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Originally built exclusively around the Wii U hardware, Rayman Legends was delayed in order to accommodate a rollout on multiple platforms - a decision that robbed Nintendo of its most promising third-party exclusive and left us genuinely worried about the game's prospects. In our initial Wii U demo analysis, we found that Ubisoft's GamePad utilisation created genuinely innovative gameplay mechanics that simply wouldn't work on any other console in the same way. With touchscreen and gyroscope features playing a big part in the level design, the inevitable consequence would surely be a game with a cut-down feature-set and a significant departure from the developer's original vision.Thankfully, with the finished game in our hands in no less than four different formats, the good news is that our doubts have been laid to rest: Michel Ancel and the team at Ubisoft Montpellier have created one of the most beautiful, imaginative and entertaining platform games we've had the pleasure to play. While the experience is certainly different in many places on Wii U compared to other consoles, the game and its varied mechanics work very well across multiple platforms without many of the imaginative gameplay ideas being disrupted too heavily. The extra development time has also seen the inclusion of additional multiplayer modes and fully 3D boss battles that make a huge impact on sections of the game.
From a visual perspective, Rayman Legends delivers a stunning 1080p presentation across all platforms (see our quad-format comparison gallery) running at a slick 60 frames per second, with lovingly drawn 2D sprite work and well-animated polygonal characters that are entertaining to watch and full of life. It's a clear evolution - and upgrade - over the already beautiful artwork seen in Rayman Origins. Anti-aliasing is nowhere to be found in any version of Rayman Legends, though this has very little impact on how polished the game looks. Sprite edges appear smooth even when scaled, plus the pixel density that the 1080p resolution provides, in combination with the use of depth-of-field and the stylised artwork, also ensures that 3D models are for the most kept similarly jaggie-free in regular viewing distances.
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