Rayfist Rayman Legends review
***Just to warn some, I may accidentally post some spoilers, so do be cautious while reading if you have not finished the game yet***
So just to make this review short, instead of going extremely in-depth, I want to explain all pro's and con's and explain my reasonings.
Pro's
-It beats Rayman Origins in every single aspect. Seriously, you name it, music, level design. Every single thing is so much more polished and better than Origins, I'm not kidding. This is a huge positive aspect for RL. It's everything Rayman Origins should have been.
-Teensie collecting. Yes I had a LOT of fun gathering all the teensies in this game. Sometimes getting 100% in games feels like a chore to some, this is how I felt with 100% completing Origins at times, but in this game, I had really fun collecting all the teensies. They are cleverly hidden at times as well, places you'd never think, and this is what made it feel a lot rewarding at times.
-Beautiful level design. I think this one was a bit obvious. But I can't stress the fact enough that the level design in this game was absolutely beautiful. Some of them really are quite a sight to look at, my favorite being Olympus Maximus. (Except for the amazing maze
)
-Invasion Levels. Seriously, the invasion levels were a LOT of fun, and in my opinion a seriously great idea. It reminds me of the cosmic invasion levels from Mario galaxy a bit. It's backtracking done correctly.
-Back to Origins. I think it's pretty cool that they brought back the Origins levels completely re-polished with the graphic style of Legends, however... (to be continued)
-Challenge app. Originally this was given to us wii U owners only, but a smart move was made, and they decided to make it for all owners of RL on the other systems. Meaning we'll have this challenge app for who knows how long. So new challenges every single day. No complaints on that.
-Musical maps. I think this is kind of the equivalent of the tricky treasure levels from Origins, except of course a lot better. You'll see great classics like eye of the tiger and such. They are a blast to play, how you hit the enemies, jump, slide, etc. to the rhythm of the beat, I think it's a well implemented idea.
-The music in general. While this of course, isn't the best music in all of the Rayman franchise, but some music tracks are really a beauty to listen to. Such as the music from Toad story, and 20,000 lums under the sea.
-The 8 bit renditions. I really love these 8 bit renditions of the musical maps, however it's obvious they were trying to appeal to the retro gamers (such as myself). Either way, it was cool seeing the musical map levels with 8 bit music.
-Playable characters. Seriously there are a LOT of characters this time around. And most of them are unlocked by the amount of lums you have. Some character having to be unlocked at 1 million lums. So chances are, the game will take you long to actually 100% complete.
-Beautiful 2D art style. As I've said even though most of what you'll see from the character animations and such is pretty much the same from Origins, the characters are completely re-polished, including the Back to Origins level as I've said before.
-No more singing lums. I'm honestly happy by this. In Rayman Origins, to get twice the lums per one lum, you had to grab a king teensie, which would activate all the lums in the normal area to go into crazy form and start singing. As neat as this sounds, it got a bit annoying. On Legends you can get twice the lums whenever the heck you want, you'll see a chain of yellow lums but with a purple one at the start of that chain, simply grab the purple one first and then the next yellow lum in that chain will turn purple. It makes things much easier, and less annoying, as the singing lums did kind of get a bit annoying for me after a bit.
-No more bubbilizing. This is one thing that I wasn't a fan of in Origins. The bubbilizing got a bit annoying when lum gathering, having to jump on an enemy once then hit him again while he's bubbilized, I'm glad in Legends they made it so you only will have to hit an enemy once, even in the Back To Origins Levels.
-Faster fist charging. Bit of a silly one here I know, but it's all the little things, right? The fist charging is a LOT faster now which makes great use if trying to get cages from a far distance quickly.
-The great use of Murfy. Considering this game was originally a wii U exclusive, a lot of us at first hadn't a clue how the hell Murfy would be ported to the consoles and PC, however what Ubi did was extremely clever, making it so Murfys actions can simply be used at the hit of a button. At first I was thinking the porting of Murfy would have been a mess, but it seems they handled it really well.
