Rayman: Origins

[Bridge]

Why does everybody love this game? It sucks, and it is difficult for me to say that considering I enjoyed it so much for the 7 hours I played it.

For starters, the soundtrack is by far one of the greatest in recent times and the graphics are amazing. The game is fun to play with varied gameplay mechanics and diverse environments. But this game has no story. I almost didn't realize it at first, but about an hour in this uncanny feeling of emptiness struck me as I was berserking through the stages with no clear goal apart from: move forward.

When I first heard that the developers that worked on the original Rayman were coming back to develop Rayman: Origins my first thought was: finally a serious Rayman game after all that Raving Rabbids crap. But instead of making another great Rayman game they just took the original Rayman and expanded upon it. Apparently someone thought that its insane difficulty and lack of story were good aspects.

So, what about the good aspects I mentioned: good soundtrack, good graphics and good gameplay? Well, Rayman 2 has all of that and a good albeit simple story. Seriously, some people are saying this is the best Rayman game ever, and those people have clearly not played Rayman 2 (or even 3, which was quite good).

This game was tailor made for casual gamers too (and yeah, that is a bad thing) because:

1) the game is very eager to extract you from dangerous situations should you get stuck (which isn't a bad thing but the game really pushes the feature on you instead of encouraging you to get better).

2) The point rundown screen is incredibly intrusive and it seems like it is the main focus of the game. Yes, getting a high score or a good time is as valid a goal as any other in a platformer like this but I really don't care. It takes way too long and you already know the score beforehand so there is no tension and in some cases (especially after the deep ocean level) it creates some very disturbing dissonance in the mood. Rayman 2 also had a rundown screen, but you could dismiss it instantly so it's not intrusive and it's only there for 100% completionists who are interested in that sort of thing.

3) The game has like hundreds of characters; I don't know if I'm a stick in the mud but when I pick up a Rayman game I want to play as Rayman, because let's face it, he's the man. Playing as Globox once or twice might provide an interesting contrast if it's done well, but I really don't care about the ridiculous amount of costumes and characters. The reason the game has so many is becuase:

4) Co-op. The "jump-in and out" system they devised for the game is actually quite cool (never tried it and never going to though) but the game is clearly designed to be a co-op game because of the arcade-style design and multitude of characters.

Anyway, I'm gonna stop rambling about this, but please tell me I'm not the only Rayman fan who was disappointed. This game gets as high as 10/10 on some sites. Really, I had fun playing it, but I became so bored with it because there was no emotional connection to the gameplay and therefore I could not care. What did you guys think about it? Praise deserved?