Could we be looking at one of the best games of 2013? That seems to be the critical consensus on Rayman Legends, the latest hand-painted platformer from Ubisoft's Montpelier studio. The game, delayed from its planned February release date when it would have been a Wii U exclusive, has attracted some of the most glowing reviews of the year.
Eurogamer has bestowed a rare 10/10 score on Rayman's adorable head, praising the title as "obscenely generous" for its hundreds of levels, bonus modes and minigames. "The platform game has been around for so long that it's easy to assume that the genre has run out of surprises," reads the review. "A showcase for the game designer's art and one of the greatest platform games of this - or any - year, Rayman Legends disproves that in glorious style."
Also dishing out a rare high score is Edge, delivering a 9/10 verdict and declaring Legends to be "one of the most jubilant, vividly imagined and open-hearted platformers to come along in a long time."
IGN awards it 9.5, with their reviewer declaring it to be "a delightful platformer, and one of the best I've ever played." That review highlights how cleverly the game keeps mixing up its ideas over roughly twelve hours of playing time - "I kept thinking the constant variety couldn't possibly hold up, but surprisingly, each of Rayman Legends' stages looks more impressive than the last."
And the high scores just keep coming. There's a 9/10 from Official PlayStation Magazine, and 9/10 from both GameSpot and Game Informer.