#Rayman legends characters series#

Of course, there is a little more to it than that. Both Rayman and the various alternative heroes you unlock can run, jump, punch and glide, and success is basically a matter of running left to right, jumping over gaps and obstacles, boffing the odd baddie and rescuing their caged and tied up friends along the way. ItвЂ™s played in 2D, though there are 3D elements in the gameвЂ™s larger threats and the scenery. Rayman Legends: GameplayДЄnd this is very much a classic platform game. Everyday work for a classic platform hero, you might say. ItвЂ™s up to Rayman, Globox et al to sort it out, rescuing whoever needs to be rescued and bringing the villains bang to rights. While Rayman and his mates are sleeping, some sorcerous hooligans kidnap his friends the Teenies and lay waste to the surrounding area.

We wonвЂ™t delve much into the plot or premise. Rayman Origins was gorgeous to look at and impossibly smart, funny and inventive, and the same applies to its follow-up, Rayman Legends. Yet with 2011вЂ™s Rayman Origins, the little guy with no obvious limbs was starring in the game of his life. The only way to fall much lower was to appear drunk on a celebrity chat show or make a guest appearance in an iPad вЂfind the hidden objectsвЂ™ game. Here was a character whoвЂ™ d failed to make a mark for most of a decade, who had been reduced to playing second fiddle to a bunch of Raving Rabbits in a minigame compilation. The history of gaming isnвЂ™t exactly replete with amazing comebacks, but RaymanвЂ™s is now right up there with Elvis Presley in вЂ™66 or Muhammed Ali in вЂ70/71. These levels are a reward for conquering the boss level at the end of each world, and they involve an elongated sprint whereby every crucial punch, jump or slide is performed in time with a modified musical classic.Available on Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii U (version reviewed)

#Rayman legends characters series#

ItвЂ™s almost like learning a musical score, something that is possibly alluded to in a series of bespoke musical levels where actions respond in sound. There are some levels where you practically have to give yourself a pep talk beforehand, verbalising the route ahead - 'jump off the doughnut, dodge the centipede, leap over the toad, donвЂ™t balls it up like the previous 30 times' - and it is essentially rote-learning, incrementally working out what you do next.

It most definitely isn't exclusively for kids - if anything the little ones won't get very far at all. It's a blister-inducing white knuckle ride in which life or death hinges on split second decisions, thanks to the perennial encroachment of fire, water, quicksand, time, dragon, giant (really giant) fish, or other bodily threat.ДЇor those whose gaming skills have been diminished by years of playing glorified movies, itвЂ™s a sharp wake-up call, and one that instigates no shortage of foul and abusive language that is somewhat at odds with the gameвЂ™s cartoonish graphics, and 7+ rating. In keeping with its retro-stylings, Rayman Legends is what is known in the trade as bastard-hard. ItвЂ™s a gleefully old school approach, and a reminder of when games were more than a joyless trudge through a grey and brown war zone. Just like Origins, Rayman Legends keeps its all-important gameplay intact: a finely honed classical approach that unashamedly encompasses all the facets of the traditional platformer, a throwback to a time when that wasnвЂ™t a dirty word. ThereвЂ™s a largely non-linear structure in place, enabling you to visit the worlds at your leisure, a broad church that encompasses all points from the Mexican Day of the Dead festival to '20,000 Lums Under The Sea' - Lums, of course, being the luminous collectibles that make up the gameвЂ™s currency.