Aussie Nintendo - Australia's Best Nintendo Coverage

What's coming out in November on the Wii? I'd assume for a lot of you, the answer is a single, lonely epic ending in '-elda Skyward Sword'. But if have a passing interest in 2D platformers, especially of the recent Nintendo variety, Rayman: Origins is a game that demands your attention. A-N's Gookenheimer and I had the pleasure of tackling the half-dozen or so levels on the show floor together, and playing with a few random strangers along the way.

If you remember the original Rayman well, here's the lowdown - level design heavily cued from the original with the addition of New Super Mario Bros. Wii's multiplayer. At least, you'll see that if your friends stop ***ing attacking each other and follow me to the secret room that is JUST. OVER. BACK. THER-we missed it. .

At its best, Origins rolls like an Indiana Jones-inspired obstacle course, with a plethora of pandemonic hazards barely missing our heroes while they run and bounce at a frantic pace. It conveys a complimenting fusion of tense, adrenaline platforming with the wacky, the bizarre and the downright funny that stumbles onscreen. The constant injection of new gimmicks and gameplay ideas only seems to help its cause.

One example had me avoiding a swarm of deadly black bats/crows/things not unlike the Krill in Gears of War, despite their bizarrely cute appearance. Smacking a holy statue will encase you in a temporary light bubble that can repel these "Krill" but as your bubble rapidly shrinks, so do your chances of surviving. It's a constant battle on the conscious to reach the next 'safe haven' or available statue, but to see these comical critters devouring your slower, less skilled friends is a lovely sight to watch!

Conversely, Origins inevitably brings the annoying side of its mischievousness. You'll encounter the occasional cheap death disguised as a curious crevice or ambiguous structure. One example had a foregrounded ice glacier conveniently hiding a bottomless pit. And in multiplayer, you may find yourself the skilful acrobat who manages to reach and pummel a horde of enemies, only for your hard-earned Lums ('Lums' act like the coins in Mario's world) to scatter away and land straight in the face of your totally stationary, useless and deadbeat "friend". (To Gook: I'm describing myself, not you. But thanks for the Lums, jackass).

However, because of the sheer playfulness if it's aesthetic, it's as if the game was eagerly anticipating you to fall into its coy tricks, waiting to pull the proverbial rug under your feet. Because it's somewhat consistent with the game's style, Origins pulls the class clown act well enough for you to laugh with it, but given you're usually the one the joke's on, that may prove increasingly difficult. After all, you can only take so many layers of cream pie to the face.

The art direction has well and truly grown on me, with the softer colour palette and the smooth, sensual curves of the original game switched with coarser lines, a harsher colour scheme and a rougher illustrative style. But by the end of the demo, I saw the 'harsh' as rich, the 'rough' as vividly striking and the 'sharpness' as zany. It animates as good, if not better, than the original and the visual design of the bosses look almost like Picasso's take on monster designs. One particular creature had the head and gaping jaws of a nightmarish and abstracted crocodile/parasite/thing but since it was juxtaposed with such a feeble looking body, it appeared ridiculously 'dweeb-ish'. Hilarious.

The title even has a few nods to the original with the flying 'O' hook rings, 'Band Land' references (Director Michael Ancel's fascination with eyes on top of horns never ceases to amaze) and of course, the sweet checkpoint system. The difficulty mimics much of the original too, although you can now head-stomp enemies and are generally easier to dodge or dispatch.

Director Michael Ancel's aloof and zany designs may ultimately transcend most flaws as endearing and original, while potentially eclipsing the original game's sense of imagination and creative spontaneity. That's quite the ambitious statement, but from what I've played so far, Ancel and his team have really had their creative batteries charged for this one.

Rayman: Origins is out on Wii on November 24.

By Richard Worsley (Kabal)