A Black Falcon
Member
So for once, backing a game on Kickstarter actually means I got it... at a lower price than it would have cost if I'd bought it new? That's surprising... but nice! So, it cost 15 UK Pounds to back this at the minimum download-only-copy level, which is what I did; I got the PC version. That's about $25, a lot less than the $40 the game costs new now. I believe that if you'd paid for a physical copy on the game on Kickstarter it'd cost more than buying that at retail, but I didn't back it at a physical tier. Anyway, with shipping costs and such that's to be expected.
So, I got a code for the game today and started playing it. First I played the Toy Box demo from last year, because I hadn't before (didn't have that key either until today...), and after a bit under 90 minutes I got everything in it. I'm glad I did, because you can't save in this demo. It's a fun little demo. (Also, because few things are textured, it runs better than the final game. You'd expect that, though.)
As for the full game, I started playing it as well, and quickly got sucked in and played several hours; this game is great, just like promised! I'm, still in the first world, but there are only five or six worlds and each is large, so I would hope I was still in the first one. Instead of having more worlds, in Yooka-Laylee you can expand the worlds, which adds new areas in places to the world. I haven't expanded the first world yet, but I've found a lot of the stuff in the un-expanded version of the world. It's a great 3d platformer level with a good layout and plenty to do. The un-expanded version of the first world is good sized, but not too large, and after a bit I was figuring my way around; as I said the one thing I wasn't sure about with this game was if it should have had a map, and that would be nice, but so far I don't think it's necessary.
The controls are great too, in the main game at least. With a gamepad, and have one, the game plays very well, the controls are responsive. In the Toy Box version some jumping felt tricky (when you try to land on a small platform), but I think they fixed that up in the final game. As in Rare's N64 platformers, you get new moves in each level, though it takes less time to get them here than it does in DK64, for sure, though level expansions do add to the exploration sort of like the larger number of powerups to buy in that game. At first you can run, attack, and roll, but in the first world you add a power to get time-limited projectiles you can shoot, an echo shot which can enable some things, and a slam attack after jumping. You also can use a first-person view where you can't move, as in the N64 games, and can use Yooka's tongue to grab butterflies or seeds with. For one negative, the game does have a stamina meter unfortunately, so you can't just stay in roll form, where you can move faster but it is harder to turn, as long as you want. There are powerups to help, as these butterfly powerups can either be eaten (with the tongue button) for health, or touched to refill your stamina meter. The game uses this in a race early in the first world for example, to win you'll need to touch the butterflies along the way. Still, stamina is annoying. Ah well.
As for the story and characters, The game definitely has that British sense of humor you saw in Rare games. The story is basic but fine for this genre, and some of the characters are funny. Yooka and Laylee are VERY reminiscent of Banjo and Kazooie, but they are slightly different, and the other characters are original.
Now, you can tell that this game didn't get Nintendo-era Rare levels of polish. The game has some odd audio cut-out issues, the top-down kart-racer minigame has terrible controls (as both your kart is very slow to turn and they chose, for some insane reason, to have camera-relative controls only instead of the usual character-relative controls most games of this style use), the general polish all around isn't AAA quality (though for a Unity-engine game this is one of the best, apparently), and the performance... it's good with good enough hardware. With my new CPU (Intel 7700k) but old graphics card (GeForce 560) I wasn't sure how this would run, but fortunately it's pretty good. The framerate is definitely not a stable 60fps at the highest graphics setting and full resolution for my monitor (1920x1200), but with only this card I wouldn't expect that... I'm just glad it runs as well as it does. Maybe I'll try the 30fps mode and see if that's smoother, there is an option for that.
But anyway, so far Yooka-Laylee is really good. It deserves a much better reception than it's gotten, this game is great. I'll probably play it more soon, it's really addictive!
Still, seeing all of those issues has somewhat discouraged me from wanting to back games as often as I did a few years ago, when most of the time you overpay and don't get things until way after launch if you ordered a physical reward... if they send out physical rewards at all, of course -- Mighty No. 9 never bothered with that, in what is certainly the worst thing about that game. How much is feeling good for having helped make a game happen worth?
In this case though, of Yooka-Laylee, as I said at the top backing at the basic tier was actually a pretty good value. It's great that happens sometimes!
So, I got a code for the game today and started playing it. First I played the Toy Box demo from last year, because I hadn't before (didn't have that key either until today...), and after a bit under 90 minutes I got everything in it. I'm glad I did, because you can't save in this demo. It's a fun little demo. (Also, because few things are textured, it runs better than the final game. You'd expect that, though.)
As for the full game, I started playing it as well, and quickly got sucked in and played several hours; this game is great, just like promised! I'm, still in the first world, but there are only five or six worlds and each is large, so I would hope I was still in the first one. Instead of having more worlds, in Yooka-Laylee you can expand the worlds, which adds new areas in places to the world. I haven't expanded the first world yet, but I've found a lot of the stuff in the un-expanded version of the world. It's a great 3d platformer level with a good layout and plenty to do. The un-expanded version of the first world is good sized, but not too large, and after a bit I was figuring my way around; as I said the one thing I wasn't sure about with this game was if it should have had a map, and that would be nice, but so far I don't think it's necessary.
