Rayman Origins (PS3)

It may only be the start of January but I can see Rayman Origins being my favourite game of this year, if you are looking for a break from shoot 'em ups, role play or too complex 3D platform games, then Rayman Origins takes it back to basics with one of the most fun, beautiful and compelling 2D scrolling platformers that I can remember playing. Ever. Over the past few weeks I've spent far too long being caught up in the magical world of Rayman which has proved to be a delightful place from start to finish.

The Basics:

Ubisoft have taken an established but recently dormant character, the no-limbed Rayman, and brought it bang up to date with HD graphics, whilst managing to make a game that is massively playable but challenging enough even for a seasoned gamer. Right from the off of playing this game it is like a breath of fresh air. The differences start with the fact that you can play in co-op with up to 4 players (so far I've played with 3 much of the time), in your front room. There's no online playing here, what there is the ability to grab up to 4 controllers and play seamlessly within a beautifully rendered hand drawn somewhat surreal and fun universe.

We are in familiar territory as the game starts off as part tutorial part game. You need to work your way through different worlds - there are 10 worlds in all in five different universes (adding up to about 60 levels), and as you work your way through you unlock different and varied challenges but also different abilities. Rayman and his side-kicks Globox and the Teenies learn to smash, swim, fly and climb walls as you progress through the central hub of the Glade of Dreams a mystical place from which they set off on their quest.

Story:

Not, to my shame, being familiar with Rayman from previous games, the Rayman universe was new to me, and though in all honesty the story is pretty irrelevant to me, perhaps for aficionados of the series it might be pertinent to explain that the game sees the Bubble Dreamer having had nightmares and the world being taken over by the creatures of his bad dreams. Enter Rayman who has to step in to save the Electoons (pink blobby creatures) whilst being fuelled by Lums, blobs of energy, that he and his co-players have to collect whilst freeing the Electoons from their cages in the games and occasionally chasing the odd Nymph or two. To those of us not familiar with Rayman this is your basic scrolling 2D platformer where you earn coins (the Lums) and have to battle to the end of each level to progress, so far so familiar. What, for me, makes the twist is the humour which is inherent to the game, from having to swing off a cartoon hand, to Rayman and Globus themselves who are cartoonesque, to being serenaded by a host of Lums, Rayman is quirky, original and downright fun from the off even if you have never played it before.

Gameplay:

Ubisoft say themselves (http://raymanorigins.uk.ubi.com/blog/) that they wanted to make the game accessible to beginners but also challenging to "veterans" - and I think that they have managed to achieve this. Due to the facts that the controls work seamlessly and are intuitive (basic X= jump and square = smash with a little bit of using the R2 for extra functions like sprint) and that the game gets progressively more difficult so that you become more skilled without realising it, the game achieves what it sets out to. Because you have an infinite amount of lives, when you die you just miss out on the opportunity to collect more lums or to access a hidden area (there are 2 in each level with more hidden Electoon cages in them to add to the one at the end of each level). This means you can carry on through the game no matter how many times you die, generous amounts of waystages/save points mean that you don't have to start all over again and make the game a true exercise in how to write a game that is not too frustrating in a senseless way but yet not too easy.

Playing in co-op makes the game much quicker progression wise and also more fun, though when you are at 3 players the screen does get a bit messy, in general the camera keeps up well with the action though any player lagging too far behind will find they leave the action unexpectedly. When you "die" in this manner or by getting killed by any number of enemies, prickly, firey or exploding things you become a bubble which your partner can smash in order to regenerate you. When the going does get tricky this doubles, triples or quadruples your chances depending on how many people are playing, which is handy though playing in co-op you can, and do, inadvertently kill rather than help your partner from time to time. This adds to the interest whilst meaning you have to strike a balance between everyone for themselves and helping each other.

Difficulty and Longevity:

All the kinds of challenges you would expect to face from an old skool platform game are there in abundance; making your way through worlds that crumble, jumping off things, on things that move, swinging, floating and even swimming all in a detailed and varied hand- drawn background. At times there's a bit of a Disney feel to the game as you jump on huge forks or glide around an underwater panorama, but get lulled into a sense of false security and a sinister black clawed hand is there to grab you and in parts the game is really very challenging. We have unlocked all the levels but doing so took some doing and in parts we were given the opportunity to move onto the next world after failing in epic manner on a couple of the levels with a gentle "it's getting dangerous here - stay?" - if you choose not to the next world is unlocked with no penalty, other than the fact that you miss out on the Loons at the end of the level.

You will find yourself going back and playing levels you have previously played a lot to find hidden areas you missed or to up the number of Lums you won so that you can increase how completed your medallion (a sort of medal which tracks your score) is at the end of each level. The only thing at all I could criticise about this game is that the map allowing you to do this is a tad confusing at first in all honesty, you seem to have to use circle to go back more than is strictly necessary to find out where you are and what you need to do. This was confusing at first to say the least and yet you have to go back to the map regularly to progress and also to go back to the Snoring Tree where the Bubble Dreamer is and where you can also change to different incarnations of the basic characters, all of whom have different abilities. Bar the bewildering map there is really nothing negative about the game at all, even the loading map is a thing of beauty that makes the waiting and transition for levels to load almost enjoyable. The soundtrack too is pure pleasure, though some of the much repeated anthems of the core characters such as the joyful Loons are perhaps a little too memorable, in the main the music enhances the experience of playing seamlessly and in a natural seeming fashion. This is gaming at it's best with all the recent add ons such as Move interactivity stripped back to the core - this game doesn't need any gimmics at all to be the brilliant experience that it is to play. Once you have finished you can go back to the levels to complete time trials and to try and collect anything you missed the first couple of times, the longevity of this game like everything else is truly excellent.

Buy? Is it even a Question?

As I have probably made clear I've been well and truly sucked into the Rayman Universe with this game, which, at the £17.99 I paid for it (currently £26.44 on amazon, but the price fluctuates wildly) was quite frankly a bargain given the amount of enjoyment we have had playing with it. This game manages to be easy enough for an eight and five year old to play along with but challenging for anyone who has been playing platforms from the start, and it's just one huge breath of fresh air. The graphics are just the most amazing I think I have ever seen on any game and the most original I've experienced since playing Kirby's Epic Yarn on Wii - on Playstation 3 in HD they are pretty hard to surpass in my opinion.

I would defy any gamer to not enjoy Rayman on some level, be it racing on the back of a Giant Mosquito blasting things or trying to survive a flaming crumbling inferno. Highly, highly recommended and then some, this is, quite simply, a future classic game.