The tech enthusiasts over at Digital Foundry have a new project and that game is Yooka-Laylee which launches on the Nintendo Switch today. I’m pleased to report that the port is a good one including several improvements over other versions of the game. Here’s a summary of what was said in the video by Reset Era member Zedark
- Camera controls have been improved;
- Resolution: docked 900p, portable 600p [i.e. same as Mario + Rabbids, for a reference]; CORRECTION: John clarified that handheld mode is actually 630p instead of 600p.
- Depth of Field is absent;
- Shadow maps resolution reduced, but shadows have good filtering, meaning a less chunky look despite the lower resolution;
- Ambient Occlusion is absent in the Switch version;
- Fewer reflection probes, meaning less light bouncing off objects;
- Some remade geometry, generally lower quality remakes, but most geometry remained the same;
- Reduced texture filtering;
- Lower resolution water surface details;
- All those changes still present a game that looks very much like the original 8th gen game;
- The version of Unity needed for optimisations lacked features, but the newer version had worse performance, so they had to request that new features be added to the old version, hence the wait;
- Frame rate: 30 fps like 8th gen counterparts, Some frame rate dips, mostly when the camera is exposed to a large part of the map. Dips also occur with a lot of alpha effects on screen. Mostly, though, it runs smoothly. Handheld is slightly smoother than docked mode.
- Loading times are not good: up to 10 seconds more loading time compared to 8th gen systems. Loading from internal storage is slightly faster than SD card.
- “Switch manages to hang very very closely to PS4 and XB1.”
Again! Graphics do not make the game! Gameplay does!
if the framerate would suck, it can affect the gameplay. Plus the visuals of this game are pretty neat.
And that’s why this game in particular was rated as mediocre. Tried to be like Banjo instead of it’s own, spiritually succeeding Banjo in other places. I’ve heard A Hat in Time did a better job.
A Hat in Time is certainly a WAY better game. It may not be part of the collectathon sub genre that included Banjo Kazooie but it’s a great Mario like 3D platformer that also has quite a few other reminiscent aspects from games that were from the 5th and 6th console generations.
I wanted to try it with Cuphead and stuff.
A Hat in Time would be the best platformer out this year if it weren’t for Odyssey. YL can’t even compare. I also liked Super Lucky’s Tale a lot better as well.
It’s really a good port. Playtonic is now our ally
Well duh but this is still impressive optimization work to make the game look almost like the console ver, so the original vision of the game is still there, plus stable performance almost all the time.
*PS4/X1 version
all of this reads like it would be a lot of compromises. But playing this game makes you realize, that you don’t even wanna see the list from other ports like Doom.
The game plays pretty solid and you don’t really notice any cuts, and that’s the most important thing.
Okay. Maybe it did improve performance but without a physical copy, I’m not going for it or any changes to improve it’s overall package according to it’s previous poor reviews.
They’ve said physical could happen if there was a demand for it. But just spend your money on something else. It’s way too expensive on eShop and it’s a mediocre game.
WTF do they mean “if”. Of course there is demand for it.
They’re probably hoping a lot would by digital first, then when they announce physical later, people would buy it twice. I haven’t liked Playtonic for a while.
Which means slow sales, thus hampering their eventual physical plan. Not a great idea.
It worked well for Shovel Knight and Fast Racing Neo.
Because Shovel Ware-Knight (only a joke. Calm down) is an 8-bit retro indie thats as demanding as Mario from 1986 which didn’t require physical due to it’s simplicity taking up barely any storage but Fast Neo Racing..IDK much about it so comment. If games are that small and simple, it wouldn’t need a physical copy to sell itself. Only heavier games rendered in much complicated style or full 3D.
I didn’t understand it was a joke. But I’m calm believe me:P I was just stating facts. I had no opinion.
I agree with that. Not every game needs a physical release indeed. But you know; Cashgrab.