Rayman Origins – One Hour Demo Review
The Playstation Network on occasion has one hour trials of full games, so when I saw Rayman Origins on the list I immediately downloaded it. I’ve been gaming 30 years now but believe it or not I never played a Rayman game other than a short demo) before. I learned about Rayman Origins from the many stellar reviews it received and raving reviews from friends on my Xbox Live and PSN lists. Rayman Origins is a 2D comical style platformer video game set in a beautiful lush visual setting. The publisher is Ubisoft and the developer UBlart Montpellier. It released November 15, 2011 and is available for the 3DS, PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and Vita.
The demo starts off with a vibrant cutscene showing Rayman along with his friends at the Snoring Tree taking a snooze. You then see some goblins and witches in some underground area below Rayman and his friends. To make a long story short the badguys invade Rayman’s world and trap him and his friends for making loud noises. What I immediately like was how you could choose between four different characters as soon as the game started. You have Rayman of course but I choose Globox, a big blue dude. The tutorial was methodically handled as you complete a few different stages. The default button layout via the Dual Shock 3: R1, R2, L1, L2 are sprint, Square is attack, X is jump. You can grab naturally and perform a power attack by leaving the X button down then release it. You can perform a crush move by jumping and pressing down with the attack button held.
Most of the first half of the demo flys by fast as you rescue Betilla and learn about Lums and their purpose. You rescue captive prisoners along the way as well. You can and will unlock alternate characters like blue Rayman, all of this happens during the early chapters Its a Jungle Out There and Geyser Blowout. Water is used throughout a few early chapters as a catalyst for speeding up and diversifying level design. Throughout Rayman Origins lush levels you will venture off to a doorway where you’ll see badguys using spells to enslave prisoners. Taking out the guards and freeing the prisoners rewards you with important collectibles that are ultimately used to open up future areas of the game.
Before starting Punching Plateaus I unlocked Blue Rayman. Potion shaped jars hold hearts and energy throughout the levels. Collecting Electroons are Rayman’s primary focus throughout each level. Platforming is imaginative even for a 2D game. Swinging from vines, sliding down and around flowing water and using objects in the world like plants and enemies as trampolines are just a small fraction of this game’s immersive gameplay. This demo also introduced me to a flying section where you fly a big insect and fight a huge chicken head. You defeat the boss by unhaling bombs and enemies then shooting them back at the boss. I can say for certain Rayman Origins’s gameplay is fueled with imagination as its reilly addicting, fun and beautiful to look at. Diversity stems from platforming, enemies and collectibles scattered throughout the levels.
Rayman Origins is a beautiful game that screams quality and art. Th diversity in jungle levels and desert levels shows off the engine’s capability. The plethora of animations makes each character you choose brings its own comical style to the table. The world is lush, colorful, beautiful and the texture work just rounds off this game’s gorgeous visual presentation. I know I just played an hour of Rayman Origins but fell in love with its visuals. The outbackesque musical tunes and beats never got old and changed up accordingly to level design as well action in-game. Music was catchy and blends with the game’s graphics to only strengthen its presentation even further. Even now as I sit here I am trying to find something bad to write about Rayman Origins visual and sound design presentation, I just can’t find anything.
I grew up playing 2D platformers in the early “80′s” and still do on occasion. Rayman Origins brings a 2D freshness to this current gen that has been lacking in lush immersive fun 2D platformers. Getting back to my playthrough I played Go With the Flow, oh by the way you can pick and choose which level/section you want to play via a world map. You can also revisit the hub known as Glade of Dreams in-between levels to switch characters. Characters do not have any special differentiating qualities besides how they look and their animations. Go With the Flow is primarily a water level were you slide around, down and swim to make it to its end. It was really fun and further showcased the diversity in level design regarding Rayman Origins.
Ok so here are my thoughts about Rayman Origins gamers, its pure quality. I don’t care if your a new school gamer who think 2D platformers are old fashion, try this game (I believe a normal demo exists on XBL and PSN). Try it out for yourself. I was really impressed by it myself. Thanks for reading.
