Monday 20 February 2012

Rayman Origins Review

Sonic and Mario need to watch out because Rayman is back!


Lets begin with the first thing you notice when you open the game, the graphics. Rayman boasts hand drawn graphics with a very unique art style which is the best I have ever seen in a platformer. Without hesitation I can call Rayman the best looking platformer I have ever played and many times it will make you freeze, staring at the screen. The vibrant colours feel as if they are coming out of your tv, especially on the later levels with the fast paced chases will you marvel at the colour palettes used in the game. 

The amount of creativity in RO will overwhelm you, as you play this beauty prepare to see weird things such as giant toothpaste packets which shoot fire at stoves to cook thunderstorms, can't visualise that? I couldn't either till I saw it and used it in the game to progress. What I truly love about RO is how diverse each world is, everytime you enter a new world in RO you will feel a massive difference from the previous world as everything in the environment drastically changes. This change is not only pleasant to the eyes but is also a pleasure to play as each world has different types of plat-forming challenges, example, in the grassy world you will come across a lot of hillside jumps, water slides avoiding spikes but in the gourmand world you will be jumping on cheese, avoiding flaming toothpaste and jumping on top of sausages to avoid the deathly forks. Yes the change is extremely polar opposite.


A game is nothing without its controls and that's fortunate for RO as its controls hold much fluidity. Similar to the general plat-former you will be running and jumping but thats not it. In RO you will gain new powers as you traverse the worlds, the powers will make the game feel fresh as you will not be getting bored of doing the same thing over and over again. Other than the platforming levels RO almost boasts 2D shooting and flying levels which are  Not many paltformers can make an enjoyable 2-4 player experience without becoming too chaotic and headache inducing, however don't be worried as RO runs well with 4 players playing together and can surely conjure some laughter. One gripe and my only gripe with RO is the lack of online multiplayer as the game is fully offline and I believe that it is one area where Ubisoft could have lost potential.


The music is very important for a game, from Skyrim's orchestral soundtrack which pits you into a fantasy world to Mario's upbeat music which you will be humming years down the line, a gamer will always appreciate the music in the game. RO not only has some of the weirdest music I have ever heard in a game but it also has some of the most funny, catchy and cute music I have ever heard. The soundtrack knows how to put a smile on your face, the ukulele is nicely played, the random singing in a made up language never gets old and the chef's singing in the gourmand levels will be the newest melody you will be singing in the shower.

RO is roughly 6-7 hours long if you rush through it and although it may seem short, trust me, this is a game which will encourage you to do all the extra challenges, speed trophies and what nots. Where games like Uncharted 3 and Sonic generations could not grab my attention into doing their 'extras' for trophies, I'm sure ill be going back to RO soon. With extra challenges, levels which you unlock through collecting all the little plectoons and speed trophies, you can easily spend around 15+ hours in RO.



After playing Rayman Origins and completing it, I was in the middle of writing this review. However due to a couple complications I was unable to write this review for a week in which time I completed both Super Mario Bros 3 and Sonic generations. After completing them when I came back to the review for Rayman, I realised how amazing this game is, it has the diversity in controls sonic would die for and the graphics mario would salivate over. Rayman Origins is head and shoulders with its competition and in some cases is even better than the platformers out there, I'm speaking of you Sonic. This is a masterpiece in game design, art style and fun factor. I recommend it to everyone out there form 6 year old kids to 60 year old crack addicts, ofcourse don't put a kid and a crack addict in the same room. I give Rayman Origins a 9.5 out of 10.

9.5/10

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