Now it’s the turn of Rayman legends to attempt to spread joy
to a wider range of gamers. Starting life as a Wii U exclusive the game is now
hitting pretty much everywhere and it’s lucky for anyone without a Wii U that
it is because this is one of the best platformers to grace any system for years.
The game has Rayman and an assortment of friends leaping
into action after the bubble dreamer had some very bad dreams and
conjured up a whole host of nasty creatures. What this means is our heroes must
leap around an assortment of fairy tale and fantasy themed worlds, rescue some
teensies and princesses’ and defeat the evil dark teensies to save the day.
If Origins was a touch on the crazy side then Legends is
full lunacy with the different themed worlds offering up all sorts of
opportunities for creative levels and large amounts of silly fun. Every world
stays consistent to its theme throughout and takes in everything from classic
medieval legends to Cinco de Mayo. There are also a number of nods to other
video games and films such as Bioshock and Star Wars. Everything is implemented
brilliantly and the quality never drops. The game has also had pretty much all
of the rough edges removed that were found in Origins. The most obvious of
these is the difficulty and fairness of levels. Certain stages in origins fell
into the trap of being memory tests, this is rarely the case in legends and as
a result the feeling of fun and enjoyment is kept to a maximum. That isn’t to
say legends isn’t a challenging game, it’s just not as unfair as Origins.
The main bulk of the games levels split themselves into a
few different styles. There’s the standard platform and swimming levels, levels
where you run from or after something and the odd stage which turns into a sort
of side scrolling shooter with Rayman floating around in jet streams. Each
world also has a boss fight at the end. Each of these is unique and loses much
of the instant deaths and frustration of the encounters in Origins. One of the
best of these is a fight against a giant Mexican wrestler beating a huge drum
which sends you flying up into the air.
Once the boss of each world is vanquished you can enter the
music level. These stages are a straight run to the finish but take the form of
a semi-rhythm action game with jumps and attacks needing to be implemented with
precision in order to avoid death. Each of these is a highlight and a great way
for players to end each of the worlds.
The game is also absolutely filled to brim with content.
Aside from sizable six main worlds to complete there are also a host of
redesigned levels from the Origins to play through as well. Invasion levels also
unlock as you progress which see’s you having tor ace through a remixed stage
to rescue three teensies strapped to fireworks. If you’re too slow they
gradually get fired off into the sky and explode.
If that isn’t enough there are also a number of daily and
weekly challenges that you can take part in to earn lums. Here you have a set
goal such as racing through a level or collecting lums and you are then ranked
globally. Weirdly, it works much in the same way as SSX. If that isn’t enough
for you then you can also spend your time collecting creatures and unlocking
all the hidden characters as well. Rest assured this is going to keep you busy
for a very long time.
There are of course a few differences to the Wii U version
of the game. The loss of the touch screen means that the levels originally
having the player control Murphy the fly via the gamepad as Globox wandered
around automatically have been altered. Now you continue to control Rayman and
press the O button have Murphy life platforms, spread guacamole or tickle
monsters. These levels feel a bit odd as they clearly don’t work in the way
originally intended. That said they are still excellent and you soon get used
to how it all works.
Overall, Rayman Legends is an exceptional game. The levels
of invention, fun and polish are simply off the chart. There’s clearly a lot of
love from the development team in this and it’s just a riotously good time from
start to finish. Ok, so this version isn’t quite as strong as the Wii U game
but it’s like saying a gold bar with a fly on it isn’t as good as one without. This
is one of strongest titles in the PS3 library and should be heralded as the
classic that it is.
9/10
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