It’s delightful, of course. That won’t come as much of a surprise to anyone who played Rayman Origins, one of 2011’s best games and an unlikely return to form for a character most had written off. With such a solid foundation, Michel Ancel and his team at Ubisoft’s Montpellier studio haven’t reinvented the wheel. What they’ve done is take an already wonderful wheel and polished it into something remarkable.
Like the previous game, this is a 2D platformer in unashamedly classic style, delivering a constant stream of small gameplay nuggets. Every jump is a test, every obstacle a trial. Some must be tackled at speed, others allow you to think your way around them. All have been designed so that it’s never as simple as a one-two-three hop up staircase-shaped platforms. You’ll float, swim, glide and sprint past spikes and flames, and you’ll fail. A lot. You’ll feel that familiar frustration – the same feeling you got from Mega Man and every other side-scroller of note – but you’ll know that it’s not the game that’s at fault. It’s your timing, your sluggish reaction, or your panic that let you down.
This is the core of the game, and it represents the platform genre at its best. Not only does each new level bring fresh delights, but each new inch of screen that scrolls towards you will inspire grins and grimaces in equal measure. The Rayman series has endured more through Ubisoft’s corporate determination than anything else, but with Legends this perennial runner-up earns its place alongside the likes of Super Mario Bros. It’s that good.
SOURCE: Eurogamer.net – Read entire story here.
