie.
