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    Rayman Origins

    Game » consists of 27 releases. Released Nov 15, 2011

    Officially revealed at Ubisoft's 2010 E3 press briefing, Rayman Origins is a new 2D Rayman game developed by Michel Ancel and a small team, taking the series back to its roots.

    impartialgecko's Rayman Origins (PlayStation 3) review

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    Rayman's return to Two-dimensions is fantastic one

    Michel Ancel would probably not appreciate it if you referred to Rayman as the “French Mario”. Ancel’s limbless goofball has never shared much of the limelight that catapulted his more popular and utilitarian counterpart to stardom, occupying a space that has become increasingly under-appreciated and unloved in the HD era. In Rayman Origins, Ancel has brought Rayman full circle back the series roots in 2D platforming as opposed to the series’ 3D sequels in an attempt to make gamers fall in love with the Rayman universe. Luckily for us the team at UbiSoft Montpellier has delivered an unexpected gem.

    The name “Origins” is far more literal than you might assume. “Rayman Origins” does not in fact address story-specifics regarding the “origins” of Rayman himself, it refers to the structure of the game as a return to its humble beginnings as a side-scroller. There is little to no story to be had in Origins, apart from the featherweight context of Rayman and chum’s snoring waking the evil grannies of the underworld, thus resulting in all sorts of nasty goings on in the Glade of Dreams, there’s little to no narrative for you to worry about. Rayman Origins isn’t about telling a story so much as it is about jumping from left to right.

    In this regard Rayman handles exceptionally, the controls take a good deal of getting used to if you’ve played more precise fare in recent years, feeling rather heavy at first until you realise that the controls have been tailor made for Rayman being played at exceptionally high-speeds. Though Origins isn’t as razor-sharp as a Super Meat Boy or intuitive as a Mario, every movement feels organic and “right” considering how the game is built around inertia and momentum. When you’re in motion the controls feel tight, allowing you enough room to fumble a bit while still feeling like you’re fully in control.

    As a result, Origins is a completely blast to play from start to finish, by the halfway mark you’ll be controlling Rayman and co seamlessly with only the occasional lapse in the acuity of the controls. The abilities that you garner along the way are situational so controller gymnastics are never required to succeed. Everything in Origins’ core gameplay boils down to timing, precision and a grab-bag of sharp reflexes.

    The quality of the level design matches the accuracy of the controls in the way that everything just feels honed and crafted exactly the way the developers wanted it to feel. It’s apparent that the levels are designed around the core gameplay and as a result your traversal of these imaginatively designed worlds is fluid and consistently entertaining. The sense of surprise and discovery that you feel as you encounter new enemies, gameplay elements and challenges is maintained throughout, meaning that Rayman Origins manages to stay fresh in the moment to moment action.

    The variety of Origin’s 12 or so worlds cannot be understated, everything from mad dashes across burning harbours to using your glide ability to thread the needle through aerial obstacles of a spiky persuasion is on display and you rarely feel like you’ve experienced each level’s elements before. The game even has an eerily atmospheric underwater section that actually manages to be good, and just when you feel you’ve had enough of jumping, diving and gliding the game shoves you on the back of a mosquito for some enjoyable and light-hearted 2D shooting. Above all else the game never gives you a chance to be bored, always providing locales that impress and make you hungry for more.

    Part of this feeling of delightful surprise and unpredictability is the absolutely flawless graphical presentation. The UbiArt Framework engine allows for some of the most stunning levels ever seen in a videogame, let alone a 2D platformer and all at a rock solid 60 frames per second. The gorgeous array of colours, artistic stylings and meticulous detail is staggering and the animation lives up to its phenomenal backdrop. The dynamic animations look more like pre-rendered 2D animation than a game running in real-time and the levels are littered with striking little animated details that must have taken hundreds of man-hours to create. This is a game that must be played on an eye-searing HD screen in order to take in all the sights.

    The artistic direction is also full of variety and charm with an emphasis on whimsy, single worlds generally have consistent themes throughout and as the game progresses the levels themselves will transition seamlessly from fridge-themed levels where you vault from watermelon to hanging cocktail umbrellas to a Mexican-themed kitchen full of fire-breathing chefs. The imagination used to lovingly craft these worlds is astounding and the fact that the developers manage to make each world simultaneously feel right in the context of the Rayman-verse and riff on platforming level tropes is a source of constant wonder and satisfaction.

    The music is similarly up to the visual’s standards; if you aren’t persuaded of the game’s charm and whimsical tone by Rayman’s world then you will be by the exceptional score. Perfectly consistent with the visual tone, the music fits the game’s cheerful identity like a glove. Tongue-in-cheek renditions of latin beats, funk-laden rhythms and moody tunes are presented when the levels demand it, each world and stage characterised by musical themes catered directly to what you will see and do within them. Plus, this game wins the GOTY award for best use of the kazoo.

    Though it may not look or sound like it, Rayman Origins is most definitely a hardcore platformer. Regardless of its everyman charm and apparent approachability the game offers some serious challenge should you choose to accept it. Origins does offer a steady difficulty curve, but after the 3rd world or so you realize that the game gets serious. The “Tricky Treasure Chest” levels especially will tax even the most skilled gamers, for the rarest of collectibles contained within them you must chase down these chests through a brutal gauntlet of traps, pitfalls and obstacles that lend a new meaning to the phrase “trial and error” but a couple are also some of the most incredible moments in the game. Similarly the boss fights can and will force you to repeat steps multiple times but they also are some of the best chunks of game you’ll play this year, even though you’re only occasionally prepared for what each boss will throw at you by the level that precedes it.

