Did Ubisoft's successor to the excellent Rayman Origins continue the revamp of the series, surpass its predecessor, or fall short? Find out my thoughts after the jump!
As a huge fan of the platforming genre, my hopes were high for this next-gen port of the second in the revamped Rayman series. Rayman Origins was surprisingly good, with a beautiful, unique styling and great core mechanics. That being said, Legends has blown its forefather out of the water. Legends built on what it did right with Origins and made great advancements to feel like more than just Origins 2.
One of the simplest yet most elegant things about Legends is its method of navigation. Instead of the sometimes annoyingly slow map of its predecessor, Legends uses a paintings system, but not in the way Super Mario 64 did. Instead, the main hub of the game is the "Main Gallery" with each painting there within representing a particular part of the game, from the main hub worlds, to the online "Challenges" mode, to hero selection. This scaled down approach gives the game an interactive menu, but one that doesn't get in the game's way.
If playing alone, Rayman is a fun experience. It is somewhat challenging later on in the game, but not unbeatable alone by any stretch of the imagination. That being said, Legends is ridiculously fun with friends. The accessibility of this game is great, with my gaming-intensive friends and those not so invested in gaming each being able to pick up the simplified mechanics of the game within their first respective level of playing. This is the quintessential "dorm game," with my roommate, a friend of ours who lives down the hall and myself playing the majority of the game together. It got to the point where I was purposefully not playing Rayman by myself so that we could play co-op on campus. This game is best served by its great local multiplayer.
Legends' online multiplayer mode, Challenges, is a fun experience for those invested in the want to beat a friends score, but if you are the only one of your PS4 friends to have Rayman, this mode can seem borderline uninspiring. As someone on their way to Platinum-ing the game, I've begun to love Challenges mode, but I can see also its fault. Once you've played through about a week of the mode, you will have seen every map , which slows down the excitement of fresh hurdles to jump. There is also a lack of true inspiration to play the mode, except for those trying to get the Plat.
That being said, the rest of the game has great incentive to its collectibles. All three of us who played co-op agreed to get every Teensy and Gold trophy in every level of the game, something that would've been very challenging solo. The reward of this came not only in pride and completion, but also unlocking new levels and legends. This understated drive is a great addition to the game. In Origins, I had enough drive to finish the game, but not to 100% complete it as I have this iteration.
Gameplay is as solid as ever in the series, with crazy levels to challenging ones, but another add-on since Origins is that of the musical level, which is what I use to showcase to the game to those who haven't seen it. The first time I played the "Black Betty" level, I was giddy. The way these levels put a bow on the end of a particular group of levels is nearly perfect, not to mention the absolute absurdity of the remixes of said levels as the bonus part of the game.
The PS4's increased tech doesn't add much to the experience, except for one heavily noticeable difference: load times, or lack thereof. I don't recall ever having to wait for a level to load, and that immediacy made playing 3 or 4 levels at a time possible with no breaks. It is a great improvement on the game. That aside, the game benefits possibly in small amounts graphically, but plays very well with the Dualshock 4.
As a person who plays as many platformers as I can, Rayman Legends has shown the upside of local multiplayer that I haven't experienced in the genre since LittleBigPlanet 2. It's easily accessible, yet challenging and can be very rewarding, especially when pursuing every collectible in the game. Rayman Legends is a must buy for any fan of the genre, which is why I'm giving it a 9.4.
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