Rayman: Origins Review

When Rayman: Origins was released in November amongst a plethora of much higher-profile games, it received tremendous critical acclaim. Sadly I, like many others, missed out on the experience during that rush, but the Playstation Vita has given the limbless thing-a-ma-bob a home that deserves – no, demands recognition.

Rayman, as a franchise, lost its identity almost as soon as it found it. The dark days of Rayman were those of the Raving Rabbids, and their level of success cast the character of Rayman into such obscurity that Ubisoft refocused game development around their little money-making critters instead of capitalising on the (admittedly legless) stride found in the earlier games. Unable to go forward with his plans for a Beyond Good & Evil sequel, Ubisoft veteran – Michel Ancel – assembled a relatively tiny development team and used a new level creation engine known as UBIart Framework to revive the beloved platformer. That team has accomplished something magical.

Let’s get started with the thing that this game gets so right that it almost physically affects me: The visuals. Rayman: Origins has one of the most fully realised art styles I’ve ever come across in any medium. It is gorgeous. And this is no less apparent on the Vita. The 5-inch OLED screen fully justifies its place in the system with these visuals, and all the while somehow retains a consistently high frame rate. It’s colourful, beautifully drawn, stunningly animated and it all runs as smooth as silk. Every time I look at the screen I find it comparable to a unicorn sparkling into existence in front of me, in a heavenly field, and then ejaculating rainbows and general good vibrations directly into the pleasure centre of my brain.

As a 2D platformer, Rayman: Origins achieves a high level of complexity, elegance and control. These are three cornerstones of platformer development that so many titles either don’t do enough with, or flat-out don’t succeed in. The control of your character and its abilities feels perfect. At no point did I get annoyed at the game for having the character move or interact in a way I wasn’t at fault for. The fantastic level design complements the tight controls as well; platforms are perfectly placed to allow the player to speed-run levels if they should so choose, or alternatively carefully manoeuvre through at a steady pace. The amazing level design is particularly well showcased in the game’s occasional chase sequences, providing the player with an overwhelming desire to perfectly parkour their way through the level without ever stopping.

That’s not to say that Rayman: Origins isn’t difficult, however. It is. Like all great platformers, the game teaches you the basics and grants a significant amount of lee-way at the start and steadily – but not overwhelmingly – escalates the difficulty curve as you progress.

Each world you play through utilises a specific primary mechanic that you will need to learn in order to not only progress through, but to defeat that world’s boss encounter. These mechanics include hovering, swimming and wall-running, and in the later levels each of them are called upon regularly. Especially if you choose to aim for the game’s bonus content: Mario has coins to collect throughout levels, Rayman has electoons.

Collecting electoons – either from the many scattered in the levels, or by finishing the hidden bonus rooms throughout – gradually unlocks chase levels in which you’re running after a crazed treasure chest. These levels require absolute perfection of control, and nothing less. You will die many, many times learning the best path to take and how to react moment-to-moment, but when you finally hit that seemingly elusive finishing line, it’s an absolutely amazing feeling. Once you capture a chest, it gives you a red “tooth” that you can return to a character at the game’s starting point in order to unlock the “Land of the Livid Dead.” This is not necessary to complete the game proper, but serves as a fantastic little incentive to squeeze a bit more out of what is already an extensive product.

Since this is the Vita version of the game, there’s a bit of touchscreen malarkey thrown in for good measure, granting you the ability to zoom in and out at any time via standard touch-screen “pinching.” I never played the game on another platform, so I’m unaware as to whether a similar feature existed there, but it proves to be incredibly useful on this device. Which brings me to another upside of playing on the Vita: The inherent “jump in for a short burst of gameplay” nature of platformers is served really well by being on a portable device.

Being able to simply pause, place into standby, and then pick up where I left off whenever the mood may take me has been a terrific experience. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy Rayman: Origins in the times I played for multiple hours – I absolutely did – but there is something to be said for a game that is this easy to “pick up and play” being on a device that lets you do that with the touch of a button, anywhere. The graphic design of this title also plays to yet another of the Vita’s strengths – the truly gorgeous screen. Rayman: Origins looks as great as it is to play – truly amazing. In fact, the only downside of the Vita version of Rayman: Origins is that it lacks the co-op functionality that’s found in the console version of the game – but since there’s just so much on offer from this version of game, I’m sure you’ll hardly miss it.

At the end of the game, the credits roll. And you can quite literally take control of your character, platform around the credits and destroy them if it pleases you. That’s an brilliant thing to put into a credit sequence, and I will now hold a lacking of this against any game’s credit sequence in the future.

Rayman: Origins is proof-positive that platformers can still be great, and they don’t have to involve a certain plumber to achieve that status. It is one of the most complete game experiences I’ve ever come across. And on Playstation Vita, it almost single-handedly justifies the entire system.