Gameitall I’m sure I’m not the only one who felt sorry for Rayman’s recent career, once he was a fairly well known platforming hero who even had a few good 3D games, only to get up staged by a minigame collection featuring Alien Rabbits.
Talk to most people, especially those who were not around for the classic Rayman games, you’ll get one of two reactions, “Where are the Rabbits” or better yet “Whose Rayman?” Well Ubisoft is looking to change that with Rayman Origins.
Rayman Origins starts out with our hero(s) relaxing until their musical snoring annoys the old lady of the underworld, after attempting to solve the noise complaint in a neighbourly fashion (by banging on the ceiling) she throws her minions at Rayman and his friends, who captures them all.
After the breakout it’s up to Rayman to free the Nymphs, fairies and other creatures of his strange little world from the dark creatures. This calls for some awesome 2D platforming at its best.
Rayman Origins is a simple platformer, with over 60 levels, increasing the difficulty as you run, jump and slap your way through the world to an impressive musical beat. It’s easy to pick up and play from the start.
You start out with the basics, the ablility to run and jump will get you far, but freeing Nymph will unlock further powers, including Slapping, Flying and Shrinking. These powers of course become mandatory for later levels, but also allow you to pick up hidden item in already completed levels.
The levels are quite imaginative, including a desert made of musical instruments and a frozen land full of frozen fruit. Every level brings something new to the game, like frozen platforms, moveable spikes, falling platforms and collapsible walls. Every section does not have a dull moment.
If there is one thing that the New Super Mario Brothers for the Wii has taught us, is that Platformers are more fun with friends. Rayman Origins does 4 Player Co-op so well, it’s the only way I would recommend playing it. Like NSMB, you can help your friends or knock them off a ledge for stealing all the coins in the level (Looking at you Pentavus,) I think we had more fun slapping each other on the game then we did bouncing around trying to actually beat the level.
The only thing that saddens me is that I didn’t get to play and review this game for it’s launch back in November, but this is also a good thing because you can get this great game to for cheaper now, and the upcoming launch of the 3DS version will allow you to play it in 3D without the glasses, which is always great. This is a great game for everyone and comes highly recommend.
Rayman Orgins – 9 out of 10
Pros – Great Co-op, beautiful artwork, imaginative levels
Cons – Lack of a story, some replay value, some annoyances in singing coins… you’ll know what I mean.
