What really allows this game to transcend the rest is the chase levels. Okay so it’s a good side-scroller, but nothing revolutionary so far–you take your character from left to right, collect shiny things, and get to the end of the level. It’s also very worth noting that Rayman Legends is a blast as a two-player co-op experience. Every action feels kinetic and responsive, and the mostly brilliantly-designed levels continually find new ways to flex and test your traversal abilities to propel yourself through absurd, vibrant dreamscapes. In addition to the standard jump, you can run, glide, punch, ground pound, wall jump, wall run, and more. Controlling Rayman (or one of his many unlockable friends) is an absolute joy.

Every step of the way is perfectly accompanied with a fantastic soundtrack that has a lot of fun twisting its common motifs to match the theme of each world. The game’s levels are spread across several themed worlds, beginning in a monster-filled medieval castle siege and continuing through a windy desert strewn with giant musical instruments, a culinary day-of-the-dead landscape full of huge vegetables and mariachi music, an underwater spy world complete with James Bond-esque tunes and laser grids, and more. Despite that, I was immediately charmed by Legends’ vibrantly colorful, cartoonish, and capital-F Fun art style.

I had never played a Rayman game before and knew only that he was the guy with floating hands and no arms or legs.

So why did Rayman Legends hook me where others had failed?įirst there’s the art. Atmospheric indie fare like Limbo and Braid never satisfied me and though I can hold my own in any twitch-shooter, somehow I’ve always been garbage at Mario. Actually, it’s the only side-scroller I’ve ever really gotten into. Rayman Legends was the great 2013 follow-up to 2011’s good Rayman Origins, and it is the best side-scrolling action game I’ve ever played.

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