Well it’s been awhile since I’ve played a video game that expresses nothing but good vibes. Now that may be a very interesting way to open up a review, but looking through my most recent reviews I realized half of them either focus on very serious themes and tones, have very complex narratives, or are just generally very depressing. Which is fine in my opinion because I love how these games explore mature themes that require care and attention to properly execute, but it would be nice just to sit back and play a game that doesn’t need to be overanalyzed just to prove to my audience that it is worthy of their hard earned money and they won’t get bored within the span of two hours. Something any person can pick whether they are old or young..
So I went through my library of games to see what I haven’t reviewed yet on this site and to my surprise there are a lot of games on my shelf that haven’t been covered yet. I do plan to review the original Halo trilogy, but it would be repetitive to review all three in one go. I dug a little deeper and found a game I didn’t even know I owned. A game that has been collecting dust on my shelf and hasn’t been touched in two years. A game I am pretty sure no one remembers, everyone forgot about, and is not likely to get another sequel or entry due to how it’s publisher refuses to make nothing more than big budget multiplayer games that are heavily monetized and generic sandboxes that follow the trend of go to icon on map or climb tower to reveal the map. In fact, the publishers are the ones who helped start the trend of climbing towers to reveal more of the map and liberate enemy outposts and camps. If you have not picked it up yet then I’m referring to Ubisoft. Come on folks, it's Ubisoft. You know it’s Ubisoft if what I’m referring to is every Assassin’s Creed game, Far Cry game, Watch Dogs game, Ghost Recon game, and most recently Immortals Fenyx Rising. What the f*ck is with that title? Anyways, let’s travel back to a time when they published more than just generic sandboxes and competitive multiplayer games. When they had studios who actually experimented and brought variety to the company, but they cut the life support to because sadly their games underperformed.
The year is 2010 and Ubisoft is planning on making a platformer experience that would have episodic releases. The first episode was supposed to come out in late 2010, but it got pushed back to the next year. They eventually decided to say “bugger all” and release the game as a full product. The game utilized a new engine the company created known as the UbiArt Framework which is capable of taking an artist’s work and putting it in an interactive environment and plane. They could create a simple 2D character and make full fledged games. Ubisoft decided to bring back their platformer mascot aimed towards kids from the early twentieth century and give him a new coat of paint instead of the weird party games they have been making before with weird ass rabbits that screamed their heads off. This is basically the process that led to the creation of Rayman Origins, a new artistic side scroller that starred the forgotten platforming hero Rayman and his new colorful cast of friends. Rayman Origins was one of those games that was sent out to…..die. Ubisoft didn’t do that much advertising for this game, the budget was lower than most of their other products, and it was a game created to die immediately when it hit the market.
Rayman Origins failed to meet sales expectations, but it wasn’t a bad game. It was good. Really good actually. Those who tried out Rayman Origins loved the new direction the series was going and wanted more of this wacky 2D animated platformer that had more quality than other platformers at the time. The team at Ubisoft then decided to develop a sequel to this underrated hit, but during the development cycle some very bad stuff happened. A massive leak went online showing footage of the game, content that would be added in, the changes they would make from Rayman Origins, and what consoles the game would come out on. However, this wasn’t your Last of Us: Part 2 where people got ticked at what was happening during the development process. People were really excited with what was to come with the sequel to Rayman Origins.
Eventually, Ubisoft addressed the leaks online, specifically one of them saying the game would be released exclusively to the Nintendo Wii U which was a next generation console no one was likely to buy. There was a change of plans and during the big reveal, Ubisoft announced that the sequel Rayman Legends would be coming to all consoles in the near future. People were quite hyped for Rayman Legends and secretly it was probably one of the most anticipated projects by Ubisoft. In 2013, they released Rayman Legends for the Nintendo Wii U, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC. One year afterwards they released the game on next gen consoles, the Playstation 4 and Xbox One. The game sold better than Rayman Origins and almost reached one million copies worldwide, but it failed to meet up with the sales expectations Ubisoft had set up. Still though, Rayman Legends was one of the best received games of 2013 besides GTA 5 and The Last of Us. Review scores were near perfect, was a vast improvement from the last one, and some outlets considered it a Game of The Year contender.
