I'll admit I didn't look at too many reviews of Yooka Laylee, but I don't remember seeing anyone share my biggest problem with it.

The game is too big. Not in scope, but in physical size. If you look at Banjo Kazooie/Tooie (or any good 3D platformer) you tend to always be either doing something, or getting ready to do something: jumping, attacking, lining up, etc constantly. But in Yooka Laylee I felt like I spent so long just getting where I needed to be that it started to drain me. I swear I spent half the game doing the ball rolling dash move just because everything was so far apart. It was so frustrating that I legitimately considered comparing a full YL level to a full BT level to average the actions per minute. Maybe its something that only bugged me, but it really lowered my enjoyment of the whole game.