After playing Rayman Origins on Steam, I was sold on the idea of a sequel immediately. It helped that Rayman Legends was originally announced as a Wii U exclusive. At the time this game was announced, the only Wii U game I spent any significant time with was New Super Mario Bros., and I consider that to be a disappointing game simply because it felt like a rehash without something to draw me in aside from the fact that it was finally in HD. For some reason, I had a lot more faith in Ubisoft to deliver on a follow up on Rayman Origins. Rayman Origins was a beautiful mix of tight gameplay that anybody can pick up and polished presentation. The bright colors and cartoony feel with both the graphics and music made this game really stand out for me.
But then the game's launch date got pushed back, and then Ubisoft announced it would be coming out not just for Wii U, but pretty much every platform. A game that I had hoped to play in February or March was now coming out in September. That said a lot to me about how 3rd parties view the Wii U as a viable platform, but that's a discussion for another time. I ultimately did get the game for Wii U due to the touch screen functionality as well as the fact that my Wii U was gathering dust. If I wasn't going to play Rayman on Wii U, was my $350 purchase destined to be a Zelda machine or fodder for the eBay pile? It had to be played on Wii U.
It was a good choice. Fortunately, Rayman Legends takes what Rayman Origins did and improves it at every level. The controls feel just as tight, except now the checkpoints are spaced out better so levels are more manageable to complete. The animated look of the first game is improved upon with even more polish, which I didn't think was possible. And the soundtrack once again stands out.
Getting back to gameplay, once again this game can be played by anybody who is interested in a typical platforming experience. If you enjoy Mario, there is no reason to not play this game. Rayman has a few different abilities, but the fundamental style of play is similar. Except Rayman Legends (and Origins) is much better than New Super Mario Bros for Wii U. Not only does it look better, but the game is just more fun and offers way more variety in the gameplay. Both games have standard "scroll to the right" platforming levels, but Rayman throws in secrets everywhere to encourage you to take your time and get 100%. Sometimes a teensie (think stars in Mario 64 or star coins in Mario 3D Land or New Super Mario Bros) is hidden under some fog, or if you climb to an obscured area you enter a door that takes you to a sort of mini level that can be completed in about a minute to find a secret teensie. Most levels have 10 teensies you can find, and depending on the level sometimes I find them all. So far I haven't worried too much about getting 100% completion of a level, but I put forth the effort to try and get most secrets. Other levels are side scrolling shooters, or runners where if you go too slow you automatically die. The screenshot below is one example of this in multiplayer.
This multiplayer allows friends to join into the normal single player campaign at any time. I've done this a little bit, but like most platformers that utilize this feature I find that I'm usually pushing the pace, leading my friends to die more than they would probably like. You can also do online challenges that have you compete with people over the Internet to see who can defeat enemies quickest or collect the most lums on a particular level. They even have a sort of dodge ball style competitive game.
Some levels also force you to control Murfy with the touchpad. Murfy can do things like block fireballs from hitting Globox (who you switch to for these segments instead of Rayman). An example is below.
On this level, Murphy can destroy those fire/eyeball things, and move the platforms so that Globox (which is now AI unless you have a friend) will not jump to his death. There are also Murphy puzzles where you rotate the gamepad to change the gravity on the screen. Sometimes the AI isn't perfect, but it's good enough. My frustrations with it were minimal. I don't think it's quite as fun as the typical levels, but again, it's a nice change of pace.
The game doesn't force you to just go to the right...some levels move up and down or even in a circle. Other levels are mazes or force you to swim underwater stealthily. And the best part, in my opinion, are the music levels which are runner style levels in which the notes and rhythm of a song is played out by collecting lums (coins), jumping over obstacles, and defeating enemies. Boss levels are also fun and creative. This gets back to my main criticism of New Super Mario Bros. When a game like Rayman looks better, has better sound, is more fun to play multiplayer, offers more gameplay variety, and actually utilizes the touchscreen, it makes Nintendo's effort on New Super Mario Bros seem weak by comparison. It's not that Mario is bad, but compared to this (and Super Mario 3D Land which also offers a new feel), you feel that New Super Mario Bros was something thrown together with less care. In fact, in the Wii U version, you can actually play with a Mario costume on Rayman. It's like Ubisoft knows they made a better Mario game. It would be OK if Mario was a $20 game and Rayman was $50, but Mario is still a $50 game.
So why haven't I beaten this game that I have owned for nearly two months now? Aside from the fact that it had to compete for my time with GTA 5, NBA 2K14, Wind Waker HD, Pokemon, and many other titles, I find that Rayman is a tough game to put long sessions into. That's probably a personal issue. The game at times can be tough. None of it feels unbeatable to me, but you will die...a lot. So when you are doing a level that requires you to climb to the top of a tower that is falling into quicksand, you might die 20 times to finish a level that really only takes a minute to finish once you do it right. I wouldn't call it frustrating...for the most part I feel like I'm the one making the mistakes, not the game. But after playing for 30-40 minutes, especially if I had a tougher level to deal with, I was ready to play something else. The way I play games, which is really to relax and detach, I don't always want to focus as much as I need to in order to finish these challenging levels for hours on end. 30 minutes is about as much time as I want to put in. If that means I only get 25 teensies out of the 700 I would need to get 100% in the game, that's fine. I'm not in a rush to finish. Part of what makes Rayman great is that even if I don't play it for a couple weeks I can just pick it up and get back into it.
If you have a Wii U, this is a required purchase in my opinion. There is nothing better on the system, especially if you want to play with friends or if you are a looking for an experience that can last you a while. I don't think I will get 700 teensies because I will want to move on and play new things with the limited time I have, but if you are into completing games this is perfect. I haven't played it on other platforms, but the same rules apply. If you are into platformers, buy this game. It's one of the best games of 2013, and I suspect it won't get the recognition that more popular titles will get during game of the year discussions in December. That would be unfortunate, because I believe it deserves the praise and attention that many imperfect titles in the game of the year debate will receive.
Comments are welcome. My next post is going to be about Gone Home, which I completed last night in less than 2 hours.