Rayman Legends is considered by many to be one of the best platformers of all time and I am so happy I decided to replay this game. I can’t believe I forgot I owned this game, because this is truly one of the best side scrollers ever made. Second to Shovel Knight in my mind. What a f*cking game guys. Today we’ll be talking about why I loved Rayman Legends and why it deserves your attention. So let’s gather our friends, hop into a painting, and journey across this wonderful colorful world.
Story
The game takes place an entire century after the events of Rayman Origins. Darkness and nightmares created by a sickened Bubble Dreamer overcame the Glade of Dreams, the nymphs that looked after the glades were captured, and it was up to Rayman and his friends to stop the nightmares and find a cure for the Bubble Dreamer. Rayman then discovers that one of his Teensie friends, the Magician, was an admirer of one of his old enemies and that he had control of the nightmare forces. Rayman, his best friend Globox, and a couple of other Teensies defeat the mad Magician and bring peace back to the Glade of Dreams. They hop back onto a tree branch and continue sleeping. Dreaming of what is next to come.
Weeks past and whatever is left of the Bubble Dreamer’s nightmares slowly grow in numbers. Becoming stronger than the forces Rayman faced on his last adventure. Not only that, but the Magician whom Rayman took down survived the events of the last game. The Magician has split himself into five Dark Teensies and they begin to storm the land alongside several other horrifying creatures and nightmares. Teensies are being captured left and right, the ten princesses who maintained control are also captured, and chaos begins to spread like a giant forest fire. The Bubble Dreamer who now resides in another plane of existence witnesses the chaos from afar and sends his fairy henchman Murfy to wake up Rayman and friends from their slumber.
Murphy tracks down our small group of heroes and wakes them up from slumber. It’s up to Rayman, Globox, and two random Teensies to save a bunch of other random Teensies who all look the same, slay each one of the nightmares, and sucker punch the five Dark Teensies off their world. It’s a kids game, so obviously the story was made to be the simplest thing possible, but there is still some charm to it. There’s a lot of expressions and enjoyment coming out of the characters and animation, and when the game wants to do a silly moment you just chuckle. You chuckle because the game is just very positive with itself and wants the player to have a good time playing through it. It’s something we don’t get to see in a lot of video games these days and if we do it’s in the most greedy and corporate way possible. It’s a simple story that wants you to have fun immediately. Speaking of having fun, Rayman Legends is fun!
Gameplay
Rayman Legends is a very easy game to get into that somehow constantly ramps up the difficulty the deeper you get into the game. Otherwise, the best way to handle a side scrolling platformer. In most of my Shovel Knight reviews I’ve stated you can have a very simple game, but the way you unroll levels and experiment with mechanics is what can make a game challenging. As long as you do it at a consistent pace then nothing will feel that unfair. That’s what Rayman Legends does.
From the first level of the game we are shown how the game plays and what moves we can use to navigate around the environment. Rayman can walk easily around, but he can transition into a run animation to build up momentum. A majority of the time you’ll have to be running, because a majority of gaps and platforms need extra traction to get across. He can jump like most platforming heroes, but holding down the jump button after jumping will allow him to hover. Get across large gaps very easily, slow his descent towards the ground, and sometimes when there is wind blowing he can reach areas he normally wouldn’t be able to access just by simply jumping. Most enemies will die when you jump onto their head, but Rayman has a punch that knocks out any enemies in front of him. He can also punch enemies above him, slam the ground to force out any turnips containing goodies, perform a spin attack that not only builds up momentum but can knock out rows of foes, and perform a plunge maneuver which quickly makes him dive towards the ground with force. Almost all of these abilities are used in some way to interact with the levels and environments.
