Rayman Origins - Review

I’m not sure the newest generation of gamer could even identify 5 games that belong in the “platformer” genre.  Most popular in the SNES era, platformers have all but disappeared aside from handheld and downloadable titles (and some Wii titles, I guess).  That being said, does Rayman Origins deserve to be a full-fledged feature title?

Graphics
This is one of the most artistic games I’ve seen in a long time.  Just because the game is 2D in nature, doesn’t mean it can’t look great, often an unfair assumption.  Every level looks gorgeous.  Enemies are creative, interesting, and nothing feels like filler.  The level of detail is outstanding, with every single line, color, and texture popping in beautiful HD (if you have multiple consoles, avoid the Wii version for this reason alone, as you’ll be missing out on a big part of the experience).  The entire game from start to finish is smooth, fluid, and I didn’t even spot any glitches or bugs.  Zero framerate drops ensures the tight gameplay is never affected.  I never thought I would drop a 10 on graphics, but I can’t imagine this looking any better.

Sound
Everything you loved about the art style will roll over into the audio department.  The soundtrack matches the environments perfectly, with most of the musical score being cutesy and overly happy.  The stupid music from the swimming levels is permanently engrained into my head, and I find myself humming it randomly during my day.  It’s very creative and different…in all the right ways.  Each character yelp and yip sound crisp too.  My only wish is there would’ve been a little variety in some instances, like the 5 second looping end level music, which is the same for all 60+ levels.

Gameplay
Platformers were extremely popular in the days of the SNES.  Mario kept them alive on the N64, Gamecube, and Wii, but the market is over-saturated with shooters anymore.  Rayman Origins is a testament to the fact that platformers still deserve a space on retail shelves.  Thankfully the gameplay is spot on, simple, and perfect.  That’s right.  I said perfect.  You’ll only be using three buttons, one to jump/glide, one to attack, one to run.  It doesn’t need to be more complex than that.  Many levels and objectives will require precise timing and jumps…but oddly enough, I never felt cheated by the controls and failure was always my own fault.  I must warn you to be ready to die a lot, however, forgiving checkpoints lend themselves to very little frustration.  You will start out with a standard set of moves, and as you progress through the game, acquire new moves that encourage you to explore earlier levels with the new skills.  I can’t think of a recent platformer that controlled this well.

  

Story/Campaign The game is fairly straightforward in nature.  Travel from one end of the level to the other, collecting “lums” and finding the optimal path along the way.  Even though collecting is integral to the game (lums are needed to receive medals, which open later levels), it somehow never feels like an overwhelming collect-a-thon.  In addition, there are hidden bonus rooms, boss battles, time trials, and treasure chest chases.  The latter of the two often require perfect or near-perfect runs that will take numerous tries.  Even though they may have you pulling your hair out, finishing each one is very rewarding and will keep you pushing forward to finish more.  Even though the difficulty isn’t completely unforgiving, after I finished the game 100%, I felt (“…eat a bagel…”) like a boss.  I have a couple minor gripes with the campaign.  Even though each world has a very distinct level type, the over world screen doesn’t really show that.  The map is essentially the same color all areas in the game, and it would be much cooler if each world had a splash of color to represent the environment.  For this reason, it was sometimes difficult to find the levels I wanted to replay.  Also, boss battles required a lot of trial and error repetition.  I’m ok with time trials and treasure chest chases being that way, but boss battles should be a bit more pattern-based in my opinion.  Other than those two minor gripes, extremely fun campaign.

Lasting Appeal Let’s not forget about multiplayer!  Unfortunately it doesn’t open additional levels or modes, but up to four people can fight their way through the campaign.  (Achievements only can be acquired by player one though, blah!)  As a single-player experience, would you want to play this game multiple times?  Is it a decent length?  Yes and yes.  Rewards for finding a near-max amount of lums on each level plus time trials encourages you to play each level more than once.  Since your objective is different each time, it doesn’t get repetitive either.  Going for 100% will probably take around 15 hours, depending on your experience with platformers.  Even though I finished the game and put it back on my shelf, I know it’ll be a game I return to in the future, simply because it’s a lot of fun.  There’s also one super tough final level that is opened after completing all the treasure chest chases.  I should note that after I grabbed 100% of the medals, nothing else unlocked.  An additional world (ala The Lost World in DKC2) would’ve been really great.

Summary
If you’re looking for a fun platformer that you can play on your own or with friends, this game is a no-brainer.  In addition, it’s a great game to enjoy with the family.  It’s difficult to find family-friendly games that Dad/Mom can enjoy alongside the kids.  On top of it all, you shouldn’t have a problem finding the game for $30 or less, making this one an excellent bargain.  One of the most creative and unique games to be released in sometime, Rayman Origins will put a smile on your face and keep you entertained and challenged for hours on end.  Go get this at your earliest convenience.

Rating	Description
10	Gameplay Spot on perfection.  For a game that requires such precision, I never once found myself blaming my mistakes on the controls.  That’s a good sign.
10	Graphics For a 2D platformer, they really went all out.  This game is gorgeous from start to end, and almost every level has some sort of “wow” factor.
9.0	Audio Overly cutesy, but incredibly different and fun.  Each musical score matches the level environment, but some repetition in places knocks it down at bit.
9.5	Campaign Straightforward with 60+ levels.  Time trials and treasure chest races keep the variety and collecting lums is fun, not a chore.  Weak over world map design in places.
8.5	Lasting Appeal Going for 100% will take ~15 hours and multiplayer is fun.  I’m expecting to go back to the game, you likely will too.  Initial playtime doesn’t match some other titles though.
9.5	Overall (Not an average of above scores)