Turquoisephoenix
Log Status
Completed
Playing
Backlog
Wishlist
Rating
Time Played
--
Days in Journal
13 days
Last played
April 30, 2022
First played
October 20, 2019
Platforms Played
"Why did you rate Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair five stars?"
The Short Answer: Several of my friends have their names in this game thanks to a contest that was held on Twitter before this game's release and that alone is enough to put a big goofy grin on my face.
The Long Answer: The best way to call this game is "If Tropical Freeze had a sequel with 1/10th of the budget that Tropical Freeze had but somehow managed to make something almost as solid with that budget". The mechanics in this game are surprisingly solid and there's so many different unique ideas that could've been disastrous if these ideas didn't stick the landing but end up working great together. The whole "overworld is a different perspective from the levels and you have to explore this mini Zelda-esque map to find more platforming levels to gather more hitpoints for the really long, hard platforming gauntlet that you can access at any time" gimmick was something I was not expecting to work as well as it did, but there were times where I wanted to explore the overworld more than actually play the platforming levels. I love that technically I can try to get to the ending at any time, but the platforming levels were also there as an option to help ease myself into the Impossible Lair's difficulty.
As for the levels themselves? Fantastic. My favorite part of this game is the fact that every level believably exists in the same kingdom, so instead of "grass level, ice level, lava level, sky level", you get "small bee town, small coastal bee town frozen over, factory next to the bee town filled with acid, airship docked near factory near bee town". It feels like a way to both save on cost (since this game isn't working from the same budget as a current DKC game) that also makes this world feel fleshed out and believable. I love that we get to see different parts of this bee-themed countryside with their little hexagon-shaped windmills and honey storage plants. It's cute! And while you're exploring these little bee-themed rooms with the honeycomb wallpapers, you get to hear David Wise, Grant Kirkhope, Matt Griffin and Dan Murdoch write some legit underrated video game bangers in the soundtrack.
Finally? Bee puns. Always get a huge kick out of any game that decides to go all the way with a game's theming and, in Impossible Lair's case, that means about 50 different bee and insect puns. Definitely beats the joke style in the original Yooka-Laylee, which is "I'm still sour about the Microsoft buyout".
The Short Answer: Several of my friends have their names in this game thanks to a contest that was held on Twitter before this game's release and that alone is enough to put a big goofy grin on my face.
The Long Answer: The best way to call this game is "If Tropical Freeze had a sequel with 1/10th of the budget that Tropical Freeze had but somehow managed to make something almost as solid with that budget". The mechanics in this game are surprisingly solid and there's so many different unique ideas that could've been disastrous if these ideas didn't stick the landing but end up working great together. The whole "overworld is a different perspective from the levels and you have to explore this mini Zelda-esque map to find more platforming levels to gather more hitpoints for the really long, hard platforming gauntlet that you can access at any time" gimmick was something I was not expecting to work as well as it did, but there were times where I wanted to explore the overworld more than actually play the platforming levels. I love that technically I can try to get to the ending at any time, but the platforming levels were also there as an option to help ease myself into the Impossible Lair's difficulty.
As for the levels themselves? Fantastic. My favorite part of this game is the fact that every level believably exists in the same kingdom, so instead of "grass level, ice level, lava level, sky level", you get "small bee town, small coastal bee town frozen over, factory next to the bee town filled with acid, airship docked near factory near bee town". It feels like a way to both save on cost (since this game isn't working from the same budget as a current DKC game) that also makes this world feel fleshed out and believable. I love that we get to see different parts of this bee-themed countryside with their little hexagon-shaped windmills and honey storage plants. It's cute! And while you're exploring these little bee-themed rooms with the honeycomb wallpapers, you get to hear David Wise, Grant Kirkhope, Matt Griffin and Dan Murdoch write some legit underrated video game bangers in the soundtrack.
Finally? Bee puns. Always get a huge kick out of any game that decides to go all the way with a game's theming and, in Impossible Lair's case, that means about 50 different bee and insect puns. Definitely beats the joke style in the original Yooka-Laylee, which is "I'm still sour about the Microsoft buyout".