Availability: Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Date(s) Released: 11-15-2011
ESRB: E10+ for Everyone(10+)
Publisher(s): UbisoftDeveloper(s): Ubisoft Montpellier
Genre(s): Action/Adventure
Comments
Our favorite limeless hero is back in action, for the HD consoles.
Synopsis
It's been nearly a decade since there was an entry for the main streamline of Rayman games, almost all of the entries to the Rayman franchise after Hoodlum Havoc have been ones about the "Raving Rabbids", and they were so far from what the Rayman formula was like it's not even funny. To old-school Rayman fans, the franchise seemed...lost. Thankfully, this recent entry goes back to the roots of the original Rayman game.
Sound
The sound in Rayman: Origins is what you'd expect of a Rayman: it's zany, and full of joy. Nothing is plain, it just pops with personality, and immerses you into the action. There is a huge variety of sounds, and fully-orchestrated musical styles to be heard.
Gameplay
Just about everything that made the original Rayman game fun to play is back in this game: beating up baddies with your floating knuckle-sandwiches, maneuvering through strange obstacles, and even gliding on your trusty mutated mosquito. I think the game does a near-perfect job at keeping old-school fans entertained while at the same time keeping itself fresh to attract newcomers with a more diverse set of options since you can now do more than a simple punch, you can now do combos, you can attack at diferent angles, you can sprint, you can play with friends, and you can learn many power ups that you couldn't learn in the previous games, which are gained from progression like wall-running. The relentless difficulty curve from the original Rayman game has been toned down considerably but there's still a reasonable challenge so if you die then you'll know you've done something wrong, and can improve upon it.
My only complaint is that some level designs aren't all that well balanced, for example, one bonus level where I have to chase treasure in a baren landscape, I encounter two columns of wood on two breaking down platforms, the best I can do is break them down but I make it to the blue guy that functions like a swing too late because he's too high up, and if I try to climb on top of the columns, it just slows me down. Aside from that, the game is a blast to play.
Graphics
Instead of having 3D graphics, this game has 2D graphics. The beautifully rendered, and faithfully-recreated 2D graphics has more style, and originality than almost any game for the next-gen consoles. It captures the zanines, and joyfullness of the action.
Presentation
A game with a unique artistic style like Rayman: Origins should take REALLY carefully planned sequencing but this game covers that out effectively. Although the game is animated in Flash, it still flows smoothly with the graphics, in fact, using Flash is actually better than traditionally animating sequences because it empathesis the great style of the graphics much more. My only problem is that the story isn't told in great enough depth to grasp out to newcomers, sure the old Rayman didn't have much of a story but that's an old game so it can be excused, Rayman: Origins is a game that's almost a month old so there's no excuse to exclude something as simple as storytelling which so many games these day have.
Overall
All in all, Rayman: Origins is one of the best platformers for the next-gen consoles. There isn't many reasons not to buy it, if you don't buy it then you must be a moron.