Rayman Legends: PS3 Review

Rayman Legends: PS3 Review

Released by UBISOFT
Platform: PS3

Rayman Origins was one of the best 2D platformers of last year. It had lunacy in amongst all the leaping around and was a long term piece of fun.

So, Rayman Legends had a bit to live up to.

However, it more than does so. And in many ways, it improves on one of the best, which is always a good thing.

In this latest, Rayman and his chums have been sleeping for a century. But while they've been snoring it up big time, the Bubble Dreamers nightmares have been growing and are now threatening Rayman's world. So, he's woken up with a credo of having to save the day. Off you go, heading through worlds, battling bosses, negotiating traps and collecting Lums and freeing trapped comrades aka Teensies. Rayman's not alone in this though - Murfy the fairy from the second Rayman appears to help him cut through ropes, avoid traps and -generally works as a co-op secondary character when necessary. But unlike on the PS Vita, where swiping can get him to move for you, this has to be done on a button press.

Rayman Legends, is quite frankly, legendary gaming. It's the perfect mix of in-depth platforming and long term gameplay. Each level is fun, fiendish and rewarding in equal measure as it side scrolls towards the end. But here's the thing with it, every error and death in Rayman Legends is caused by timing. A simple miscalculation means you have to start again and unlike many other games, it's not frustrating in the slightest.

It's fun to drag some friends into playing this too - the co-op offline levelling makes the game accessible and lunatic as you negotiate your way through. Gameplay's benefited from this as opposed to being left wanting. Each time you mess up, you know it's down to you and the replay value of this is tremendous. Plus end of level musical games mashed up with platforming are just endless fun. Jumping and punching creatures in time to the likes of Black Betty and classical tunes adds so much to the joy of the game that it's stupidly infectious.

But it's not just the core game that soars.

By providing a wealth of unlockable content - including daily challenges, leaderboards, a football game which can be played with friends - there's so much more to do with this game. Even the last game Origins is included in a remixed form for you to replay. UBISOFT's really raised the bar, added in the incentives to come back day by day and constantly given you reason to play.

Ultimately, Rayman Legends is by far one of the best platformers of the year - it shows creativity is not dead within the genre and has charm aplenty. Mixing beautiful artwork and madcap lunacy, it's by far and away, heading for a place on the top 10 games of the year list. I can't recommend it enough.

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