These levels, which probably account for around twenty percent of the new stages, are entirely controlled on the Switch touchscreen and gyro sensor with the help of Murfy in his most prominent role since Rayman 2: The Great Escape. The most notable addition in Rayman Legends is that of the touch-based levels. Level design is nearly flawless and makes jumping around and bopping enemies rewarding and challenging in all the right ways. What makes the game so fun is the environments that those few moves must be utilized in to survive.
While simple, the controls hearkens back to the days of classic platformers where there wasn’t more than two face buttons on a controller. B jumps, Y hits, ZR runs and there’s a few other moves that can be done with those buttons in combination with the control stick. While it’s a tiny list of changes, Origins played exceptionally enough that there really isn’t much to improve. The only other noticeable change is that levels in Origins were usually separated into multiple areas blocked by an eyeball, but are now one huge area in Legends. Another tweak is that the hidden creatures in cages in Origins were Electoons, but are Teensies in Legends. As it could be annoying for completionists to have a few lums float off screen, it’s a welcome change. This has been replaced in Legends by enemies who are easily whacked for some lums.
In Origins, stems could be pulled out of the ground that shot out lums trapped in bubbles, quickly rising off the screen. While not drastically different, all of the heroes have their own special charm and quite a few are hilarious.īesides some minor tweaks, the base gameplay of Legends is identical to Origins. There are also multiple heroes that can be unlocked by collecting lums throughout the game, all of which are variants of the original four. Rayman is joined on his quest by Globox, King Teensy and, making her franchise debut, the Viking Barbara. Besides the ending, that’s about the entire story of the game, as the characters that do talk only say a few words and any cinematic is there for humorous purposes or to expand on the level. Now it’s up to Rayman and company to once again defeat the evil that has awoken and save the Glade of Dreams. Unfortunately, the old proverb of “you snooze you lose” is proven accurate, as the nightmares from Bubble Dreamer take over the Glade of Dreams as they slumber. Exhausted from quashing the great uprising of Granny of the Land of the Livid dead, our heroes did what any true heroes do - take a giant nap. Rayman Legends picks up where Rayman Origins left off. Has the last four years treated our unlikely hero well or has the Ubiart game aged poorly in the time off? Ubisoft has brought over the award-winning game to the console-handheld hybrid in hopes of introducing yet another new set of players to the lovable Rayman franchise. With Mario Odyssey still over a month away, those with Nintendo Switches have been getting spoiled as of late with classic franchise entries such as Sonic Mania and now Rayman Legends. Who would have thought we’d see yet another port of Ubisoft’s fantastic platformer, Rayman Legends, so long after its initial release? While it seems like a game that could still hold up in 2017, it’s remarkable that the limbless protagonist would see even more time in the limelight.