-The decision of going multiplatform. When the game was originally going to be for Wii U, it eventually was decided to go multiplatform, I'm one of the people who thought it was a smart move to go multiplat with this game, it allows for likely much better sales.
-Pretty good replay value. With the huge amount of lums you'll have to get for all unlockable characters, and all 700 teensies, the game does a good job at making you replay the game, especially with the endless challenge app.
-Some of the best bosses I've seen in a Rayman game in quite a while. The bosses in this game were absolutely awesome, being made in 3D while you're in 2D. Some of these bosses are freaking huge, and give you a real sense of helplessness. It really makes the boss fights that more epic.
-Kung foot. This mode is a lot of fun with a friend, me and my buddy did play this for a bit and had a lot of fun.
-Scratch tickets. Seriously once again, another well implemented idea, I really enjoy the satisfaction for my hard work of completing a level and being able to unlock more after that.
-Critters. For few scratch tickets, you'll be able to unlock a new critter. Daily these will give you new purple lums, and lum medals every single day. Though I do think it would have been nice to implement the critters in other things, maybe use them as a replacement for the heart? Not sure.
-It's just overall, good platforming. Similar to Origins, the platforming at best is just fantastic, I love the flow and animations of simply jumping on an enemy from the next, it all just fits so greatly.
These are all my pro's for Rayman Legends, I may be missing some, but either way for the most part, Rayman Legends was pretty awesome, not quite what I was expecting though. I shall now list my cons.
Cons
-Lack of story. I think RL really had the potential for a fantastic story. And the ending in the game just leaves so much unanswered questions, it really makes you wonder. I really understand some people prefer this new Rayman, but I really preferred the comic relief style of Rayman 2, and I'm one of the people that wants to see that used for a future Rayman title.
-Back to Origins. (Continued) Wait a second Rayfist... didn't you list this as a pro? Yes I did, however, I'm also listing this as a con, I'll explain why. I think it was a truly neat idea bringing the Back To Origins levels in to re-visit Origins (and they fixed that damned invisible wall on one of the levels). However, I do have a gripe with it. I honestly felt no need to re-visit the levels from Origins again, and my biggest complaint being they HAVE to be done for all teensies. There are people like me who'd rather have these Back To Origins levels as just a small bonus, but if you're going for Teensies, they are mandatory. And the saddening part is, a lot of teensies are located in back to Origins. There are 700 teensies in the game, so subtract that by 260 (amount of teensies in Back to Origins), and you are left with 440 teensies once you 100% complete Legends, meaning a LOT of those teensies must be found, and Back to Origins may take you up to... I dunno, 40% of your time as to what Legends may have took you? I'm not sure, it depends on your speed. Either way, I do think the Back To Origins levels was a bit of a lazy attempt to stick to the whole '120+ levels' statement. I think the Back to Origins levels should have been sold as DLC, I just kind of wish instead they could have worked on few more Legends levels. Remember the oriental themed levels in the challenge app? Such as the china themed level? I would have LOVED to see an entire world based on that. I honestly don't think Back to Origins was that bad of an idea but honestly, it was kind of disappointing seeing most of those you had to do in order for 100% completion.
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IN FEW WAYS Legends did feel shorter than Origins. Alright, a lot of you are probably thinking "WTF, how was Legends shorter than Origins, dafuq is wrong with you Rayfist." As I said, in SOME WAYS, Legends actually did feel a tad bit shorter than Origins at times. Take out the Back to Origins levels and just include the Legends levels. I feel like RO actually took me longer to complete, was this because of RO's electoon collecting feeling more like a chore? To be honest, I'm not sure. However for some reason, I do feel RO was a bit longer in some aspects. As I've said exclude the Back to Origins levels from this, I'm probably one of the only people who wished for more new Legends themed levels. I feel as if, despite the greatly hidden teensies, some of the Legends levels were a bit on the short side. *Prepares shield*, NOTHING against these levels since I had no problem with most of the Legends levels, but as I've said, some of them did feel a tad bit short. I mean, if you combine all the features of RL together, it's undoubtedly longer than Origins, but as I've said, in few aspects Origins did feel longer.
