Another week, another submission from a new writer! Christopher Sheridan loves a good platformer, and just like the rest of the staff here at Reaction Time, the idea of a new 2D Rayman game for modern consoles got him excited. Well, it looks like Rayman Origins lived up to all of his expectations and more, and he does a fantastic job of explaining why below. Read his review, and let him know what you think in the comments!
It’s generally fairly easy to identify when a game has had a great deal of love put into its development. There’s a palpable increase in the amount of care that has gone into its development, and everything about the game, from top to bottom and in every ounce of production, simply shines with a polish that can only be obtained from honest love for what the developers are doing. Rayman Origins is such a game. It’s a shining example of true reverence for a character and a bygone style of video game. Starting out its life as a digital title and evolving into a much larger game, Rayman Origins is Rayman creator Michel Ancel’s masterpiece, a brilliant gem of careful loving development that commands a look in the crowded holiday rush.
Origins opens with Rayman and his close friends sleeping noisily at the top of the trees in the forest. This leads to an evil old lady that lives below releasing her legion of evil Darktoon creatures and imprisoning Rayman’s little friends, the Electoons (tiny pink ponytailed grinning things with high-pitched squeals of fear or glee), and it’s up to Rayman and his friends to free them. Along the way, Rayman must collect little sentient balls of energy called Lums which give him more Electoons and access to further environments, along with red teeth for their friend. The story line of the game isn’t exactly a huge deal, merely a means of casually explaining why Rayman and his friends are on their quest. It’s doesn’t even really matter once the game actually starts; at that point it’s all about collecting as many Lums and Electoons as possible.
The game encourages replaying levels as well. This is rarely an issue as running through the cleverly designed stages (of which there are over 60) is always exciting and trying to get into a rhythm to run through as quickly and painlessly as possible is a fun and rewarding challenge. The variety of the levels is pretty great: there are the traditional platforming levels that might occasionally require a breakneck sprint in pursuit of or flight from something else (which frequently turns into the entire stage falling apart as you run through it and is extremely exciting), the small handful of massive boss battles, and several very entertaining flight sequences in which Rayman hitches a ride on a giant mosquito for an arcade-style shooting stage.
The stages are extremely varied and a pleasure to look at.
Designed with Ubisoft’s UbiArt Framework technology (which allows the designers of the game to draw characters and objects by hand and animate individual poses for the characters while the technology makes a seamless transition between the animations), the game is a joy to look at. It’s a lot like playing a big cartoon. Other cartoony-looking side-scrollers cannot touch the fidelity and quality of what’s on display here. I cannot easily put into words the gleefully expressive characters, exaggerated animations and truly, deeply joyful antics they display. If this game does not put a smile on your face, nothing will.
The amount of character put into the game world is astounding. Typically unoriginal desert, ice, water, and fire environments are given a twist. For example, the ice levels have a very distinct “food” theme, with bouncy limes and watermelon oceans. The desert environment is made up of hundreds of didgeridoos that create musical staffs in midair populated by birds. Everything in the lush landscapes is brimming with life, moving, pulsing, and reacting to your presence. The game’s environment is distinctive and for some reason puts a heavy emphasis on eyes. A great many things which should be inanimate are covered in eyes, and most of the enemies either have very large eyes or eyes that are floating above their head. This stylistic choice is curious, but its effect is a considerably more lively and vibrant world.
The soundtrack of Rayman Origins is nothing short of incredible. The number of influences on the music in the game cannot be counted on a single hand. From the wonderfully inspired opening cinematic that sets the sound effects of Rayman and his pals’ sleeping habits to a peppy beatbox, to the irresistibly catchy high-pitched singing that kicks in whenever Rayman collects a King Lum, the music that springs up throughout the game is some of the best I’ve ever heard in a video game. It’s such a joy to hear a new tune popping up every few minutes, and I’ve had several of them stuck in my head for days. That’s not to mention the dialogue of the game, which, when it’s not incomprehensible mutters, grunts, and squeaks, is exclusively Pig Latin. Again, it’s baffling how fantastic the music is and the number of times I reacted to a new tune with a huge smile was countless.
