Status shinespark Dec 14, 2024
"R" was my final letter for the Grouvee alphabet challenge, so I ended up replaying Rayman 2 for the first time since it came out! I remembered really enjoying it way back when, and honestly it's still impressive.
Unlike Mario 64 and the other playground platformers of its era, Rayman 2 is highly linear and heavily deemphasizes its core moveset. …
"R" was my final letter for the Grouvee alphabet challenge, so I ended up replaying Rayman 2 for the first time since it came out! I remembered really enjoying it way back when, and honestly it's still impressive.
Unlike Mario 64 and the other playground platformers of its era, Rayman 2 is highly linear and heavily deemphasizes its core moveset. Instead, almost like a sort of proto Mario Galaxy, the focus lies squarely on a cavalcade of super polished setpieces, aided by a cleverly scripted camera. Rayman's doing something different pretty much every level, be it battling pirates, riding rockets, evading giant chicken mechs, or even braving a rudimentary version of Galaxy's spheroid gravity, and almost all of these gimmicks are good fun. The finale's labyrinth of high-speed, full 3d flight is still incredibly tense, and the lovely art nouveau style lends the whole game an unmatched sense of whimsy.
Definitely up there with Sands of Time and Mario + Rabbids as one of my very favorite Ubisoft games.
