Yooka-Replaylee PC Preview

<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;yooka-laylee-review-bridging-gap-past-present&sol;">Yooka-Laylee<&sol;a> is the spiritual successor to the beloved 3D platformers of the Nintendo 64 era&comma; most notably Banjo-Kazooie&period; The game promised a return to vibrant worlds&comma; quirky humor&comma; and tons of collectibles&period; The game first launched in 2017&comma; and now the team is releasing an enhanced definitive version through Yooka-Replaylee&period; After playing through the recent limited demo&comma; I can say the remaster offers great new improvements&comma; overhauls&comma; features&comma; and visuals&period; However&comma; judging by the demo&&num;8217&semi;s poor performance&comma; it has a long way to go in development&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;gematsu&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;10&sol;Yooka-Replaylee&lowbar;2024&lowbar;10-24-24&lowbar;003&period;jpg" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">Same Old Story<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">The game&&num;8217&semi;s story follows Yooka&comma; a laid-back chameleon&comma; and Laylee&comma; his sarcastic bat companion&comma; as they set out to recover the stolen pages of a magical book&period; The villain&comma; Capital B&comma; a greedy corporate overlord&comma; has used a machine called the &&num;8220&semi;Noveliser 64&&num;8221&semi; to suck up all the world&&num;8217&semi;s literature in his quest for profit and control&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">The duo must travel through several whimsical worlds inside the mysterious Hivory Towers&comma; battling minions&comma; solving puzzles&comma; and collecting golden &&num;8220&semi;Pagies&&num;8221&semi; to unlock and expand new areas&period; Along the way&comma; they encounter quirky characters&comma; platforming challenges&comma; and more&period; <&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Narratively&comma; the game leans heavily into humor and self-awareness&period; Laylee&comma; in particular&comma; is constantly breaking the fourth wall&comma; cracking jokes about gaming tropes&period; While this tone will appeal to fans of Banjo-Kazooie&comma; it can also come off as grating or overly smug to players unfamiliar with that style&period; The story itself is lightweight and mainly serves as a backdrop for the gameplay&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">At its heart&comma; Yooka-Laylee is a 3D collectathon&period; You control the protagonists as they explore open-ended worlds in search of &&num;8220&semi;Pagies&comma;&&num;8221&semi; the game&&num;8217&semi;s main collectible used to unlock and expand new areas&period; Each world contains dozens of secrets&comma; challenges&comma; and characters to interact with&comma; and their designs are colorful and imaginative&period; The environments replicate the creativity of the N64 classics&comma; complete with playful music and sarcastic NPCs&period; Yooka-Replaylee takes it a step further by offering stunning and crisp new visuals&comma; detailed backgrounds&comma; and impressive models&period; One would think the game was a remake&comma; judging by the looks alone&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;gematsu&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;10&sol;Yooka-Replaylee&lowbar;2024&lowbar;10-24-24&lowbar;005&period;jpg" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">Great Gameplay With Some issues<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">Gameplay-wise&comma; the core mechanics have undergone significant improvements&period; Movement is generally smooth&comma; and the duo&&num;8217&semi;s abilities&comma; like gliding&comma; rolling&comma; and sonar attacks&comma; offer variety&period; The camera issues that plagued the game are now almost resolved&comma; but some sections remain worse than others&period; However&comma; the controls can feel imprecise&comma; especially during platforming sections that require tight jumps or aerial maneuvering&period; The levels featured in the demo feature great level designs&comma; with unique puzzles and fun gameplay differences&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">The demo also includes the new additions the remaster has to offer&period; This includes the new coins that are reduced when you die&period; You can also apparently spend these coins at vending machines not included in the demo&period; The game also features a brand-new world map and a challenge tracker that helps players stay informed about their location and the tasks at hand&period; This is incredibly useful&comma; as knowing what to do was always an issue in the original game&period; It also features a newly rearranged score&comma; numerous customisable options&comma; and more&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;gematsu&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;10&sol;Yooka-Replaylee&lowbar;2024&lowbar;10-24-24&lowbar;006&period;jpg" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">Main Problems and Final Thoughts<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">However&comma; while these changes are incredibly useful&comma; the demo featured tons of glitches&comma; frame rate dips&comma; and even crashed multiple times&period; While the remaster includes great new features&comma; if the performance of the demo is anything to go by&comma; the full game has a lot of optimisation to work on&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400">For now&comma; Yooka-Replaylee offers a range of great new features&comma; mechanics&comma; and quality-of-life improvements&period; However&comma; the demo&&num;8217&semi;s performance leaves a lot to be desired so far and muddles up the experience in an unsavory way&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;