A legend so great, you’ve got to see it for yourselves. Behold, E3 2012 media from Ubisoft’s upcoming Rayman Legends.
Like the mythical phoenix rising from the ashes, Rayman is back. Why did we – okay mostly me – believe he was gone for good? Well… while last year’s Rayman Origins was amazing in both its sights and gameplay, it sold absolutely bupkis. And when things in the game industry, especially things that use hand-drawn 2D animation, sell absolutely bupkis, one surely doesn’t expect a second helping of said thing.
(I’m saying “thing” a lot, aren’t I? Sorry.)
Ah, but thankfully how truly wrong we were – uh, I mean – how truly wrong I was. Arriving sometime near the Wii U’s holiday launch, which is currently being well-guarded as closely as the recipe for Coca-Cola, comes Rayman Legends, sequel to Origins and yes, bringing back its whimsical art pallet and adding some interesting features courtesy of the Wii U’s tablet-esque controller.
Weirdly enough, before I move on, the issue of whether Rayman Legends is a Wii U exclusive or not hasn’t been confirmed by Ubisoft… and guessing by their silence on the matter, it wouldn’t surprise me if a logo for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, or what have you’s magically appeared right next to the Wii U’s one sometime soon. This is just a wild guess, though.
No more platform begging, let’s center our attention on the Wii U version for now, which combines its unique gamepad with Legend’s freak-frenzied multiplayer. In Origins, up to four players could share the screen to complete levels, lend a hand to reach tricky rewards, or just grief the flippin’ pants off each other by punching someone off a platform and countless spare forms of cartoony shenanigans.
That’s returning, oh yeah, but with the Wii U Gamepad users can control a character, Murfy, via the touch pad to perform various in-game talents such as operating machinery for Rayman and friends to further progress in the level, wrangling up baddies attacking high-and-low, collecting Lums, the pixie-like currency of Legends, and whatever else I forgot to describe that was shown in this on-stage demo.
VIDEO TO ADD [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbChrkRIu_s]
I’ve got to give Ubisoft tons of credit for making another Rayman game in the same vain Origins; other publishers would have turn-tail if they got the slim return investment that Ubisoft did. Most of all though, its super awesome to have a “somewhat” high profile game that isn’t about guns or slashing someone’s throat with a bowie knife (which we covered in my E3 awards.)
Who would resit having a portal gun? No one, that’s who – and this cool video by some highly-talented Portal fans is all the proof you need to say otherwise. Check it out.
