[Loki Laufeyson]

so apparently there's a new rayman game? and it's 2d and on a disc?

has anyone played it? is it good? i don't want to give any money to ubisoft, but on the other hand, i do like the idea of a 2d platformer getting a physical release in the year 2011
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[SuperWes]

There's a demo. Play it and let us know what you think!

Personally, I was excited about it, but the demo sort of turned me off. If I was Tim Rogers I would say the game isn't "crunchy". It's very pretty and well animated, but there's very little impact to anything. The death animation is the worst. Rayman just kind of jumps back and explodes whenever anything hits him. It makes it feel like getting hit wasn't what killed him, but he just randomly decided to explode. Checkpoints are also a bit too far apart, and there's a side scrolling shmup section that's kind of lame.

-Wes
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[firenze]

I wasn't willing to actually pay full price for it, but for $20 off during one of Amazon's sales this weekend I bought it. Tracking the package says I'll get it today, I'll comment on it once I play it a bit.

Also, it seems like at least a few 2D platformers are getting fairly high profile holiday retail releases every year now. I'd point to the massive success of NSMB Wii in 2009 as the biggest reason. After that, 2010 saw DKC Returns, Kirby's Epic Yarn, and Sonic Colors (plays like a 2D game), and Little Big Planet 2 (again, plays like a 2D game) just missed the 2010 holidays. This year we get Kirby's Return to Dreamland and Mass Attack, Sonic Generations (substantial 2D aspect), Rayman Origins. Even Mario 3D land, while obviously not exactly a 2D game, is clearly designed to have appeal to people who like the classic 2D platformers.

[Gironika]

The checkpoints (at least in the Origins demo) feel like those in 1990ies 2D platformers, something that might be aggravating at first, but feels more natural if you think of other games back then. The question remains whether this game wants to cater to a new audience (→ that'd be a big minus) or to people who have played platformers back then (→ that could be a plus, nostalgia-rose-tinted glasses surely will love this).

I haven't played any Raymens before, but did absolutely like the demo. Maybe because it seems to support speed-running as well as a calculated-no-risk-approach by clever tricks (especially the electoons are asking the player to hurry up to keep a song going), something I did love in DKC?

Local 4-Player Coop is another nice thing which adds to the fun, I'll be playing this with my siblings when I get this.
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[cassievania]

I played the demo for this and I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it. my only real problem was it's aesthetics, but it was only mildly irritating to me.
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[Loki Laufeyson]

i finally got an ethernet cable for my xbox and have now played the demo. i loved it! it's really fun to play, it looks amazing, and everything in the game just feels really alive!

i am definitely buying this when i can afford it.
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[wourme]

I've never had any interest in the Rayman series before (and I confirmed that I still don't by trying the Rayman 3 HD demo the other night), but I've been playing Rayman Origins and I think it's very good. I haven't been able to bring myself to play a lot of platformers over the years because, even if they might have great mechanics, I just can't get past the themes, characters, attempts at humor, etc. Fortunately, this one is closer to Earthworm Jim than to the more offensive ones in this regard. The look of the Rayman character still bugs me, but you can choose between three basic characters and I like one of them well enough.

Anyway, I'm enjoying this game a lot. It kind of feels like Super Mario World and (as I mentioned earlier) Earthworm Jim. The world is attractive and charming, and the game is full of fun challenges if you choose to be challenged. (I decided early on which medals and things I wanted to shoot for, and have been staying on each level until I reach that threshold.)

[Booter]

i played the demo and thought it was totally horrendous on many levels. but i'm also sort of allergic to 2011-2012 platformers.

Where is gaming's missing All-Star Superman?
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[Dark Age Iron Savior]

[notbov]

[Tlon]

I played the demo, and I really enjoyed it. I'll pick up the full game when it drops in price
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Someday somethings coming
From way out beyond the stars
To kill us while we stand here
It will store our brains in mason jars

[cassievania]

I've found the game's look to grow on me, and the animation is really consistent and nice. I love globox's movements in particular.

and yeah, what i really like is how the game can challenge you in a lot of different but simple ways. there's a lot I like about it, though i don't really have my thoughts quite collected on it (i'm still not finished, it's a long game!). will say it's one of my favorite games from last year, though.
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[Rud31]

[wourme]

[Gironika]

[cassievania]

yeah, it's more fun with more players, but unlike something like NSMBWii I feel it's still really fun with one person.

also having more players is actually helpful too, despite all the trouble you can cause to each other!
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[boojiboy7]

sppeding through levels in this game is a lot of fun. my wife and i have enjoyed passing the controller to play it, as we found with newSMBwii that we get super mad at each other playing this things simultaneously, unless Rayman somehow makes it less easy to kill each other all the damn time (haven't tried, too afraid of ensuing marital strife, ha).

