It’s been 13 years since the limbless champion originally hit our consoles and it’s crazy that the good folk at Ubisoft manage to churn out original levels, enemies, and boss battles for this brilliant platformer over this amount of time. After being completely wowed by Origins last year, I admit my eyebrows rose when I saw that Legends got announced this soon after the release. Was it going to be another Ubisoft master piece – like Origins – or another studio cashing in on a popular brand?
I’m happy to say, it’s the former.
Legends was developed on UbiArt Framwork engine – the same as Origins – and still has the same whimsical cartoony design that looks like the artist, Michel Ancel, had literally just drawn his fanciful thoughts on to a piece of paper and it’s come to life before your very eyes. Legend’s does however champion Origins in its looks, but matches it on gameplay, which has a magical marriage with Christophe Heral’s brilliant score that paces the game perfectly, no matter what stage you play.
The pacing of the game does fall when playing the levels where you need use Murphy, the fairy frog like creature from Rayman 2. These levels were clearly designed for playing with the Wii U gamepad in mind, rather than the other consoles controllers. It’s not that big of an issue, but it’s probably much easier to play on the Wii U.
Rayman has always had whacky characters and enemies in the games, Legends is no different. You’re reunited with characters from previous titles – unlocking alternative costumes for each as you go along – as you once again work your way through puzzles and boss levels to find your captured Teensie friends. The puzzles are fun, despite a few being quite complex and needing more attempts than you’d wish to have at them. Level designs shows off some of the character’s as there is often more going on in the back ground and foreground as you’re making your way through some of the stage.
As I’ve touched upon, some of the levels can be quite complex, being a family game, this is where the drop-in drop-out co-op comes into play. It’s great to leave your kids playing Rayman, if they get stuck….you can jump in, help them out and go off doing whatever you were doing, or if you’re like me you call the young one into help you. There’s also a nice little co-op game to be played on the menu; it’s a bit like football, but with a twist. The game is called Kung-foot, and pits two combatants against each other as they fight over the ball to smash into one another’s goal.
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What’s a stage without an epic boss fight at the end? Rayman Legends supplies these in copious amounts, each one more jaw-droppingly epic as the last.
It really is hard not to wax lyrical about this game, truth be told I really am finding hard to find any flaws with it. I’m also trying not to tell you to “buy this game” because you should, especially if you’ve played Origins. Everything about Rayman Legends is just as charming as the previous games in the series. The music and artistry go hand in hand; characters, levels, cut scenes are humorous, and the boss fights get more and more epic. This is a classic family-based platforming game at its very best.
Yes, playing level after level can get a tad monotonous at times, especially over long periods of play, but that could be said about every game. You’re supposed to take breaks anyway, right? The game is very rewarding and offers a lot of replayability with rescuing all of the Teenies and collecting every Lumies that earn you trophies when you collect a certain amount on each stage. These can be quite tasking on the first attempt as some of the Teensies are well hidden and easy to miss.
There’s definitely plenty to do on Legends with the challenges and extras included that make playing the game a little less monotonous.
Rayman Legends is a truly magnificent game, there is loads to do and there is lot of fun to be had with this whimsical platformer. The boss fights get better and better with each one, as do the levels. The relationship between Michael Ancel’s fanciful level designs are matched and paced perfectly by Christophe Heral’s fantastic score.
Everybody really does need to play this game.
Rayman Legends launches Friday across Europe on PC, Xbox360, Wii U, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita.
Featured image from Wallpoper.com