14 DAY TRIAL // 
Ubisoft's Rayman franchise has been around for some time, managing to impress quite a few gamers back in the 1990s and early 2000s. Since then, the famous mascot entered a cone of shadow, while Ubisoft focused on much bigger new franchises.
In 2011, however, the series made a comeback through Rayman Origins, a side scrolling platformer with a delightful visual style and a fast-paced gameplay that impressed PC, PS3, Xbox 360, PS Vita, or 3DS owners.
While that title didn't impress in terms of sales all that much, it did earn a lot of good faith, so Ubisoft decided to produce a sequel called Rayman Legends, which was initially set to be a Nintendo Wii U exclusive. After several delays, the game is now coming to PC, PS3, Xbox 360, PS Vita, and Wii U.
Does it manage to deliver a great experience or should fans stick with Origins? Let's find out.
Rayman Legends kicks off with a terrible danger that overtakes the world of Rayman and the Teensies, thanks to different villains who summon different dangers, from medieval dragons, to giant undead luchadors, and more.
As such, it's up to Rayman, Globox, and their different allies, to work together and stop the villains. This time around, however, they're helped by Murfy, who will float around certain levels and aid in their exploration as well as in the defeat of certain imposing foes.
While on the Wii U Murfy is controlled by the player using the GamePad's touchscreen, on other platforms players need to rely on him going to certain predetermined spots and then press a button to make him perform an action.
This, however, can be easier said than done, as Murfy will sometimes linger in some locations for a bit too much before going to the next one. Needless to say, in a hectic puzzle platformer like Legends, this can often spell doom, leading to the death of the player.
Besides this tiny fault, the Murfy mechanic is really impressive, as he can perform a wide array of actions, from tickling enemies, to moving platforms, or eating cake, which proves to be quite important in a certain world of the game.
Leaving Murfy aside, Rayman Legends keeps a lot of the core mechanics from Origins, as Rayman and his foes use the same puzzle platforming system that allows them to jump, glide, punch, and smash their way through the level. As always, when there are two or more players, the death mechanic changes, as he's kept on the screen in a bubble. If that bubble is hit by other players, he is respawned, thus avoiding a restart from the beginning of the level or from the latest checkpoint.
While certain stages are a bit hard, especially towards the end of the campaign, with a bit of patience and some fast reflexes most of them can be completed and players can collect all the available Teensies. Depending on how many they have in total, new stages are unlocked.
Besides the single-player story campaign, which sees Rayman and friends save Teensies across different worlds, as well as unlock new characters, plenty of other modes are available.
These include the Challenges one, in which players can complete Daily Challenges that change every 24 hours, or weekly ones, that rotate every seven days. Other distractions include Kung Football, in which players must hit a ball and score goals in two different nets.
For those who didn't get a chance to play Origins, there's also a special section called Back to Origins, which lets players go through some of the most iconic levels from the previous title. These are only unlocked by obtaining special scratch cards during regular levels.
The cards also award players with extra Teensies, bonus Lums, or new creatures for a special area that sees Rayman collect different animals, which in turn give out rewards every day.
In terms of graphics, Rayman Legends manages to take the gorgeous visuals of its predecessor to new heights, especially during the music stages, which are not only a blast to look at but also a pleasure to the ears.
The soundtrack is also very impressive, managing to deliver awesome songs for each of the different worlds. While some taunts and sound effects may get repetitive after a while, they don't detract from the merits of Rayman Legends.
Conclusion
Rayman Legends is probably one of the best puzzle platformers in years, managing to blend an awesome visual style with great gameplay and plenty of varied activities. While the Murfy mechanic may not always work as intended, it still delivers a great experience that shouldn't be missed by fans of the genre and even those who haven't tried that many platformers.