    Later on in the game even the regular levels demand precision and exacting mastery of the gameplay in order to progress to the next stage. Though trial and error is practically synonymous with platforming, some levels only just manage to stay on the right side of infuriating due to how good you will have to be in order to succeed. It never becomes unfair due to the welcome heavy checkpointing but it’s unforgiving of anything other than skillful control, quick reflexes and intelligent judgment on the part of the player.

    The satisfaction in conquering this unexpected level of challenge is refreshingly old-school; the most difficult of said challenges being almost entirely optional but also some of the most enjoyable moments in the game once you nail them. However if you want to get the most out of the game you will have to devote yourself to the less refreshingly old-school proposition of collecting stuff in order to progress. If you don’t have the time or patience to try and collect every last lum (the golden fireflies that equate to coins in Origins) then expect to traipse back to previously conquered worlds to gather enough lums to earn Electoons (which can also be found in hidden areas), which function as the tokens required to unlock new worlds.

    In many ways this feels like a step too far towards the “Origins” side to Rayman. The collecting itself is satisfying and addictive, as much of the game’s most difficult feats involve snatching a tasty lum coin from the jaws of death, but if you aren’t prepared to utilize all your skills to gathering the golden ones then you won’t get to experience all that Rayman has to offer. Such game design comes within a hair’s breadth of feeling antiquated, the leeway that the game gives regarding the number of Electoons you need keeps it from breaking the experience but it feels too much like a throwback by the halfway mark.

    The collecting fatigue can be helped by engaging in the 4-player local co-op which borrows much of its structure from New Super Mario Bros Wii. 4 players can conquer all of the worlds together and if one dies then the survivors can tag their companion's bubblised form back in just like the aforesaid Mario title. It’s a good system that makes the slapping of your companions to their deaths doubly satisfying and the smack talk that will ensue is some of the best in recent couch co-op history. Sadly there is no online co-op option which stands as sorely missed opportunity and the greatest chink in Rayman Origins’ otherwise pristine armour. At least the game is such an antagonistic riot when played with friends that it fails to rankle for long when you consider the craft and quality of the package.

    Regardless of its evident quality and boundless levels of charm, Rayman Origins will always be a hard sell to a generation of gamers who have fallen out of love with the potential of 2D games. Though it unashamedly sticks to the tried and true formula than most platformers have abandoned in recent years, Rayman Origins is Michel Ancel’s most well-honed and crafted game in eons. There are aspects of the pre-HD era structure that will delight some and infuriate others and the lack of online co-op is a downer all round, but this is still a superb title due to Ancel’s loving recreation of his 90’s platformer in its original two-dimensional form.

    The sheer creativity, the exceptional platforming gameplay and the wonderful presentation on offer here will prove to stick in the memory long after the competition has been and gone. Rayman Origins is the year’s finest wolf in sheep’s clothing.

    2 Comments

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    Little_Socrates

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    Edited By Little_Socrates

    Excellent review. I disagree slightly that the level design is pitch-perfect; those "just on the right side of infuriating" moments did infuriate me, and I felt cheated in a way I hadn't with Super Meat Boy. The timing was at times a bit too exact, and the punishment for being hit while having a heart occasionally did me a lot of wrong. Often times, it feels absolutely excellent, but I can think of at least two places where I really hope the developer just made a mistake. If there weren't load times every time you died, it would feel way better.

    Also, the collecting elements almost stopped my friend from finishing the game before I hopped in to help him finish it in co-op, so that was a pretty big bummer. I really like the game, but a couple of design decisions are seriously holding me back from loving it like I do Sonic 2, Super Meat Boy and the old-school Super Mario Brothers games.

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    impartialgecko

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    Edited By impartialgecko

    If you're a huge Meat Boy and Mario fan then I would understand anyone not thinking the levels are pitch perfect. The competition is pretty bulletproof at this point so Origins can either match or fall slightly below the bar they've set

    Other reviews for Rayman Origins (PlayStation 3)

      Rayman makes his triumphant return to platforming 0

      Ever since Ubisoft introduced us to the lovably psychotic rabbids, Rayman, who was technically the star of the first couple of Raving Rabbids games, has gone into an unexpected retirement. The limbless wonder was the star of a couple well-renowned platformers during the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 days, but has had a very small presence in console generations since.The action gets appropriately crazy when multiple players are active.Well, he's back now, in what can only be described as Rayman th...

      2 out of 2 found this review helpful.

      SPM: Rayman Origins 0

      The last Rayman game I played was the original Rayman way-back-when on the Playstation. A masterpiece of 2d platforming that was also bastard hard. I’ve still never completed that game, even after downloading it on the Playstation 3, but I loved it because it was bright, vibrant and really fun.Since then the Rayman franchise has gone off in several directions; including a couple of 3D games and a bunch of mental rabbits. Rayman Origins takes the series back to where it started, but adds a few ne...

      0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

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