The Rayman Legends
E3 demo at Ubisoft’s conference on Monday afternoon was one of the
liveliest seen at this year’s E3, a brief respite from the glut of
‘mature’ titles and blockbuster shooters. With its rhythm-based
platforming set against screeching guitar licks, it also looked like a
hell of a lot of fun.
In practice, Rayman Legends is a lot of fun. A sequel to 2011’s Rayman reboot, Rayman Origins, Legends retains its predecessor’s irreverence and gorgeous art-style while introducing slick new touch-based gameplay to the franchise. It’s had a lick of paint, too, thanks to a new lighting engine that suggests three-dimensions.
The dedicated co-op demo available to play at E3 – an extended version of what was played at Ubisoft’s conference – is an example of the Wii U’s tech working in perfect harmony with creative director Michel Ancel’s idiosyncratic take on the platform genre.
Murphy, Legends’ dedicated Wii U character, acts as a sort of
omnipresent genie, swooping across the game screen, picking up bad guys,
cutting down ropes, and throwing stuff around to help Rayman. Using the
Wii U gamepad, Murphy is controlled by a drag or a tap to place him
anywhere on the screen, and can manipulate his environment using a
combination of taps, swipes and holds.
There is a great deal of trust involved playing Legends’ co-op as, refreshingly, Murphy holds all the power. Moving a giant spiked gerbil wheel with Rayman inside it is a meticulous action, and a false move with the gamepad’s internal gyroscope will send Rayman – and you and your buddy’s friendship - to their doom.
To this end, communication is vital. One puzzle saw Rayman come across a sequence of buttons on the side of a wall that extended out a platform when pressed. On the Wii U gamepad screen, the player controlling Murphy can see that some of the buttons are marked with a red skull, invisible on the TV screen. Save or screw your buddy at your own will.
It’s the asynchronous gameplay in Rayman Legends – when the gameplay
experiences of the two players divide – that showcases both the game and
the hardware it was built for. During one particular boss battle,
Murphy takes control of a slingshot in the foreground while Rayman
frantically leaps across crumbling pillars in the background. Played out
on the same screen, both players are enjoying entirely different
experiences; the mind reels at further opportunities for these sorts of
mishmashes.
It’s all a blast to play through, but no part more so than the aforementioned rhythm section, where both players must tap in time with the beat to free up the path in a speed-run style sprint to the end of the level, punctuated by bass drum eyeballs and grannies on flying coffins. This sort of frenzied action so epitomizes Rayman and the creativity of Michel Ancel and his team, a group unafraid to be bright, brave and bizarre.
Rayman Legends currently has no confirmed online co-op, but in its present build can support up to five players offline. Senior Game Manager Michael Micholic confirmed to us some online features, where players will be able to challenge their friends in time-trial scenarios and lum collection high scores on special maps. But they’d be mad not to throw as many opportunities to play cooperatively as much as possible, given the strength of what we've seen at this year's E3.
In practice, Rayman Legends is a lot of fun. A sequel to 2011’s Rayman reboot, Rayman Origins, Legends retains its predecessor’s irreverence and gorgeous art-style while introducing slick new touch-based gameplay to the franchise. It’s had a lick of paint, too, thanks to a new lighting engine that suggests three-dimensions.
The dedicated co-op demo available to play at E3 – an extended version of what was played at Ubisoft’s conference – is an example of the Wii U’s tech working in perfect harmony with creative director Michel Ancel’s idiosyncratic take on the platform genre.
There is a great deal of trust involved playing Legends’ co-op as, refreshingly, Murphy holds all the power. Moving a giant spiked gerbil wheel with Rayman inside it is a meticulous action, and a false move with the gamepad’s internal gyroscope will send Rayman – and you and your buddy’s friendship - to their doom.
To this end, communication is vital. One puzzle saw Rayman come across a sequence of buttons on the side of a wall that extended out a platform when pressed. On the Wii U gamepad screen, the player controlling Murphy can see that some of the buttons are marked with a red skull, invisible on the TV screen. Save or screw your buddy at your own will.
It’s all a blast to play through, but no part more so than the aforementioned rhythm section, where both players must tap in time with the beat to free up the path in a speed-run style sprint to the end of the level, punctuated by bass drum eyeballs and grannies on flying coffins. This sort of frenzied action so epitomizes Rayman and the creativity of Michel Ancel and his team, a group unafraid to be bright, brave and bizarre.
Rayman Legends currently has no confirmed online co-op, but in its present build can support up to five players offline. Senior Game Manager Michael Micholic confirmed to us some online features, where players will be able to challenge their friends in time-trial scenarios and lum collection high scores on special maps. But they’d be mad not to throw as many opportunities to play cooperatively as much as possible, given the strength of what we've seen at this year's E3.
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