Lighting is expertly managed, adding character to levels in unique ways.
The game’s difficulty should be noted. Gamers have been spoiled for a while with longer health bars and plenty of room for error. Rayman Origins is here to give us a swift disembodied kick to the genitals and a cold reminder of what platformers used to be. Here, it’s one hit, and you’re dead, unless you were lucky enough to get a heart, which gives you one extra hit before death. For most of the game, the difficulty level is rather pleasant. It’s a decent challenge, and requires quick planning a few seconds ahead, careful timing, a keen eye and sharp reaction time to incoming attacks. Nearly every death I had in the first several hours of the game were my own fault, and the generally forgiving checkpoint system ensures that not too much time is wasted on repeating long sections. I really loved the careful increase in difficulty as the game progressed.
As Rayman learns new abilities, the levels that follow will incorporate them so that Rayman will find himself doing relatively simple things such as shrinking down to barely dodge a crushing block, and later progressing to running up a wall to leap off, activate a button, collect a Lum bonus and use helicopter hair to glide past a moving ball of spikes. Eventually, the split-second planning and careful timing that’s required to pull off these maneuvers becomes second nature. It helps that the controls are incredibly tight and responsive: particularly the control stick, which is a godsend in some of the underwater levels that require pinpoint precision in dodging enemies.
There is a slight necessity of learning the patterns in the environment. One of the best examples of this is in the “fire world”, where you must run through the environment as pipes collapse. Ahead, jets of fire shoot into the sky. There are times where you have to time your jump as the fire is blasting, but you have to know that the fire will no longer be there once your feet touch the ground. Many times, the window is less than a second long, and landing the jump correctly or barely dodging a threat because you’ve memorized the pattern it takes are among the absolute most satisfying things in the game.
However, about two thirds of the way through the game there is an aggressive difficulty spike with several sections that are fairly frustrating and one or two that are almost infuriating. I enjoy a good controller-throwing rage now and then, but the final third of Rayman Origins is unforgiving, and not always in a good way. It’s not quite as bad as the soul-crushing cruelty that Super Meat Boy and Dark Souls have, but there are still segments that I just had to quit out of to go defuse somewhere else for a few minutes. That said there is an immense feeling of satisfaction in getting to the end of a particularly brutal level. Even in these frustrating areas, the game was rarely truly unfair, just considerably more demanding of the abilities it had been carefully training me in in the first six hours of the game.
I don't quite think it's fair to slap a man without arms.
As if a wonderful art style, delightful soundtrack and satisfying gameplay were not enough, Michel Ancel and friends went the extra mile and included four-player local cooperative gameplay (not online, unfortunately). And as much fun as the game is on single player, adding another player or three really kicks things up a notch. The game quickly goes from a fast-paced ride to a madcap, frantic opus punctuated with loud laughter, screams of gleeful non-frustration, and insults. Because, you see, as the players must work together for that cumulative Lum total that will net them more Electoons, they are also competing for the highest individual total. Every time a coin appears (which gives the player that grabs it a large Lum bonus), there is a frantic dash to be the first to grab it, filled with slapping and desperate leaps. Co-op play in Rayman Origins may very well be the most fun thing I’ve done all year in a video game.
It’s truly tragic that Rayman Origins was released in the middle of two of the biggest games of the year (Skyrim and Modern Warfare 3), with almost no fanfare. It’s easily one of the best games of the year, and certainly one of the best platformers of the generation. It’s such a completely satisfying and delightful package, packed with wonderful visuals, a generally satisfying challenge, and one of the best local co-op experiences I have had in years. Even the occasionally frustrating bits toward the end of the game are easily overlooked in comparison to the astronomically high quality of the rest of the experience. It’s a game that deserves every ounce of your attention, and cannot be ignored. Please, for the love of all things adorable and beautiful, pick up Rayman Origins and feast on a lost art and some of the best platforming action to be found in a game, classic or modern. Yes, it’s that good.
Great review! Very thorough and honest. Definitely going to give this one a try!