Yooka-Laylee review: wide-eyed wonder for nostalgic 90s kids

It may look like a game for children but this primary coloured, Kickstarter-funded platformer is catnip for 30-somethings who came of age with Banjo-Kazooie

Don't be fooled by the saccharine paint job, the goggle-eyed supporting cast of anthropomorphic chestnuts, clouds and refrigerators, or the ear-niggling lullaby melodies: Yooka-Laylee is a game meticulously crafted, not for children, but for the middle-aged.

Its nostalgia is plainspoken and precise: the game is a paean to 1997, a time when Nintendo, in conjunction with its former life-partner, the British games company Rare, was busily establishing the rules, boundaries and aesthetic of platform games on the Nintendo 64, the company's first fully 3D-capable machine.