Rayman Legends experiments with variations on the standard side-scrolling platformer across its dozens of levels. Think of Rayman as Mario’s French exchange student. Rayman Legends is made in France, and it shows-it’s familiar but foreign, classy but vaguely vulgar, and very European. It’s an interactive cousin to Looney Tunes inspired less by vaudeville than European clowning, with Rayman (and thus the player) in the role of the irreverent Auguste clown, undermining the self-imposed rules of the designers as if they were the would-be sophisticates of the whiteface clown. It feels like a playable cartoon, with gorgeous environments that are warm and surreal, and a sly and kinetic sense of humor. Rayman Legends expands upon 2011’s excellent Rayman Origins, offering up the same charm and classic platforming challenge in a more elaborate package. The only sidescrolling platformers made today are fantastical, family-friendly romps or pedantic indie exercises, and among the former few games are more fantastical or playful than Rayman Legends. When gritty games about guns and the musclemen who tote them largely absconded to the third dimension, playfulness rose from the dominant tone of platformers to practically the only tone found in the genre. Think the psychedelic whimsy of a Mario game, or the exaggerated attitude of Sonic. Not the sense of actually playing the game, but the kind of light-hearted frivolity baked into the genre from its earliest days. One of the most common elements of a side-scrolling platformer is a sense of play. How many pixels can a character span in a single jump? How fast does a character move? How about the level architecture, and the placement and motion of enemies, and the number of hits needed to kill them? These are all crucial decisions that many players take for granted as they sprint through a game. "Rayman Legends" is rated E 10+ for Everyone ages 10 and up and is available on the Wii U, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PS Vita and Windows.There’s much to consider when designing a 2D platformer. With countless unlockables, 4-player co-op (5-player on Wii U), a host of playable characters, impeccable controls, beautiful graphics and nearly unmatched attention to detail, "Rayman Legends" has taken platforming games to a whole new level. Ubisoft seem to have hit the sweet spot by keeping the Rayman franchise in a 2D world. Though, to get the best experience of "Rayman Legends," it is recommended that the Wii U version be the one to play. While it is unfortunate that this is the case, this bump in the road is not game-breaking in the slightest. With that said, these segments are more intuitive in the Wii U version. On the non-Wii U versions, Murfy performs all of these actions automatically when the player hits one button. Ubisoft originally planned "Legends" to be a Wii U exclusive, and thus, the Murfy segments focus a large amount on using the Wii U gamepad to manipulate Murfy's actions. Playing through these segments on the non-Wii U versions of the game leaves the player feeling as though something is missing. Being a fly, he can reach places that Rayman cannot in order to, for example, cut ropes and flip switches. Murfy is a sidekick that assists you in solving puzzles throughout certain levels. Though, there is one flaw in its design: the Murfy segments. "Rayman Legends" excels in nearly every way imaginable. The controls are true to any reputable platformer and do not suffer from the frustration that many other games evoke. Every aspect of movement throughout the game - whether on the ground, in the air, or under water - simply feels good.
"Legends" is what one could define as a feel-good platformer. Not only that, but the more Lums and Teensies you collect throughout a level grants you the chance to unlock new character costumes and Back to Origins levels - 40 remastered levels taken from "Rayman Origins." These are unlocked though Lucky Tickets, yet another performance-based reward given at the end of the level.įorcing precision onto the player is just one example of how meticulous the developers were in terms of control mechanics. These cups are ultimately used to determine your "awesomeness rating," which in-turn allows you to unlock prestigious, online-competitive challenge stages. Different caliber trophies called cups are awarded to players based on their performance throughout a level.
This is achieved through the truly staggering number of unlockables presented throughout the game. One of the more remarkable aspects of "Legends" is the depth into which the game journeys to make the player feel rewarded.
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