Rayman Legends Review: Provides Moments of Quality Platforming Gameplay

Rayman Legends recently made its debut on the next-gen consoles and I took the time to hop, float, and sprint my way through its platforming gameplay on the Xbox One. Much like Rayman Origins, it has the same style in gameplay and art which adds for a lot of beautifully crafted levels. It’s visuals is one of the best things about the game, and the next-gen consoles make sure gamers get the best visuals they can out of the game.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of the Rayman games, but I greatly appreciate Rayman Origins and now what Rayman Legends offers as well. However, it still doesn’t speak to me like other platformers do. I don’t come across levels that are just amazing to play and beg for a second playthrough. Don’t get me wrong, there are some well designed levels that prove for decent and challenging gameplay, but there are very few that speak to me beyond that. I’ll play it once, but don’t need to play it again.

Players can find themselves under water avoiding traps, in the sky floating by different obstacles, or swinging from the ropes in various types of levels. One of the best features that come with Rayman Legends is that players also control a second character to block things like fireballs and lava. This second character also helps move objects around so Rayman can move on. This all happens very quickly too, and thankfully it’s not too challenging to control both elements at the same time. Occasionally players may forget to push the second character’s action button which leads to a failed attempt, but for the most part it actually flows together quite well.

There are a few levels that do a good job of putting players in the midst of action where they must keep moving. Some are so well designed that it feels like an insanely quick obstacle course where players must get every jump right. Those levels are fun. There are also musical levels at the end of each world that are very enjoyable to play, mostly because of good music and how the actions go along to the beat of the song. The very first level with Rock Castle (video below) is probably my absolute favorite. That’s the most fun I had with the game, experiencing that level for the first time.

The bosses don’t provide for any spectacular gameplay at all as they feel rather basic. They can still provide the players with a challenge, no doubt, but I am far from impressed with the design.

Once a world is beaten and players move on to the next, they’ll eventually discover new stages unlocked in the worlds they previously cleared. I do enjoy the time attack levels that let players go for gold and also compete with friends on the online leaderboards. That makes them entertaining.

Overall there are plenty of stages for players to make their way through with lots of unlockable and hidden content. Players are required to save and collect teensies as they play through each stage; this allows them to earn enough of them to move on to new stages. These guys are hidden all over the map, though most of the time it’s easy to discover them.

With lots of content, daily challenges, and online leaderboards – players are going to have lots to keep them entertained for a while. While there weren’t many levels that overly impressed me, their beauty still makes them worthy of experiencing.