Like many others, I was blown away by how awesome Rayman Origins was.
In an age of such cynicism, where games either feel the need to play it safe or to present themselves as edgy and "cool", Rayman's first adventure in years was so undeniably wacky and whimsical, not to mention fun to play, that it caught me completely by surprise. It was good news when the game, initially seen as a financial disappointment, proved profitable enough for a follow-up, and after a controversial delay and multiplatform release, Rayman Legends has arrived.
And the game, frankly, doesn't live up to the hype. I don't want to give off the impression that it isn't fun to play, and that it doesn't feature its share of excellent platforming, gorgeous visuals, and charming atmosphere. But feeling at times like a Rayman Origins 1.5 and at times like a little less, Rayman Legends falls victim to some new gimmicks that don't quite pan out, and with a reduced "crazy" factor and less in the way of difficulty and gameplay variety, it never hits the heights of its predecessor.
Like with Origins, the game begins with a hand drawn cinematic setting up a loose scenario, before you're immediately set free to rescue the Teensies in several colorful worlds. Legends follows a slightly less linear structure than its predecessor, and though that game too frequently had you bouncing back and forth between worlds as new levels were unlocked, Legends does this much more frequently. The world map consists of a series of different rooms and paintings and, with the help of the screen on the Game Pad, it's always easy to know when something new is unlocked for you to get the chance to explore or check out.
Progression has been streamlined, with the focus being on collecting Teensies throughout the levels to unlock pretty much everything, versus the previous game's approach of combining this with freeing Electoons. It's essentially the same thing, so it's not a change that hurts the game, though the loss of the Electoons does remove a little personality from the proceedings. More of an issue is the lack of new powerups. Though Rayman was never exactly Mario, Origins did evolve as you played, with your characters learning new gameplay techniques or moves as you progressed from world to world. Legends doesn't have this, and as a result it lacks the feeling of character progression that other platformers of its type benefit from.
Also missing is much of the craziness. Rayman Legends features several levels from Origins, which are unlocked through lottery cards you get as rewards for scoring well, and as I played them I couldn't help but feel that they had something that Legends' don't. The graphics style is much more vibrant and colorful, the enemy designs more creative, and the platforming more inventive. Legends still looks beautiful and features a ramped up lighting engine, but the art style and level variety is much less distinct this time around. The difficulty has also seen a huge drop off, especially in the stages where you have to keep up with the moving scenery: these may have been too frustrating at times in Origins, but here many of them are easy to the point where it almost defeats the purpose, and that's too bad because Legends seems to feature far more of them.
Bu the biggest tragedy of all is that legends contains less of that fantastic Rayman platforming. Instead, multiple levels are taken up not just by these fast Invasion levels, but by Murfy, with the game switching to an AI-controlled character who you guide through the environments with the Gamepad's touch screen. It's not that these sections are terrible; in fact, some can be pretty satisfying in their own right. But inevitably, it's just not as fun to surrender the control of your character over to the computer, and I found myself disappointed each time a Murfy level reared its head. They were levels designed undoubtedly with co-op play in mind, but with this series' continuing lack of online multiplayer (though Legends does feature an online challenge mode) it's a game that many will likely be experiencing solo.
Rayman Legends though isn't without its charms. There's tons of additional content to explore even after you complete the main game, including adding playable characters and creatures to your collection, many levels to unlock, the Challenge Mode, which updates weekly, and of course more Teensies to collect. And there are several moments of pure platforming excellence here, some of my favorites being the few set to rock soundtracks where the levels actually move with the music. The music, speaking of which, is an improvement on Origins' sometimes admittedly irritating audio, and there are a few (if not enough) epic boss fights.
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All in all, it's with mixed emotions that I look back at Rayman's latest adventure. Certainly this is a good game, and without a doubt one of the year's best 2D platformers. Had it not followed Origins it may have scored half a point higher, but it had major shoes to fill and sadly, to me it didn't prove up to the task. While Rayman Origins was a game I couldn't stop playing and couldn't wait to get back to, Legends' frequent use of Murfy stages and Invasion levels leaves less room for the incredibly inventive and fluid platforming that its predecessor did so well.
Not a bad game by any stretch, in fact it's actually quite a good one. It's just not one that manages to live up to its pedigree.
Presentation; Simple storyline, plenty to unlock, and a good interface. Game runs without any slowdown at all and in full HD.
Graphics; A medieval theme replaces Origins' "anything goes" approach, and while it makes for a less distinctive-looking game, there's no doubt that Legends looks gorgeous.
Gameplay; Incredibly fun Rayman platforming is marred a bit by frequent Murfy stages and too many Invasion levels. Definitely not up to Origins' standards, but a fun game nonetheless.
Sound; quality effects, and more subdued and less irritating music than its predecessor.
Replay Value; the noticeably easier difficulty makes Legends an undeniably shorter experience than Origins was, though with more levels in total and plenty to unlock afterwards, I don't think people will feel that they didn't get their money's worth.
Overall; 7.5/10
(Note; my reviews go on a .5 scale) (This review was based off the Wii U version.)
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