-The grannies world tour. The grannies world tour world was a huge disappointment, this is exactly what I mean by I *sometimes* felt Legends was shorter than Origins. What the grannies world tour is, instead of an ACTUAL world with actual levels, it only adds one new level, which is a musical map, and the rest being 8 bit levels of musical maps you've already played. It would have been really neat to see some new levels for this world, so that's really a shame for me. And as I've said before, it just feels like a lazy attempt at adding in more levels to the game.
-The 8 bit levels. Now as one of my pro's, I listed that I loved the 8 bit renditions, however the 8 bit levels I can't stand. The 8 bit levels were great and all and I'm not going to lie, I did have fun with some. However, I think Spiraldoor easily explained it all. A lot of the 8 bit levels seem EXTREMELY lazily made. Imagine the potential these 8 bit levels could have had, maybe some Rayman 1 sprites on there, wouldn't that have been cool? Instead, you're greeted to really nauseating, headache inducing effects on your screen as an attempt to distract you and throw you off the level. And keep in mind, you're suppose to do these in one attempt. I know a lot of people who are easily immune to these. For example look at the 8 bit version of Orchestral Chaos, I hope you like TV static effects thrown in your face, for those of you who are easily immune to that, you are NOT going to have a fun time. Even the 8 bit levels that I did somewhat enjoy with the fishbowl effect I seriously thought was extremely lazy. Like I said, I have no problems with the 8 bit music, but the actual levels just feel like a waste of potential to me, as it could have been something truly awesome, especially to retro gamers like myself. The 8 bit Dragon Slayer level is also a good example, the pixelated effects are really hurtful to the eyes, don't think they actually made the quality 8 bit, ALL THEY DID was completely smother the screen until it got really pixely. It's kind of a shame, as I wish they could have gone further with this idea.
-The disappointing final boss and ending. I was truly disappointed with the final boss. It wasn't a bad BOSS, but as a final boss? It was truly disappointing. A final boss is suppose to be epic, grueling, etc. And I won't lie, I did have some fun with this boss, but again, my main gripe was that THIS was the final boss, it was extremely easy. The ending for the game? There pretty much wasn't really an ending, all it does is leave many more questions unanswered. This is why I feel the lack of story in RL wasn't so good.
-No online. Let's admit it, a LOT of us wanted online in RO, and that still wasn't added to RL, not even in Kung Foot, it's really disappointing
-Was not what a lot of us expected it to be. I went into this game feeling it was going to be a LOT better than Rayman 3 (my third favorite Rayman game), but as I slowly progress towards the end, even with all the teensies, I was just left with a bit of a "...That's it?" Thought in my head. Rayman 3 is undoubtedly a really short game, but every small moment in that game was jaw droppingly beautiful for me. I think I do agree with Adsolution, the art can get a bit hectic at times and a bit too many things are going on at once for you to get a glimpse of and enjoy the beauty. A lot of us ending up beating the game really fast. I honestly wanted to take my time with RL, but EVERY MOMENT, I just wanted to see what more could happen, what new could be introduced, and when I go further to find the answer to that... I found nothing.
I listed less cons than I did pro's, however, each con I really had to explain because if I didn't a lot of questions would be asked. Overall I did end up liking R3 better than this game, sorry guys. It's not me being a nostalgia fag, but for part of the reason Adsolution said, everything gets a bit too hectic at times in the art and it's a bit too much for you to enjoy at once.
Overall I need to give props to Rayman Legends, the game kicked ASS. It's a lot of fun, and as I've said, you're most likely to have a blast 100%ing it (except in the Back to Origins levels), unlike RO, this one did NOT feel like a chore to 100%. So from a normal perspective I'll rate it 9/10, but from a FANS perspective 8/10. I totally agree with Drol, RL could have been a lot more, that's no secret at all. And I agree with Ad as well, it was slightly disappointing, at least as a fan it was. I do recommend RL to anyone, even those who aren't totally fond of the new Rayman games, give it a chance, I can promise you won't regret. But if you're similar to me where you like the original trilogy more, do expect to have some moments of disappointment at times.