Levels are chosen from a simple hubworld and when you want to go into one you just hop into a painting Super Mario 64 style. The goal of each level is to reach the end while navigating around hazards and enemies. Rayman and his friends can only get hit once before being booted back to a previous checkpoint. You can pick up hearts which gives Rayman a second hitpoint, but luckily checkpoints are mostly generous and you don’t lose that much progress. There are tons of secrets and passages to find in each level and the game reminds me of Donkey Kong Country in some manner. There are Lums to collect which are energetic balls of light and the Teensies. The Teensies are tiny blue creatures with giant round noses. There are ten Teensies scattered across each level with two of them being found in secret challenge rooms. Some are in plain sight and others will require some good searching to locate. You are rewarded for finding Teensies and future levels and worlds can only be accessed if you collect a certain amount of Teensies. Once you reach the end of a level your Lums are totaled up to show your reward. If you collect four hundred and fifty lums you get a Lucky Ticket. They can be scratched to unlock rewards. Pets, Teensies, Lums, and extra levels.
Every level has their own mechanic or gimmick and it is up to the player to understand. One level may have ropes that can be cut, spotlights that zap the player when you step into them, cake that can be eaten away, hordes of tiny nightmare balls that chase after the player, etc. Some ideas will combine with each other to create some intense challenges. There are some levels which are chase sequences and at the end of each world there is a boss. Just avoid their attacks and wait for them to open up their weak spot. Besides that there really isn’t much else to say about Rayman Legends. It’s another platformer that is fun to play both by yourself and with friends. You or up to four players can engage in an all out clusterf*ck in Rayman Legends. Hopefully you can defeat the Dark Teensies and bring peace to the Glade of Dreams.
Thoughts
Rayman Legends is a very good 2D side scroller that I’m glad that I replayed. The game is very simple and when looking at footage of Rayman Origins it doesn’t do that much mechanically new or innovative. However, it is a really well made game with a lot of ups and positive qualities. The controls are tight and it never felt like Rayman was slipping all over the place. The amount of moves Rayman has at his disposal allowed me to get creative with how I navigated the environment. The artstyle is what I really like about this game. Rayman Origins was handrawn and the characters looked like they came out of a cartoon. Now it feels like converting that cartoon over towards a blockbuster movie or special with it’s own uniqu artstyle. Rayman and his friends are no longer outlined and now look more fleshed out and rounded. The water color graphics and polished environments help give Rayman Legends it’s own unique feel.
I’ve stated several times before that I love games that embrace their own artstyle and looks. All the characters and locations in Hollow Knight are hand animated and not a single frame was cut or utilized dragging. Wandersong has a paper cutout art style that appealed to all generations. Darkest Dungeon looked very grim and shady at times. Ori and Gris look more like paintings rather than games. Indivisible looks like an anime and Spiritfarer looks like a western anime. Rayman Legends is a Triple A game so of course it’s going to have a better engine and smoother graphics than some of the indie games I just listed, but hand drawn graphics are something Triple A developers wouldn’t want to embrace these days. Now everything has to rely on 3D models or look as realistic as possible. I don’t care about ray tracing! If the game looks nice then it’s fine, but when will every modern video game stop looking the same?
The soundtrack was really nice and helped make the game feel even more positive. The amount of variety to each level and how they unrolled each mechanic meant no level played the same. The first world seems like your grassland world at first, but you end by fighting a dragon in a hellish flaming castle. There are tons of secrets to find in each level and even after you beat the game there are still activities and side tasks to do. Unlock the trophies for each level and find all the Teensies. Beat the time trials which are available for a small handful of stages. Collect Lums to unlock new characters and skins. Save the ten princesses locked behind doors. Scratch the Lucky Tickets to unlock pets and levels from Rayman Origins. That’s right! You can unlock and play every level from Rayman Origins now with the artstyle and engine of Rayman Legends. I haven’t played any of them, but it’s nice to see the amount of content packed in.
Some people may find the game to be really challenging especially with the later sections and how the bosses are hard to read and predict. However, the difficulty curves are consistent and nothing felt like it was hard to a point where it was unfair. Rayman Legends to me a big thumbs up. It’s probably one of the best Triple A platformers ever made and deserves to sit in the platformer hall of fame. Almost everything Rayman Legends sets out to do is done incredibly well and what we get is a masterpiece of a platformer. A consistent amount of challenge, variety, lovely artstyle, and mass amounts of replay value both with yourself and friends. In the end I am going to have to give Rayman Legends a 10/10 for being downright incredible.
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