Rayman Legends

You know the Origins… now learn of the Legend. Rayman is back, again! As one of the few 90’s platformers to survive the 3D culling of the early 2000’s, Rayman brought back the beautiful, colourful, 2D platformer with Origins and the world embraced it. Now Rayman has returned once again with Rayman Legends, which is bringing back more of the same brightly-coloured environments, with brand new levels and some fantastic new additions.

I was given hands-on time with both the Xbox 360 version and the Wii U version. In a totally unexpected twist, I found the Wii U version to be the superior platform. The graphics were identical, with the gorgeous art-style really lending itself to any screen, but the control input of the Wii U tablet controller and Wii motion controls fitted incredibly well. You can move platforms, cut ropes with swipes, distract enemies, and control a special fairy character using the tablet. The Xbox 360 version is still wonderful, still having all the same options, but the tablet and motion orientated options are thrown onto a single button press which automatically does the input for you. Still works great, but with the Wii U I felt like I was more in control of the game, and had more fun and satisfaction when I hit a perfect score for a level.

This does make sense to an extent, as Rayman Legends was originally destined to be a Wii U exclusive, but since has gone multi-platform. Both versions are terrific, but for me the Wii U’s input methods actually enhanced the gameplay – a sentence I have rarely had the occasion to say.

Rayman Legends’ gameplay, however, remains almost unchanged from the Rayman Origins formula, because why fix what’s not broken? Collect as many Lums as you can, in the shortest time, to achieve the highest grade on each level to free all the Electoons and thus win – all in a stunning 2D environment. Simple, effective, and plain lovely.

The biggest addition to the game is the fairy named Murfy. Murfy can move platforms/objects, spin scenery/obstacles, tickle and distract enemies, pull plants/hidden objects, and in the Wii U version increase the point value of the Lums in cooperative multiplayer. Murfy actually dates back to Rayman 2: The Great Escape, and is a very welcome addition to Legends.

There needs to be a hook that bring Legends above Origins, and I think Murfy is just that. Murfy keeps the levels interesting, more strategic, and is hilariously fun in multiplayer. During Rayman Legends’ cooperative mode there are four players jockeying for position on the platforms and every player can control Murfy. This leads to frantic gameplay, a higher level of teamwork, and on the very rare occasion some casual trolling amongst friends as they plummet to their death.

However, as previously stated, on the Wii U version you have full control of Murfy with the tablet, whereas the Xbox version you simply tap B and the AI will do all the work for you. In the Wii U version it also means that one player becomes the ‘leader’ of the group when playing with friends, as only the one tablet controller has access to Murfy, but on Xbox anybody can hit the button during the game.

Not everybody is into co-operative gaming, though, and Rayman Legends has you covered. If you want to lose friends and alienate people then nothing will do that faster than a game of ‘Kung Foot’. It’s only football, but the hectic action that can come from it is intense. It’s up to six players, everybody has their own character, and all you have to do is hit a ball into a net. This does mean only one player gets to be Rayman, and his bicycle-kick is totally OP, but Globox is a better goalie so it balances out.

At one point during a game of 3v3 on Kung Foot, the whole room of people, who all had consoles in front of them they could have been playing on, turned to watch because of the sheer volume of jubilation and frustration coming from the players in the corner I was sat. The hectic, hilarious, frustrating chaos of trying to use platform controls to get a ball into a goal was the most fun competitive gameplay I’ve experienced in a long time.

The final plus point I saw in Rayman Legends’ favour, as if more were necessary, is that it contains an entire section made up of Origin’s best levels – over 40 of them in fact. You’re getting two games in one, nearly 80 levels spanning both Origins and Legends, and, quite frankly, from what I’ve seen the asking price is well worth it for Legends alone. Seriously, though, don’t play Kung Foot with people you still want to be friends with at the end of the day.

Rayman Legends is set to release for Wii U, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and PlayStation Vita on August 30th in the UK, and September 3rd in NA.