There’s a new Rayman game on the way this holiday, and the initial overview makes it sound like Rayman Origins will be the best Rayman game yet. Michel Ancel, the original creator of Rayman and the outstanding Beyond Good & Evil, is creating the new game as a high-definition, 2D side-scrolling platforming adventure with four-player drop in/drop out co-op. The game will ship this holiday for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii.
It was not immediately clear whether Rayman Origins will be a stand-alone retail SKU or an XBLA, PSN and WiiWare title, but the game’s key features indicate a retail SKU. Rayman Origins includes more than 60 levels of 2D platforming gameplay, with new unlockable abilities and the ability to return to previous levels to discover new paths and secrets. A platformer at its core, Rayman Origins has elements of many genres, as the characters’ in-game abilities range from swimming, diving and “HairlyCopter” flying to beat-em-up gameplay. And yes, there are boss fights. Among the big baddies are a giant pink monster with hundreds of eyes, a possessed golem and an evil carnivorous daisy.
Rayman Origins brings back many of the classic characters, revived in their original 2D form, as well as a whole new world of characters and environments. Discover the roots of Rayman by collecting pieces of the Glade’s history, and assemble them to reveal the truth behind Rayman’s origins. Gamers can play as Rayman in the single-player campaign, or up to three friends can jump in at any time to play as Globox or as one of the two Teensies, then leave at any time without affecting the other players’ progression.
The game’s 2D art includes more than 100 characters and 12 environments and is built on an open-source game engine, the UBIart Framework, designed by Michel Ancel himself.
We’ll have more on Rayman Origins from E3 this week.
