Just Dance 2 & 4

(Today, on "pictures you can hear"... ^ )

I haven’t done one of those in a while. Three times in the past, I wrote reviews in December for Just Dance titles. I nurture a special attachment to the famous mimic-the-movements-on-screen franchise from Ubisoft (yes, them again). What convinced me to buy a Nintendo Wii, in 2012, was playing Just Dance 3 at my cousins’ place. As a result, that was one of the first games I ever purchased for the console… as well as one of the first games I reviewed on this blog, way back in 2013.

…Fuck me, I’ve been writing this blog for almost ten years. July 19th, 2023, will be the tenth anniversary.

I just love how colorful that franchise is.

Anyhow, following that original review of Just Dance 3 in 2013, I would go back to this franchise a few more times. In 2015, I covered both the 2014 and 2015 editions, and in 2017, I looked at the 2016 edition as well. And although my sessions have been sparse as of late, I try to play a bit of these games from time to time. I got today’s two games (yes, two in one article) because I have an aunt who had rediscovered the joys of the motion control-based Nintendo console, and wanted to play something else than just Wii Fit. My response, naturally, was this franchise. I bought these two games, and so did she.

There was something interesting to purchasing older editions of Just Dance, if only because I’ve become so accustomed to newer ones in comparison. Franchises always have to begin somewhere. They can end up looking very different as they evolve, but there’s a starting point. Hell, today’s two titles were separated by only two years and, yet, the changes were massive. Will this feel like a beloved trip down memory lane, or a look back we could have done without? Let’s see.

Rayman Legends

After going through the three games that were the genesis of Rayman, it’s almost weird to skip forward to what is, so far, his last game. Ubisoft’s higher-ups have stated that their interest now lied in their copy-paste open-world franchises like Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry… y’know, the adult stuff. I sincerely hope that Rayman’s appearance in next year’s DLCs for Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle sparks new interest in the character. In the meantime, we have this title, which I really hope wasn’t the swan song.

A Wii U and a PC are very different beasts when it
comes to controls. There's one less screen, for one.

Rayman Legends was released on August 30th, 2013 in Europe and September 3rd in the United States for most versions (Windows, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360, Vita), with later releases for PS4 and Xbox One in 2014, and Nintendo Switch in 2017. Notably, the game was originally thought as a Wii U exclusive, but a fear following low sales of other recent titles by the studio made Ubisoft yet again overdose with ports for every console available, forcing some Wii U-based gameplay mechanics to be adapted for other consoles. Thus, one critique of Rayman Legends when compared to its predecessor Origins is that gameplay has barely changed, with only the Wii U-based mechanics being proper new stuff. But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, shall we?

Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc

The first game was colorful but hard, with a fairly basic story. The second had solid 3D gameplay with sections reminding of mini-games; the story, while darker, still lent itself to plenty of comedic moments, with Rayman as an all-loving hero. That said, two games aren’t enough to establish a pattern, and the franchise was still looking for its tone.

Also a recurring theme from now on: Globox and Rayman
being lazy butts who spend all their off-time sleeping or
relaxing. What? Heroing takes a lot outta ya.

However, it seems to be in Rayman 3 that the franchise finally settled on what it wanted to be, and that’s summed up in one word: Wacky. It’s more notable in Origins, where Rayman, Globox and the Teensies become a bunch of psychos, more than happy to attack and kill each other while saving the day. The visual signature of both that and Rayman Legends further emphasizes the silliness that’s now part and parcel with the name. But the first shades of that tone can be traced back to Rayman 3.

Today’s game was released to multiple platforms in March of 2003, with different release dates for GameCube, PS2, XBox, PC and N-Gage ports, with a rerelease in March 2012 for PS3 and XBox 360. It's also Rayman’s last mainline game before the Rabbid takeover. And though other games would exist between this and Origins (such as the rather mediocre “Hoodlum Revenge” GBA title that I covered in 2014), I feel it’s interesting to see what, again, changed in this new installment.

Full Wacky

That time a Lum dreamt big. "Take over the world" big.

The game begins on a bizarre revelation: The healing Red Lums, when scared, can turn into Black Lums, fuzzy chaotic beings. More precisely, one of them has become so dangerous it grew arms, and has sworn revenge upon the inhabitants of the Glade of Dreams. The Black Lum, named André (that’s not a scary name! Call yourself, I don’t know, Keith or something! “Oh, André, I’m so scared!” …Said no one, ever!), is quick to plot world domination. He and the Black Lums shear a woolly creature and create disguises. The animal was part of a caravan led by Murphy (voiced by Billy West), who flies off to warn Globox (voiced by John Leguizamo) and Rayman (voiced by David Gasman) of the incoming danger-

...Wait. Voiced by???

Rayman 2: The Great Escape

Coming from Rayman 1 to Rayman 2 is like seeing night turn to day. Rayman 1 is much more colorful and pretty to look at with its detailed sprite art and environments, sure. However, Rayman 2 was not only done in 3D, but also with the experience gained from the first, so it’s a very different beast. This one doesn't feel like a commercialized version of devs challenging each other with the hardest stages they could make.

Globox and the Teensies are some of the new
additions to the series that stick around for the
remainder of it.

It’s also a game with a lot more focus on story and building the world of the Glade of Dreams, though in an unexpected turn of events it would end up ditching almost everything from the original game in favor of new characters, items and locations. This would mark a recurring issue of the Rayman franchise, a sort of identity crisis where few things stick around between installments, making it difficult to set a canon (and a tone) for the series. Rayman origins tried to paste everything together, but more work ought to be done about that.

Rayman 2 was first released on October 22nd for Nintendo 64 and PC in Europe, then on the 31st in the U.S., with further releases on DreamCast and PlayStation in 2000, and more ports down the line for PS2, Game Boy Color, Nintendo DS, 3DS and iOS. I have seen the game be played previously, on an N64; so it’s my first time really playing through it, albeit on PC. Let’s see what this game is like.

Rayman 1 (AKA Rayman Forever)

We've waited entirely too long to see Rayman in a game again.

I still have UPlay stuff to get through… I’ve been thinking about playing more Ubisoft games for the blog, seeing as I have so many waiting on that platform alone… I mean, I own 17 games there and only played/reviewed two of them. I’m long overdue for a themed month. Well, the title gives it away: I’m gonna review some Rayman in the coming weeks. Besides, with the announcement of Rayman being added in 2023 to the Sparks of Hope DLC for Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle, I feel this series of reviews is justified.

Nice, I'm already 25% through!

When I said I got all of my UPlay games for free, I lied actually; I bought three games, all three of which were pretty inexpensive. Those are Rayman 1 (also known as Rayman Forever), Rayman 2: The Great Escape, and Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc. For all the time I spent talking about the Rabbids (both the game and all associated media), it’s a shame I spent so little time discussing their parent franchise.

The three games I mentioned are the genesis of Rayman, his humble beginnings as a new platforming mascot from Ubisoft. His first outing in 2D, followed by two adventures in 3D. We know what happened next: Some spin-offs and secondary adventures (Hi, Hoodlum’s Revenge), a long series of mini-game titles (hi, Rabbids), and finally a few highly-stylized titles (hi, Origins and Legends; by the way, if the month is going well, I might tack Legends to the list as I have that one on Steam).

So, today’s game is the one that started it all. Rayman 1, also nicknamed Rayman Forever on Ubisoft’s platform, originally released on September 1st in North America for the PlayStation. The version I’m playing was released on UPlay in 2016, and includes Rayman Designer, a level maker, as well as Rayman by His Fans, a pack of 40 fan-made levels. But what is Rayman 1 like? Oh, you’ll see…