Game Memorial

Posted on August 18, 2012 by Arantor

Today on our journey, we're looking at the letter R, and with that we're taking a look at one of the Rayman games - specifically Rayman Origins.

I have to admit Rayman was one of those series of games that I somehow seem to have missed through the years, and slightly oddly, this particular game seems to be the most apt way to get into the series, by being a completing-the-circle for the series.

Before we begin...
Options menu... and no tutorials or anything, no how to play. I do make sure I stop by the controls panel so that I have some idea what the hell I'm supposed to be pressing - and I'm bemused by the fact that the controls as arrow keys, Space and S.

Fortunately I have enough of a clue about what's about to happen that I know to change Jump from Space to Z and Hit from S to X, putting jump and fire next to each other like we've had in games for the last twenty years. (Yes, that's already put my back up. While I appreciate that my choices for controls may not be everyone's cup of tea, having frankly unergonomic controls off the bat is going to irritate me.)

I still have no idea what's going on but I might as well dive into the main game at this point.

Playing the game
OK, so I'm treated to a rather nicely animated introduction, showing Rayman and his friends chilling out and generally having a good time (if rather loudly). Loudly enough that it upsets a granny in the Land of the Living Dead, and she sends a horde of creatures to put an end to the noise. Cue going on a Quest to fix everything.

I get into the main game little the wiser (edit: I'm now marginally the wiser for having read the Wikipedia entry for Rayman Origins, but it's not entirely clear from the game) and find myself trapped.



I'm really familiar with the controls at this point. I grew up playing games during the early 1990s - around the time Rayman first emerged, really - when 2D jump'n'run games (platformers) were by far the most popular games out there, and have played a great many of them. Rayman Origins is mechanically much the same as these games from twenty years ago and despite the plot not really making any sense to me, it actually doesn't matter.

Back at the turn of the decade, action games had the most bizarre of plots that seemed to be little more than attempts to explain the bizarre juxtaposition that made the game up. Rayman Origins' intro seems much the same!



A little exploration reveals that the Snoring Tree, where I am, is in fact merely some kind of hub world and that the real awesomeness is outside. I can't go left, due to a lack of 'ruby teeth' so it's going right, and that brings me to the outside world, and a familiar looking screen that is for level selection.



And now we're into the level proper.

So I'm running about, jumping around, feeling pretty good while I'm doing it, and feeling quite on home territory, and while I'm doing so I'm really admiring the attention to detail.

The game has a serious amount of parallax - I'm not entirely sure whether the landscape is handling multiple discrete layers of foreground and background, or whether it's actually a 3D world (wide but not particularly deep) and relying on camera trickery to adjust everything. I don't know exactly how it's doing it but it is extremely well polished, and handles as meticulously as it looks.



The game continues with this beautiful visual style, and we get the usual platform fixtures, walls, water, vines, water/air jets to push you around. This game really has it all.





Whee, a little bit more, and I rescue someone - and now I can hit things too. The game just gets a little more interesting!



Oh, that's neat. There are mushrooms that if I hit, they make parts of the level move. It's actually quite brilliant, really, the way it's handled.

A little more and I get to a crate with some locks on and inside seem to be some purple things that I remember vaguely seeing some message about saving. I still have no real idea what I'm doing but that's not exactly going to stop me. (Platform games, generally, are pretty straight-forward to fathom out, it's basically about understanding what you can stand on, what hurts you and what makes other things happen)

Breaking the lock seems to finish the level and I've collected some Electoons (or something) that I needed to get, and am back to the Snoring Tree. OK, so I finished the level, but I don't entirely understand what I've achieved. I just know that it's been a blast doing it.

I don't entirely know what I'm doing as far as overall progression goes, and maybe that's down to me, I don't know yet. But what I do know is that the handling of the game mechanics, is amongst the best I've ever encountered.

And on that bombshell
I have to be honest, the first time I encountered Mario, it was truly as 'I have no idea what the hell I'm doing' as I just did with Rayman Origins.

That doesn't affect how well it plays, though. Rayman Origins plays as one of the best side-scrolling platformer games I have ever encountered - mechanically speaking. The entire level of production on a technical level - graphically, musically, technologically - is fantastic.

It is surprisingly rare to see side-scrolling platformers handled at a professional level, let alone one handled so precisely.

The production is so strong that the apparent oversights regarding what's going on actually don't matter too much once you get into the game. It all flows so naturally.

Better than that, the game also supports 4-way co-operative play with drop-in/drop-out facilities, though I didn't try it, but it's certainly an interesting feature to a game.

If you even remotely like side-scrolling platformers, you should try this game at least once.

The only real downside to this game is the price. It's currently $30 on Steam (Windows only) though there is a demo if you're not sure, and it is on offer at times, so try the demo, add it to your wishlist and come the winter sale it'll be at a more reasonable price so you can buy it!