The story of Rayman Legends begins with a concept trailer leaked in April 2012, which was followed by the official announcement as an exclusive for Wii U at E3 of the same year: the title was supposed to be released in the launch line-up alongside ZombiU, on November 30 following.
In the first weeks of November, however, Ubisoft declared that the title was not yet complete, and that it would be released towards the end of February 2013.
In February, again a couple of weeks after launch, despite being already complete and ready for sale, with a surprise announcement, Ubisoft postponed the release date of the new title by Michel Ancel towards the end of the summer, with an addition: Rayman Legends would no longer be exclusive Wii U, but it would also come out for PS3, 360, PC e PS Vita.
In the meantime, to appease the spirits of Wii U owners, who have been postponed a title already complete for another six months, the French development house has released the Rayman Challenge App for free and exclusively for the Nintendo console, which is none other than a preview of the online mode of the game itself, managing in part to be forgiven.
Last August 29, Rayman Legends finally reached the European stores: will it be worth the wait for the sequel to Origins? And which is the best version among those on the market?
Version tested: Wii U
A hundred years and not hear them
A hundred years have passed since the conclusion of Rayman Origins, and our aubergine is enjoying a well-deserved rest with his friends in the Glade of Dreams.
But the Dark Teen still plots in the shadows, and after splitting into five, he kidnaps entire Teen families by locking them up inside magical paintings.
With the gang of Rayman asleep, everything passes into the hands of Murfy, the small insect that had already accompanied us at the time of Rayman 3 Hoodlum Havoc (of which you can find the review of the HD version), and with a single touch on the gamepad, the eggplant hero wakes up and is ready for a new adventure.
Nothing too complicated nor as compelling and unsurpassed as Rayman 3, but just an excuse to tell a new adventure of the armless eggplant, as did Origins and the first chapter of the series.
In the six brand new worlds that Rayman and his friends will visit, we will not only find new enemies and environments, but also warrior princesses to save, who will join the group and will be usable in the battle against the Dark Teen.
The characters and bonus costumes are just one of the many collectibles to unlock, in fact, in Legends, forty of the levels of Origins return, collected in the "Back to the Origins" framework, revised and corrected to support the new asymmetrical gameplay of Wii U, and redesigned completely outwardly to adapt to the new graphic style.
The 700 Teenagers scattered throughout the levels close the collection of collectibles, the inevitable cups that will be awarded according to the Lums collected (the yellow creatures of the universe of Ancel) and the Creatures obtainable through the Lucky Scratchers, or the special scratch cards obtainable at the end of each level by reaching a certain number of Lums, which allow you to unlock the aforementioned monsters, levels of Return to Origins and extra Lums.
Thanks also to all these extras, Rayman Legends has a high replayability and it is therefore not possible to quantify the total hours of play, above all due to the presence of two new daily challenges every 24 hours, and two weekly ones every seven days; the only time limit will be boredom of the player, but we assure you that the universe of Ancel will do everything not to get bored.
Run, Jump, Tap!
The basic gameplay of Rayman Legends is unchanged from that of Origins, so much so that the eggplant has retained all the powers of the prequel, and therefore will not have to save the Nymphs again to learn the secrets of fighting, flying, swimming and running.
Each level is essentially an excuse to run, jump and punch in the air, seasoned with the search, perhaps less difficult than expected, of the ten Teenagers scattered in the area, of which two (king and queen) not always hidden too well by the team of development.
Essentially, the standard levels of Legends do not offer the same level of challenge as those of Origins, even from the point of view of the Lums, useful as already mentioned to get the cups. It almost seems that Ubisoft Montpellier wanted to facilitate the collection by abounding the number far beyond the required limit.
Fortunately, the ease of the basic levels are counterbalanced by the Invaded Levels, which replace the time trials of Origins and offer us completely new levels to be completed within a certain time limit, under penalty of launching into space with a firework of one. of the three teenagers taken hostage.
The Invaded paintings will appear as we complete the levels of the next worlds, allowing monsters to switch between paintings only to be stopped again by Rayman and Co..
In the Return to the Origins section, in addition to the standard levels, the levels astride Mosquito, the battles with the Bosses and the hunts to the chest have been re-proposed, all revised and corrected, both in terms of graphic style and to adapt to the gameplay of Legends.
Especially the boss battles, which are added to the five brand new in this chapter, have been adapted to the challenge level of Legends (for example the final boss of Origins is much easier in this new version ndGuido).
At the end of each world of Rayman Legends, we will unlock a musical level, large game areas where by running and attacking in time we will be able to listen to very famous songs remixed for the occasion such as Black Betty and Eye of the Tiger. Unfortunately the musical levels are limited to six, plus respective remixes and this leaves a slight bitterness in the mouth, given the beauty and sparkle of the concept. We hope Ancel will propose them again in a future sequel.
The big difference between Origins and Legends is certainly represented by the levels of Murfy:
Although in multiplayer it is possible to use Murfy in all levels (but we will talk about it later), there are levels in which the control will pass completely to the little green insect and, through the Gamepad, we will have to pave the way for the hero controlled by the AI.
We will then find ourselves "touching" the whole screen, to pull levers, move platforms, create roads in the cream and tickle the enemies, to ensure that our ally arrives at the finish line safe and sound.