The controls are great too, in the main game at least. With a gamepad, and have one, the game plays very well, the controls are responsive. In the Toy Box version some jumping felt tricky (when you try to land on a small platform), but I think they fixed that up in the final game. As in Rare's N64 platformers, you get new moves in each level, though it takes less time to get them here than it does in DK64, for sure, though level expansions do add to the exploration sort of like the larger number of powerups to buy in that game. At first you can run, attack, and roll, but in the first world you add a power to get time-limited projectiles you can shoot, an echo shot which can enable some things, and a slam attack after jumping. You also can use a first-person view where you can't move, as in the N64 games, and can use Yooka's tongue to grab butterflies or seeds with. For one negative, the game does have a stamina meter unfortunately, so you can't just stay in roll form, where you can move faster but it is harder to turn, as long as you want. There are powerups to help, as these butterfly powerups can either be eaten (with the tongue button) for health, or touched to refill your stamina meter. The game uses this in a race early in the first world for example, to win you'll need to touch the butterflies along the way. Still, stamina is annoying. Ah well.
As for the story and characters, The game definitely has that British sense of humor you saw in Rare games. The story is basic but fine for this genre, and some of the characters are funny. Yooka and Laylee are VERY reminiscent of Banjo and Kazooie, but they are slightly different, and the other characters are original.
Now, you can tell that this game didn't get Nintendo-era Rare levels of polish. The game has some odd audio cut-out issues, the top-down kart-racer minigame has terrible controls (as both your kart is very slow to turn and they chose, for some insane reason, to have camera-relative controls only instead of the usual character-relative controls most games of this style use), the general polish all around isn't AAA quality (though for a Unity-engine game this is one of the best, apparently), and the performance... it's good with good enough hardware. With my new CPU (Intel 7700k) but old graphics card (GeForce 560) I wasn't sure how this would run, but fortunately it's pretty good. The framerate is definitely not a stable 60fps at the highest graphics setting and full resolution for my monitor (1920x1200), but with only this card I wouldn't expect that... I'm just glad it runs as well as it does. Maybe I'll try the 30fps mode and see if that's smoother, there is an option for that.
But anyway, so far Yooka-Laylee is really good. It deserves a much better reception than it's gotten, this game is great. I'll probably play it more soon, it's really addictive!
That's always an issue with Kickstarters. It took a full month after release before my backer collector's edition copy of Torment: Tides of Numanera finally arrived, for instance, and that is hardly the only example of such delays. With Kickstarter, backers often pay more and get things after retail, unfortunately. The reasons for the delays are understandable and complex, though -- think about it. If you are sending a physical box copy, you need to have sent it pretty early for people to get those boxes at the same time as your digital launch. Sending things through your supply chain to stores, and mailing things to individuals, are different things, and I'm sure dealing with mailing Kickstarter rewards is a much bigger pain. On top of that, Kickstarter projects often promise rewards or box contents that do not match what you'd find in a regular retail ediiton of the game, meaning you need a separate thing just for backers. Also, physical-box PC gamers aren't something that always exist at all outside of Europe, so it can be hard for these studios to not have delays push physical-reward arrival well back. That Torment: Tides of Numanera collectors' box was shipped from Europe for example. It's worse for games that promised DRM-free copies of games which otherwise have DRM, because you then need to make an entirely separate version just for backers, which the first Pillars of Eternity had to do... which is probably why few games do that now. Add all of that up, and more, and I can understand where the delays come from. Backers should come first, but I can understand why companies, who want to finally make some money off on the investment, focus on retail first, backers aren't paying them again after launch after all... and some problems require delays. What would you rather have, a disc-based copy of the game that requires a huge day one patch, or a digital key on launch day plus a physical copy that doesn't arrive for weeks or more, but is actually the finished launch game? It's not an easy question, again particularly for any Kickstarter that promised something DRM-free (that isn't just "or we can give you a GOG key instead of Steam").And I backed the game, but am still waiting for my physical copy to arrive.
I think I'm done with video game Kickstarters. This is the third that I've been burned when it comes to physical editions/rewards. There's no excuse for backers to not have the game before the general public whatsoever.
Still, seeing all of those issues has somewhat discouraged me from wanting to back games as often as I did a few years ago, when most of the time you overpay and don't get things until way after launch if you ordered a physical reward... if they send out physical rewards at all, of course -- Mighty No. 9 never bothered with that, in what is certainly the worst thing about that game. How much is feeling good for having helped make a game happen worth?
In this case though, of Yooka-Laylee, as I said at the top backing at the basic tier was actually a pretty good value. It's great that happens sometimes!
.Of course, it's also in issue with game design, even games like Super Mario 3D World work towards people not being able to deal with analog sticks.