Rayman Origins review · 8:21pm Dec 10th, 2014

When I heard this game was announced, I was excited. It looked good, we were gonna see some old faces again, and it was a return to 2D. Unfortunately, like most games, things got cut and elements have changed during development. But did that ruin the game. No.

Story
While our heroes were having their hourly nap, they anger the forces of darkness with there snoring and attack. Now they must go on some adventure for some reason. This is probably the most disappointing about the game, the story was cut. There's a beginning and a climax but everything in between was cut.

Gameplay
Like any other platformer, you must get to the end of the level. the control is very smooth, the level design is brilliant and while you don't have you powers again, it feels a lot better than as you don't get them until you need them. besides, jumping on the first few enemies to show you have more than one attack before geeting the punch sounds a lot better than going through two level before I can hang on a ledge. And there are also levels were you get to ride on a moskito again, only now it plays like one of those bullet-storm type games and in my are some of the hardest levels later in the game.
I think they took some inspiration from Super Meatboy for the level design. While the difficulty gradually increases as the game goes on, it doesn't really become a major annoyance due to the fact you have infinite lives. When you go for secret skull coins or the skull teeth, the difficulty really ramps up as the coins are sometimes in very hard to reach or dangerous places and the teeth are in levels where you have to chase a chest through a dangerous obstacle course. And the time trials can be a pain if you going for the best time. Possible, but a pain.

Presentation
There a few words to describe the artwork. They boasted about a graphics engine called UbiArt and it looks like it was worth it. all the backgrounds look like they were from paintings and the character animations look great.
And I'll never forgive myself if I never mention the amazing soundtrack. I mentioned that Rayman games have good but otherwise forgettable soundtracks. This one is golden. Not only is it ambient but all the tunes are catchy and memorable, from when you chase the tricky treasures to climbing up an ancient mountain. Even the final boss that was cut is pure epicness is a shame it wasn't used. My favorite world in the game was the Sea of Serendipity not only because the levels were fun, but because it looks and sound like beauty.
I also want to say that characters are not speaking gibberish, it's pig-Latin.

Verdict
Lack of story beside, this is my favorite Rayman. It may have spoiled my taste for the first game, but I see it as a positive step in 2D gaming.
9/10

I don't know if I'll review Rayman Legends as I'm all Rayman out for now. But I might get back to it. For now, here's a song by a rayman fan and it's really beautiful.