Unfortunately the movements of the latter are scripted, if you discover a secret too late, the partner will not come back, forcing you to reload the check point and in the worst case repeat the level from the beginning.
Murfy also uses the gyroscopic ability of the GamePad allowing, in certain areas, to completely rotate the game area, removing obstacles and enemies, or bringing the ally closer to Teen prisoners.
A clarification is necessary: whatever they say, the Ancel team has thought about this character and the respective levels for the Wii U GamePad, and the difference with the other versions can be seen from the first tests. On PS3 and 360, the bug is in fact controlled by a button, making all levels much more woody and less immediate and interesting.
The only version that can offer at least a gameplay experience similar to that offered on Wii U is the PS Vita one, with five exclusive extra Murfy levels (although for now there are no 28 Invaded levels, which will be added later. with a free DLC ndGuido).
The Legend ofUbiArt Framework
One of the strong points of Origins was certainly the design and the visual aspect given to it by the graphic engine owned by the transalpine software house. The UbiArt Framework was also used in Rayman Legends, improving in everything and for all the predecessor: the animations are even more detailed and the characters seem to come to life on the screen. Rayman Legends has nothing to envy to an animated film, and shows it in every level with every detail taken care of almost maniacally. The level design does not leave much room for exploration, but manages to engage the player in a fast-paced and fast-paced rhythm, especially in the musical levels which are a great mix of visual and audio impact. The soundtrack is again entrusted to the skilled hands of Cristophe Heral and Billy Martin, who in addition to reproducing some of the most beautiful songs of Origins, offer us new crazy and addictive background songs (and some goodies such as the main theme of Rayman at 8 -bit). A praise therefore also to this round for the purely technical side of the game, which again proves to be one of the highest points ever touched by a 2D platformer.
Friends and Rivals
The multiplayer sector of Rayman Legends is divided into three large sections, each able to offer a different rhythm and tone of play.
Local multiplayer allows up to five players (on the Wii U version of course) to tackle all levels of the game together, four will impersonate one between Rayman and cronies, while the fifth (or at least the one holding the Gamepad, if you are less) will have Murfy available to facilitate the crossing for his companions. In boss battles, or where Murfy is not expected, the gamepad user will also have to impersonate a friend of Rayman.
All these factors make the game more chaotic and extremely more fun, ideal for spending evenings with other friends who are passionate about platformers, or with the denied girlfriend to whom we will give Murfy in hand.
Rayman Legends also features the Kung Foot minigame, where up to five players will always be able to compete in an exciting two-minute football match.
Obviously the rule is only one: to make Goals by any means! It doesn't matter if you slap your teammates or opponents to do so, the important thing is that the ball ignites and hits the mark.
Kung Foot is one of the great revelations of Legends and proves to be an addictive pastime with friends.
The online sector closes the multiplayer roundup with a revised and corrected version of the Rayman Challenge App mentioned at the beginning of the review.
Every day, based on the level of mythology obtained (i.e. the level of skill that can be increased thanks to the various cups) we will be able to face two challenges, one normal and one extreme, which will require different objectives, such as reaching a certain distance in the shortest time possible or collect more lums without dying; the same will happen every week with special challenges that will last seven days instead of twenty-four hours.
The challenges can be faced in single player, with global rankings updated in real time, with prizes that change according to our result: if at the beginning of the challenge we will get a gold cup, it is not certain that we will still have it at the end. likely that our score has been reached and / or exceeded by too many players, lowering the rank of our prize.
In the final version, before accessing the challenge we can finally see how much the base score for the desired cup is, a serious lack of the challenge app in which you groped for improvement, without knowing what the required score threshold was.
There is no limit other than the time when it is possible to face a challenge, increasing the competitiveness between friends and not, to earn the coveted diamond cup.
The defect of the challenges always remains the same: in the long run they could get bored given the little variety of the settings offered.
When the very first Legends trailer was released online, one of the most interesting features seemed to be the support for the Wii U NFC system (such as Pokémon Rumble U). Unfortunately this feature was eliminated before the first postponement of the date but one wonders if with the switch to multiplatform and the consequent second postponement, Ubisoft could not have reinserted it, if only as an additional extra for the Wii U version. Unfortunately this was not the case and Rayman Legends arrives in the homes of gamers at the end of a Summer full of titles and at the beginning of an even more full Autumn: a release in February would certainly have made this new little pearl of Ancel more noticed that every platform lover does not it can escape for nothing in the world.
Verdict 9/10 There is only the Wii U version. Comment Although at times it is all too easy, Rayman Legends has met expectations, thanks to the irreverence and madness typical of the anthropomorphic aubergine universe. Effervescent and lighthearted, Legends is addictive and each level automatically drags another one behind it, making hours of gameplay go by in the blink of an eye. A note of disfavour to the numerous postponements of the title due to only half-successful ports: all the cuts made to the exclusive gameplay and the 28 levels not immediately present in the PSVita version make us prefer the Wii U version without a doubt. ✓ The worthy heir of Origins
✓ Fun music levels
✓ Superb and captivating animations x Maybe easier than Origins
x Quite stupid ally AI