[HarveyQ]

my littlest brother got this for Christmas and he insisted on playing it with me at every given opportunity :)

it's cute, and fun. parts of it remind me a little of Yoshi's Island, by way of the first Rayman. i like that speed-running the levels is encouraged.
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ghosts appear and fade away

[Mikey]

[Jigsaw]

Got this game around christmas, enjoyed it immensely. Easily one of the most charming games I've played in years! In fact, I can't really remember the last time a game really made me smile and even laugh the way Rayman Origins did.

I reckon everyone who likes gorgeous 2D platformers (or at the least the idea of that being something that exists) ought to buy it. :)

[boojiboy7]

[cassievania]

rayman origins has the same sort of bubble system, except you can move your guy around, which means you can stay out of the way if you want, and the bubble is only popped if the other player punches it.

also by all the trouble I meant you can hit each other, that's about it. it can still be frustrating and by no means a smooth ride but no where near as bad as NSMBWii. helpful in some rare cases actually: getting some of the coins can be a lot easier if somebody punches you upwards.
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[galaxyghost]

[Gironika]

[sticktion]

I don’t think Wes’ issue is that the death anim fails to convey an avatar state change, but a delay in state-change feedback.

When you get hit in SMB, the very next frame after hit detection sees on-screen action and player input halted simultaneously, with a distinct “record halt" sound.
There's no doubt what just happened — more importantly, there's no doubt when it happened.

The brain’s already got a significant delay from the brain->button->screen->visual cortex loop; skilled play occurs when the player accurately predicts the future (whoa), so providing feedback as instantaneously as possible seems crucial.

Imagine if mario began auto-running for a second after a death hit. Say the player fails at trying to predict the future locations of mario and a koopa, and hitboxes intersect. Without the instant feedback, the player gets a squirt of dopamine instead (based on her previously-established mental model of death (“yay, i didn’t die”)) and progresses to the next set of predictions when — “wtf” — the death animation begins.
The player can roughly piece together when the death occurred, but the chemical reward can’t be taken back. When a single pixel’s width can determine success or failure, it would be laborious to hone your predictions with all the false positives.


When rayman's engine detects the fatal hit, only a standard "you smacked into something" sound is played and the controls are frozen. the avatar keeps bouncing around the screen in stun mode using up leftover momentum until the engine slows it down and initiates the dying animation + sound.

I was watching this "death is just around the corner" promo video:

and this particular death has one hundred and thirty frames between death collision and the start of the death animation.
The tag-along heart container tries to rectify the problem by staying put at the spot where you actually died, but since it takes ~40 frames to actually explode, it does so mostly offscreen with the camera following the still-ricocheting rayman.

That's, uh, pt bad ok.
Lengthening death animations to facilitate multiplayer/mental model building is cool, but there’s no reason they can’t at least begin immediately.

[Gironika]

Now that is a good explanation I can accept, thank you.
I (obviously) wasn't aware of this lag by now, and couldn't see what's wrong with it, so to speak the lag between fatal collision and start of death animation didn't throw me off.
I wonder why, or what/which game(s) made me not notice this.


This might even help me find out why I am no good at fighting games, where I feel that things are happening too fast, which would hint at insta-frame consequence instead of a slightly laggy version I prefer. I have to properly look into this later!
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[Ymer]

So this is getting a sequel apparently:
http://www.gamekult.com/video/rayman-legends-premier-trailer-3050018619v.html

WiiU is looking to be as gimmicky as ever.

[A New Duck]

The trailer does reveal the interesting possibility of someone using the tablet controller in a multiplayer game to be a Dungeon Master of sorts. I'd like to see that explored.
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[cassievania]

[wourme]

I got PS3 Rayman Legends at half price during a recent sale. I've been at it for a week or so, and I think tonight I reached the point where I will no longer make myself collect everything before moving on to the next level (because I can't (because of the timed challenges)).

As I'd expected, it's a lot like Origins. Which is a good thing, I think. One of my favorite new elements is that the bosses are not on the final stages of each area. Instead, the final stages are clever music-based ones that aren't really meant to be difficult (at least so far).

[Robosaurus]

That reminds me: I played Legends on the Wii U. Controlling Murfy with the touchscreen is neat, but it did not seem more fun than playing the actual game. I was able to pawn Murfy off on someone else, though, so hey. I guess my recommendation is to play Legends on any console, because it doesn't matter.

I really liked the invasion paintings, but I was disappointed with the difficulty of the rest of the game. Spoiler: there's a Land of the Livid Dead music level, but nothing like the bonus level at the end of Origins, which makes me sad.

[Ronnoc]

You should do what I did, Robosaurus. About 75% through the game, I realized that 50% of the things I thought killed you actually didn't and the game was was easier than I thought it was ;)

[Robosaurus]

I look forward to watching your "no lums" playthrough on Youtube.

[Ymer]

Someone update Snoop-canon:


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