Rayman Jungle Run Preview

Everyone’s favorite limbless hero is back.

Last year’s Rayman Origins was a much-needed breath of fresh air. It went against the grain of the console gaming climate, ignoring the influx of gritty, violent shooters that saturated the market. It ignored it all, and gave us a gorgeous 2D platfomer that dared to be optimistic. And now, with Rayman Jungle Run, Ubisoft is looking to keep the magic alive.

Rayman Jungle Run won’t deviate much from the fast-paced platformer gameplay of Origins, but there’s one major difference worth mentioning: it appears to be a strictly single-player experience. Given the massive reduction in screen estate, though, that’s likely for the best. Just imagine trying to leap and punch your way through a level on a 4-inch screen while Globox is constantly popping up in your line of sight. Sounds painful, right?

Aside from its visuals and just-about-perfect controls, Rayman Origins was defined by its difficulty. Many of the levels – the speed runs in particular – demanded concentration and on-the-fly reactions from the player. You can expect Rayman Jungle Run to follow the same format, albeit with a little more simplicity. The controls have been dialed down to accommodate the touch-screen interface, with jumping mapped to a single tap of the screen, and hovering a longer tap. Words cannot convey how happy I am that Ubisoft understood and respected the limits of controls on smartphones and tablets.

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The game is set to arrive on iOS and Android on September 20, so you may want to cover that date on your calendar with a myriad of smiley faces. Or analog emoticons, if you’d prefer to call them that. 

Dant Rambo