There are also bonus levels which require players to beat them within a strict time limit, as well as some challenge stages set to music. I found the game to work best when in motion, so the moments where you need to stop and tap or drag in Murfy’s Touch worked a little against the game’s overall design. There are roughly 400 Teensies to be found in the main story, another 200 in the Rayman Origins levels, and another 100 in the Murfy’s Touch levels, which remix the existing levels with touch-screen activated prompts. These bonus cards can unlock Creatures in a gallery, as well as levels ported from Rayman Origins. Levels also have little sprites called Lums scattered everywhere, and depending on how well you collected them you can nab yourself some shiny trophies as well as scratchcards. Bigger levels have 10 Teensies to find while smaller ones have three, but they’re hidden well enough that it’ll take you a couple of runs to seek them all out. Levels can be tackled in nearly any order, depending on how many Teensies the player rescues in the previous levels. Rayman Legends is also well known for its metagame, featuring everything from collectibles, unlockable bonus levels and player character skins. These graphics look amazing both on the Switch screen and on the dock, which is a testament to the fantastic port job. There’s just so much personality, from the way Rayman backflips if you nudge the controller at just the right time, or the little animations enemies do if they don’t notice you, or the super sly ways that levels hide their bonus rooms.

The crisp animations, lush backgrounds and sheer inventiveness of this game is sure to make you fall in love with platformers all over again. Levels are also visually and mechanically distinct, and players are sure to have favourites by the end, whether it be the one with the floating watermelons, or the one with the giant sea centipedes, or the one that’s a straight bottomless pit freefall.Īll of this is largely thanks to the UbiArt engine, which really streamlines the work between artists and level designers in order to make games like Rayman Legends or Valiant Hearts a reality. The level design is some of the best I’ve ever seen in a platformer – levels are mostly linear but focus on the flow of running and jumping, with animations working alongside super responsive controls to create a system that feels amazing to the touch. The main game contains five worlds worth of levels, each with lots of collectibles and hidden secrets. This is a wonderful experience to be shared, and it’s a whole lot of fun to see something for both new players and platforming veterans.Īside from these aspects, Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition retains all the best parts of the original release. The whole game is able to be played in two to four player co-op, which again is helped by the fact that the Switch always comes with at least two controllers in tow. Rayman Legends is well suited to short bursts of play, with levels ranging from five to 15 minutes long, so being able to play it on the go is a huge plus. The game is, however, vastly improved thanks to the capabilities of the Switch. It might be best to dial back expectations of bonus, exclusive content, because Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition is a port and not much more. The Definitive Edition also adds a Tournament Mode to the overexcited football minigame Kung Foot, which is great but that game mode serves as little more than a distraction to the main game.

The game does boast all the DLC and platform exclusive character skins from the previous releases, so there’s lots of stuff to unlock as the game progresses. I’m sure that fans of the game would’ve loved to see more levels added in this version, but unfortunately what you get now is what you got before. Rayman Legends wasn’t a short game when it first released, but its world and level based format meant it could’ve gone on forever and nobody would have complained.

Related reading: Our first review of Rayman Legends, from back on the Xbox 360.įirst of all, let’s get the issue of content out of the way. Now re-releasing as the Definitive Edition for the Switch, does the platformer hold up alongside a system much more attuned to pick-up-and-play sessions? As much as it was a triumph, its protracted development cycle and modest commercial performance meant it faded largely from the public eye. Rayman Legends was an exceptional game when it released back in 2014, earning a coveted 90+ Metacritic score and the adoration of platforming veterans and casual gamers alike.

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