I want to recommend this but unless you are 6 years old, I can't

Playing this is a bit jarring because it is presented so well. It looks beautiful. The art direction is top notch and what I would expect of a modern Rare game. The music vibes well and the environments are varied. It controls well and is almost never frustrating to control, although the kartos segments are frustrating at times due to weird camera angles.

Despite strong first impressions, they are all surface level. The game is absurdly easy. To the point of barely being a game and instead opting to be an amusement park. You cannot lose. The only segment of any semi-challenge is the final boss and that's only because it is being compared to the entire rest of the game which has none at all. I was still able to beat him first try but at least I took some hits.

The real problem with this game is the overall design. It fights with itself constantly over its own mechanics. There are segments that would be fun with timing and platforming, except that the player has all abilities in the game right from the start. This not only subverts the intended level design, but it also removes all sense of progression from the game. Why should I platform through this section when I can just glide through it in 3 seconds?

Let me give another example - There is a transforming mechanic. In one stage you can transform into a vehicle that shoots various elemental attacks. One would surmise that each elemental attack is useful against various opposing elements in the world, and you would be correct. However, there is a boss that you fight in this vehicle and he switches between elements throughout the fight. You would think that the whole reason for the elements is so that the player knows, oh... I should attack that icy spot with my fire element. Or I should hit that flaming spot with my ice element. But no, it doesn't matter at all. The elements in the fight are completely pointless as all your attacks do the same damage. It's absurd, like they got halfway through building the fight and just thought, meh... good enough.

And this is the entirety of the game. It's half baked but it looks good. There is no depth at all. There are only 5 areas to explore, not counting the hub. There is potential everywhere but it is subverted by their own design decisions at every single point.

I was able to 100% achievements, get every collectable, and get 287/300 pagies in 18 hours just playing casually. There would be no joy in getting the remaining pagies, there is no point. There is actually no point to get more than 120, that's all you need to beat the game. I can only recommend it if it is really cheap and you're in the mood for Rare vibes. But don't expect much in terms of longevity, the fun of exploration runs out pretty fast.

I actually think the original game is decent, but this improves upon it in pretty much every way. If you like collectathons definitely give this a try.

Oh... I wasn't expecting a re-release. I went in with a bit of suspicion and having doubts, I did rack up a fair amount of playtime on Yooka-Laylee and The Impossible Lair got both to 100% completion but I wasn't exactly satisfied. So imagine my surprise when I install this as all the reviews I saw were saying "it's better now" and you know what? They're right. It IS better now. I really like this game. It scratches that Banjo Kazooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day, DKC itch that I keep forgetting I have. I intend to play this to 100% but I'll try to savour it more than I did with its predecessor.