Rayman Legends has been released on the Wii U on September 3 2013.
Presentation - The story takes places centuries after where the events were placed in Rayman Origins. The magician survived the explosion from Origins and transformed into Dark Teensies. Murphy, who originally appeared in Rayman 2: The Great Escape, explains to Rayman and his friends about the ten princesses (Barbara included) and Teensies being trapped in a nightmare. Rayman and his buddies must defeat four Dark Teensies and travel to Olympus Maximus to fight against pure nightmare from a large cloud.
Rayman Legends can easily be comparable to New Super Mario Bros. U because both of them are 2D plat formers on the Wii U. Both games feature up to 5 players. Although, Rayman Legends focuses more on the different game play styles by playing as Murphy on the game pad while moving other various objects for the computer controlled Rayman to get around, the idea hasn’t been quite executed well enough. As I was playing a Murphy stage at a Target store, I noticed that I can’t get past the area where I had to turn a giant wheel around because Rayman kept dying over there while moving by himself. This Murphy stage makes it nearly impossible to get past because you can’t control Rayman himself over there. He’s not even bright enough to want to wait for me to turn the wheel around at a proper time. This major problem that I faced makes the Murphy stages nearly unbeatable.
There are other stages as well that are similar to Rayman Origins. The platforms are intense because you have to be constantly moving around while the platforms are constantly moving or dropping as you get past by a level. Rayman and his friends can even wear alternate costumes that are similar to Origins including a Mario outfit.
It’s true that New Super Mario Bros. U isn’t as difficult as Rayman Legends is, but at least I can get past the levels without a lot of major problems. Rayman Legends has great ideas, but they have been executed poorly enough where several Murphy stages are almost impossible to beat. Sure, I love a good challenge every now and then, but not to the point where I can’t beat the levels. Rayman Legends is too much of a challenge for me to even handle.
Graphics - While the visuals are very detailed and colorful (even better than the graphics in New Super Mario Bros. U), some of the character designs don’t quite look right. For example, the main character, Rayman has no arms and legs. Also, Barbara doesn’t look as femininely appealing as Princess Peach and Rosalina. Also, some of the villans look downright ugly because they only have a few teeth in their mouth.
Sound - The music has always been a strong point in Rayman games because there are always different tracks to listen to unlike New Super Mario Bros. U where the same tracks play on every boss levels. However, the character voices may sound too repetitive after a while.
Game play - The standard controls work well for the normal levels. However, moving platforms and various objects for a computer controlled Rayman don’t work as well on the Murphy stages because he keeps on moving by himself at the wrong time which causes a lot of cheap deaths.
Lasting appeal - I honestly rather play New Super Mario Bros. U rather than Rayman Legends because I can at least beat the levels. There are a ton of levels to explore around, so the replay value will be very high along with collecting various objects in each levels. Although there is no online play (like New Super Mario Bros. U), it does feature local multi player with up to five players. However, about half of the stages are Murphy levels which may be too difficult for them to pass certain levels. Veteran Rayman fans still may enjoy playing Rayman Legends, they may even enjoy more playing the superior New Super Mario Bros. U.
The good - has local multiplayer with up to five players, tons of different levels to explore, excellent details in the artwork
The bad - Murphy stages are almost impossible to beat, no online play, some character designs still don’t look right
Presentation - 5
Graphics - 8
Sound - 8
Game play - 5
Lasting appeal - 6
Overall 6.4 out of 10 GameSpot score 6 out of 10