Rayman is one of those titles where I’ve played quite a few of the games but I haven’t found it to be as memorable as most of the other big titles. Well, it’s fair to say that Legends is definitely a game changer for the series and it is by far the best installment. It handles the collectathon aspect of the title very well and makes more use of the platforming genre than almost any other title I’ve seen. Ultimately the gameplay is so strong that it does help to make up for the lack of a story here.

The game starts off with some evil magicians deciding to make a mess of things. They’re kidnapping people and so Rayman will have to free everyone and save the world. All in a days work for someone like this though. Rayman has dealt with his share of threats over the years after all. Unfortunately that’s pretty much it for the story. There’s not much of an ending and each world just has the same recycled cutscenes over and over. You don’t expect a whole lot more from a platformer and yet I do think they really could have done a better job here. At least give me new cutscenes for each world. The story is absolutely the weakest part of the game by far.

Fortunately we are here for the gameplay at the end of the day. The lack of a story would hurt its chances of my getting the game on opening day compared to other franchises but at least once I do get around to it, I’m always happy to see solid gameplay. At its core the gameplay is fairly simple, you run and jump your way past obstacles as you try to get to the goal. Occasionally there will be a boss battle for you to go up against.

Where the game shines is in taking this simple gameplay and making a lot of intricate levels out of it. In a way it reminds me of Mario Maker a bit. For example after every boss battle, each world ends with a music themed level where you have to run quickly and hit enemies at the right time to follow the beat. This is used in a subtle way to let you know when to make a move as well as making the level fun to listen to. Likewise in the normal levels there are always a lot of visual and audio cues to let you know when to make a move.

The game allows you to jump between worlds at will so because of that every level even has tutorials at the ready through on screen prompts which are nice. They aren’t intrusive but are a great idea particularly if you’re going back to play the game after putting it down for a long while. You won’t really need it while playing through the game but I can absolutely see it coming in handy a year from now.

The game has a ton of replay value through unlockable characters (Basically costumes though tbh since they play the same) and extra levels that you unlock by getting more of the blue orbs. The best part though is that you can still beat the game without getting them all. There are 700 in the game and you need around 300 to complete the story. That’s a good ratio if you ask me because you can have a good time enjoying the levels without being stressed about the missing collectibles. The level designs are really good so you will find a lot of them naturally but if you want all of them you will have to work for it.

A solid quality of life feature here is that you have unlimited lives and the checkpoints are very consistent. So even when you lose you don’t end up getting sent too far back. That’s perfect and I can’t stress enough just how important that is. These levels could very easily turn from awesome to annoying if you had to start from scratch every time. This way you can appreciate the difficulty and creativity without any annoyance setting in.

Make no mistake, the game can be rather difficult at times. I died quite a number of times but I was always ready to revive just as quickly. I ended up blasting through the game rather quickly as a result. It’s a bit on the short side to be honest but I can’t even remotely consider that as a negative because of how the game handles it. There are tons of levels but the game just doesn’t force you to play them all and I can respect that. Each level is also so unique and filled with fun features that I’ll take this over a ton of standard levels.

The game even has a gimmick with a little frog moving things around that somehow doesn’t get annoying. I was prepared for this to be super annoying but it’s actually a really fun mechanic. In terms of pure platforming I dare say the game even has more life than some Mario titles and that’s saying something. If we’re only looking at gameplay this is one of the best games to ever do it.

Meanwhile the graphics and soundtrack are definitely impressive. The soundtrack in particular is awesome with a ton of different songs everywhere and remixes of popular ones. Then the graphics have aged really well with a colorful style all the way through. The character designs are on point and the levels all stand out.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at just how good the game was. Of course I was expecting it to be pretty good but to be great on this level? That was a surprise. The story holds it back a little bit considering this game has some of the best platforming I’ve ever seen. Imagine pairing this with a big budget story? It could have really made history and so I do eagerly await seeing what the Rayman franchise does next. This will be a tough title to top but of course there’s always a chance. If you haven’t played this game yet then you should definitely fix that!

Overall 8/10