Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair Reviews

I give this game a total of 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝/5 bees

the overworld is more fun than the actual plattforming

Frame drops every few seconds, and I've got a fancy new computer.

This is a tough one for me. I can see the passion and care that went into creating a love letter to Donkey Kong Country..... but also i can see this is pretty much a copy paste clone of Donkey Kong and in doing that it exposes every single place this game is weaker and no way near as finely tuned and refined as the far superior Donkey Kong games. I also made the massive mistake of picking this game up after just playing DK country returns HD on the Switch 2. This game is such a direct copy of Donkey Kong in almost every way which means that it also exposes every thing it does wrong. The controls and momentum don't feel the same resulting in more frustration that satisfaction. The level design simply isn't as good. DK Country has so many moments that filled me with glee and excitement and Yooka-Laylee often feels forced and generic. The pace feels slower as well. One major frustration with this game is the opening and how much dialogue you have to skip through. Every character is telling you what to do. Instead of pacing their game and gradually introducing features to the player or letting the player figure stuff out through game play and exploration the opening of the game has you talking to endless boring NPC characters over explaining every single feature of the game or menu. Its just frustrating and very tedious. It made me annoyed with the game before it had really started. If you don't own a Nintendo device from the last 20 years then by all means this is a great alternative. You could even emulate DK country returns HD on Wii U and see what this game is trying (and failing) to achieve. There is charm here and i understand what the developers were trying to do but i don't feel that they stuck the landing and believe they would have been better off creating something original instead of ripping off the exact same mechanics from Donkey Kong which only exposes the weaknesses instead of any strengths.

I've played only a bit of this game so far and I'm not really digging it. It feels like a budget title and it doesn't feel nearly as polished as it should. During my 4 hours, I've already encountered a few bugs and glitches and actually managed to softlock my game twice and one time had to restart the entire stage because of it. The controls are bad and moving Yooka feels clunky and his roll feels awful to use. There is no run button and that makes the game feels very slow paced. On top of that the level design isn't clear which paths are optional and lead to secrets and which paths move you forward resulting in you missing hidden coins and forcing you to replay the level again. The character designs are also not very appealing at all and the gibberish voices they make only makes them more unappealing. The music is also very bland and forgettable. From what I've played this really feels like a dollar store version of Donkey Kong Country Returns/Tropical Freeze and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. If you are really craving to play a 2D platformer I guess this will be ok to play, but it certainly isn't worth 30 dollars. If you can get it 7 bucks or under I say it might be worth it, otherwise I'd avoid it and play something else.

Really fun platformer that is spoiled in my opinion by its final level. Gauntlet style platformer levels can be really fun, but the devs took the approach of making the "impossible lair" impossible through mean spirited game design, rather than challenging but fair platforming. The controls feel imprecise for what the game is asking you to do for its final challenge. I really like to play games until the credits roll, and I was disappointed that I couldn't make it there.

i did not really enjoy the first yooka laylee, but this one is actually pretty fun! it feels like they managed to combine the donkey kong country gameplay with a colectothon, with all kinds of secrets to find in the levels and overworld. Another important thing they get right is every collectable is useful, as you need quills to buy all the tonics you can find.

This game is just bad in almost every conceivable way: ugly graphics with bad framerates, boring music, floaty slow controls, and unfunny writing. This feels like a cheap rushed product, which is exactly what people complained about with the original Yooka-Laylee.

A must-play for any Donkey Kong Country fan, it has the same core gameplay mechanics and the same 2 legendary composer, David Wise and Grant Kirkhope! Every stage has its own unique song and even in 8-bit version, it made the experience very enjoyable. ❤️