When rumours first started flying that Rayman Legends would be getting the remake treatment, my initial reaction was a strange cocktail of bewilderment, exasperation, worry, and just the tiniest dash of hope. Thanks to its gorgeous art style, Legends is about as timeless as a video game can be, and it’s made it onto pretty much every platform in the 13 years since it was released. Combine that with other Rayman games that made much more sense for a remake, and it's no surprise everyone was left confused.
Revisiting the game that the entire series got stuck on for more than a decade as the first major push to bring Rayman back just didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Most of that scepticism quickly helicopter-haired itself out the window when Retold was actually revealed, sporting some stunning new visuals, a handful of brand-new levels, and a renewed focus on an important area that the original Legends didn’t bother with - Rayman’s world and characters.
With all of that in mind, I was pretty excited to finally figure out how I felt about Rayman Legends Retold when I got to play two hours of the remake myself. That time was more than enough to sell me on Retold’s surprisingly grand ambitions, as well as make me grateful for the last-minute delay to polish things up a bit more before launch.
My preview kicked off with Rayman and the gang arriving in the sandy deserts of Mystic Mesa, the new name for Legends’ Fiesta de los Muertos level. In the original game, you’d just hop into the world’s painting and then have a few themed stages, but one of the most impressive parts of Retold is that it’s all part of an interconnected world, with each realm having its own hub world to run around and explore, as well as voiced cutscenes expressively tying everything together.
There’s also a costume shop with some brilliant outfits, including the return of all the Ubisoft crossovers, with the exception of Far Cry 3’s Vaas.
It’s a small detail in the grand scheme of things, but as a Rayman fan who cares just as much about the world beyond the fantastic platforming, it’s a huge improvement. As much as I love Origins and Legends, it’s a blessing to have Rayman’s actual heroic personality back instead of just noises and yelling. I’m also all-in on Retold’s standout 3D visuals, which are as gorgeous and full of charm as the original game’s, but in a more modern Pixar direction.
As for the Mystic Mesa levels themselves, they’re unsurprisingly just as good as they’ve always been, even if that’s not the highest honour for the realm that gave us the dreaded duck stages. I’ve replayed Legends more times than I can count, but I was impressed by just how much Retold’s new style and tweaked camera angles make them feel brand-new.
Speaking of brand-new, my preview also let me check out the dragon ride levels that have been introduced in Retold. I usually hate these kinds of auto-scrolling shooters (looking at you, Origins Mosquito levels), but the dragon rides are a refreshing change of pace and feel shockingly epic, giving you a closer look at how much work has gone into making Rayman Legends’ settings feel like actual worlds instead of just platforming backdrops.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.thegamer.com/rayman-legends-retold-origins-enhanced-final-preview/
