Rayman Legends Retold Preview
Upfront admission: I’m not a huge platformer fan. I’m not platformer-adverse, just very selective about the games I spend time with, because I know it’ll take some effort to succeed. 2013’s Rayman Legends passed me by on the Nintendo Wii, but I picked it up a year later on the PS4 and never looked back. The characters, light-hearted tone, and varied gameplay kept me inspired and entertained. I was thrilled to spend some hands-on time with Rayman Legends Retold. I came away anxious for the game’s full release.
1:1 Fun
Rayman Legends Retold does an amazing job of updating a classic while preserving the original’s fun factors. By and large, the levels follow the exact same order and even the same moment-to-moment design. The frenetic and kinetic sequences of running, jumping, climbing, and puzzling are firmly in place. Rayman Legends is a great example of a platformer that never does the same thing two times in a row. The action is constantly changing and keeps players incredibly engaged.
The first job of Rayman Legends Retold was to not fix what was absolutely not broken. The game totally succeeds in preserving the pace of the original, but adds a few new ideas. Maybe the most important is the Fairy Blessing, which can be activated at any time. The Fairy Blessing enshrouds the player’s character in a nearly invincible floating bubble. It allows for flee flight, auto-damages enemies, and completely avoids the tricky platforming. You might wonder what the point of Fairy Blessing is. It serves as the game’s easy mode and lets players move on from places where they’re stuck. Additionally, Fairy Blessing is a great way to preview the flow of a level.
At the Margins
While core gameplay of Rayman Legends remains untouched in Retold, the new stuff just makes it better. First, the updated 2.5/3D art is bright, colorful, and richly detailed. It looks like a shiny new game. The familiar characters return, but with incredibly well-done voice acting. Even playing remotely the game ran smoothly.
The hub world is now a 3D environment filled with its own set of activities while progressing the player to the next level or challenge. Progression is more linear, but there are skippable challenge levels and new endgame challenges in The Cave of Trials. The Cave of Bad Dreams returns as well.
One of my absolute favorite aspects of Rayman Legends were the music-game levels, combining platforming with a musical beat. All of the original tracks return, but with some new, fantastic additions. I got to play a Macarena level and a U Can’t Touch This level and I was a happy camper. Overall, music in Rayman Legends Retold is excellent, bubbly, tuneful, and fun.
Another fantastic addition to Rayman Legends Retold are the 3D, on-rails dragon flying combat segments. Both as a throwback to the Giant Mosquito levels in Rayman Origins and as a level transition, flying the dragon was a lot of fun. It was yet another mechanic in a game already chock-full of variety. Speaking of Origins, Rayman Legends Retold includes a completely remastered 2D version of the game. Running at 60fps at 4K, the remaster also includes haptic feedback controller support.
Perfect? Not Quite Yet
I had a few, very minor quibbles during my playtime. I don’t remember if these were an issue in the original. First, there were a number of respawn points that required an immediate response that would sometimes lock me into a death loop. A great place to use Fairy Blessing! Some of the underwater light puzzle/laser levels seemed to drag on without the game’s trademark creative variety. Even though it’s usually considered on the casual end of the platforming spectrum, Rayman Legends Retold is plenty challenging for a gamer with my (lack of) skills. The build I played was nowhere near final, so I expect lots of tweaks and fixes between now and launch.
I loved Rayman Legends Retold’s sense of humor, refurbished art style and smooth action. Ubisoft has managed to make a classic even classier, and I can’t wait for the game’s release this coming December.
***Hands on preview provided by the publisher***
