I wish had given this game a shot when it first came out. I was very disappointed that it wasn't a sequel to the original game. I had hoped for another 3D game close to the quality of the Banjo Kazooie games, but when I discovered it was a (mostly) 2D Platformer, I held off on playing it for quite a while. When I finally got around to playing the game and I thoroughly enjoyed it, though I do have some minor nitpicks.

Positives:
The game looks great.
There's lots of collectibles.
Tonics aren't required to progress.
There are tons of fun references and homages.
I enjoy that each feather has their own personality.
All levels can be 100% completed at any time. You don't have to wait to unlock new skills.
The use of the overworld is fun. I like how actions on the overworld will effect the 2nd version of level.

Negatives: I feel like the controls could be a bit tighter. Sometimes, I would die and I genuinely felt like it was out of my control.
Laylee flying it erratic patterns when hit is incredibly annoying. Because the path is unpredictable, Laylee can get stuck in areas when you can't recover her, and it can be unfair and frustrating when it goes wrong.
Clues on the overworld that help you find tonics can be vague, or in a few select cases, they can even be wrong.
There are hidden portals located in select levels that teleport you to a bee located on the overworld, but there's a specific case where Yooka tells you not to go somewhere within a level because you'll die, but you need to actually go in that area to find one of the portals.

All in all, it was a pretty fun game, but there are some sticking points that really slow things down.
minor helpful spoilers that will save you some time: there are total of 8 bees hidden on the overworld, four or which are found via portals in levels, the other four are just well hidden and you need to seek them out by exploring the overworld.