Aside from Saints Row IV, Rayman Legends may be one of my most anticipated games of this year. I was never a big fan of the series until Rayman Origins came along. The 3D games never appealed to me. However, Rayman Origins was a marvel of 2D platforming. There was a ton of precision to the game, something that several other platformers lack. Not only that, the art work was superb and showcased the Ubi Art engine in fantastic fashion.
When it was announced that Rayman Legends would be going multiplatform (and that it would be delayed), many Wii U owners felt betrayed, as some had bought the system specifically for that game. Ubisoft heard these complaints and developed the Rayman Legends Challenge App, exclusively for the Wii U, to hopefully satisfy them until the game is released in September. Having now played around with the app for a little bit, I can easily say that I’m even more excited for the full release.
The first thing Wii U players will notice is that the app includes the levels contained in the demo. This is a nice touch, as the Wii U limits the number of times that you can play a demo. If you ever want to replay the awesome Castle Rock level, you’ll be easily able to without worrying that you will run out of demo uses.
The real appeal for players, though, will be the new challenges that are being constantly added. There are both daily and weekly challenges, so if you become really addicted to the app, you can play something new every day.
These challenges may be something as simple as trying to fall down a cavern as fast as possible. In this type of challenge, there will be spikes along the walls of the cavern, meaning you need to know exactly how to move your character as they fall down the hole. Occasionally there will be vines or chains you can grab onto, but those will slow you down if you’re not careful.
In these challenges, you run against ghosts of other players. Obviously, your goal is to try to out perform each of them by learning exactly how to move through a level. Replaying levels is essential if you wish to get the best score. Upon completing a level, you’ll receive a medal depending on how quickly you moved through a level. Getting a gold medal is actually incredibly difficult, and it will take you more than a few tries to get one.
In many ways, it reminds me of the Land of the Livid Dead level from Rayman Origins. This unlockable level was incredibly difficult to complete and presented players with a legitimate challenge that could take hundreds of deaths to complete. Yes, you could complete Rayman Origins by just doing the bare minimum, but if you completed everything you were treated to some of the most difficult platforming this side of Super Meat Boy.
The levels look absolutely beautiful, as well, even on the Wii U gamepad. The small changes in art may make the world look somewhat dimmer, but the design aesthetic is still the same. Hopefully, this bodes well for the full release.
The Rayman Legends Challenge App also encourages you to play through multiple times by unlocking new characters as you play. The more Lums (the Rayman equivalent of Super Mario’s coins) you collect, the more characters you unlock. These characters all play identically, but if you want to play as Rayman in a goofy set of armor, there’s a bit of an incentive to come back.
The Rayman Legends Challenge App is free, but if you’re a fan of Rayman, you’d likely be willing to pay money for it. As a huge fan of Origins, I’ve bought two versions of Rayman Jungle Run (the excellent mobile runner, which uses the Ubi Art engine) simply because I want these Rayman games to be successful. The Rayman Legends Challenge App proves that Ubisoft is heading in the right direction with the full release and I couldn’t be more excited.
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