Rayman Origins Review

YOUR NEW JOYBOX

Rayman Origins is jubilant and joyful, ebullient and effervescent, vivid  and vivacious.  If asked to describe it more visual terms I’d have to say it’s like those shampoo commercials where they throw brightly colored limes, strawberries, and various types of melons through  a refreshing blast of water (which always makes this bald guy want to buy shampoo and get a fruity and possibly alcoholic beverage).  The game is a colorful platformer filled with personality and joy.

The characters are endlessly optimistic and covered in smiles, and the backgrounds are creative and motley.  There are tundras with fragile looking ice towers and architecture made of frozen fruits and canned food.  There is an undersea level with exotic and gelatinous tentacle life and colorful and dopey fish; there is a desert with boiling teapots and strings of chili peppers.  The game is all hand drawn animation and is in constant and organic motion one would describe as frolicsome.  It is hard to get upset with this game even when things get rough because of its cheerful, bouncy brashness.  Add to the vibrant visuals a musical score that uses everything from didgeridoos to banjos in happy melodies.

Anyone can play this game, even this frag who is easily frustrated with platformers.  It allows for a range of ability levels, for the practiced and experts there are added challenges, timers hidden areas, hard to reach collectibles, but the neophytes or clumsy  can run through the level just to see it and make it to the end.  When you fail you are immediately brought back to the beginning of the segment you had trouble with and you’re never asked to repeat long stretches because you missed one jump.  Co-operative play is fun as well; two or more players of various skill levels can help each other out and revive teammates who have made a mistake or experts can race each other or search every cranny.  The controls are responsive and feel right; I never felt cheated or wondered what I did wrong.  Each section of the world plays with the physics in a way that makes the game feel fresh each time, so the challenge lies in mastering that instead of being bombarded by more enemies or a series of perfectly timed jumps.

It is rare to find a game chockfull of fun and oozing joy out of every pixel.  It is a wonder to watch and a blast to play, and the price has already dropped by half.  If you are looking for a game you don’t need to analyze or wrestle with, a game you can play with friends, a game that feels like Saturday morning cartoons then you must pick up Rayman Origins. It is sure to make you smile.

MUSCLE MEN IN WIGS, KICK BUTT ASIAN LADIES AND MORE!

Mountainous shoulders, a gravelly voice, a dark attitude, and white skin used to be all you could find in video game protagonists, and don’t get me wrong, most of those things I love long time, but then they’d inevitably throw in things that threw me like a helpless and slutty female love interest. GAH! This trend has been changing to include different genders, different races, different ages, different body types and different sexualities.  In 2011 game developers have continued to expand the berth and reach of their characters; here let me show you.

Stereotypes used to be the only way we’d see anyone not straight or white in games, black folks spoke in street slang and were dressed as any 80’s rap star and their crew, Latinos were mostly ignored and when they appeared were gang members, women might be the smart librarian types who had a crush on you and worried for you as they fed you information about your goals, unless they were being kidnapped or running scantily clad and screaming from a whorehouse.  Protagonists were firmly in their 20’s, and never missed a day at the gym or their last cycle of steroids.   That is changing. Here’s a breakdown of what we got to see in 2011:

IT’S not as SMALL a WORLD AFTER ALL; race relations in 2011 games

ASIAN

Dead Island -Xian Mei was a possible protagonist, her accent was pretty dreadful, but she was a Chinese secret operative good with blades.

Bulletstorm- Ishi was a supporting character, best friend and cyborg, he was honorable, tattooed well-muscled, and after his cyborg implants struggling to hold onto his humanity.  He had no accent and acted as a reminder to your protagonist of the consequences of revenge.

Saints Row the Third- Johnny Gat didn’t last much past the start of the game, but he was funny, smart, sarcastic and ass-kicking, and he didn’t do one kung fu move.  He was Asian American and head of the Saints.

Portal 2- Schell was the protagonist, she said nothing, but gave me a very Ripley from Aliens feel.  Even when a psychotic AI was insulting her weight, intelligence and parentage while making her wade through a series of devious and lethal puzzles Schell didn’t debate her antagonist, insult her or drop to her level; she just got things done.  She had nothing to prove to no one.  She’s awesome.

X-Men Destiny- Aimi Yoshida is a playable character, a young immigrant who has found she’s a mutant.

LATINO

Shadows of the Damned- Diego “Hotspur” Garcia was the first Mexican identified protagonist I’d ever seen in a top tier game.  He was sexy, tattooed, kickass and obsessed with his penis and a fucked up white girl.  The game took his cultural heritage into its art design and really benefitted from it.

Saints Row the Third-Angel  DelaMuerte, a former masked wrestler voiced by Hulk Hogan.  He was obsessed with pain and testosterone, but had an honor code that was his own, a real Latin sensei. 

Saints Row the Third- Shaundi (?) I don’t know if she was latina, Italian, or other, but she kicked ass, had a harsh tongue, was fiercely loyal and took no guff.

L.A. Noire took place in 1950’s L.A. and made sure to include all the folks living in the city at the time giving prominent time to Latino’s and African Americans.  While the characters were not protagonists the game did give a feeling of racial views of the time and struggles  due to race.

BLACK FOLKS- ( I can not say African American because some were not African or American)

 Dead Island- Purna was a possible protagonist.  She was an aboriginal ex police officer gun expert.  I would have to call her The Original Aboriginal, because that is something I have never seen in a game.  Sam B was a giant black rapping brawler.

Saints Row the Third- Zimos, Pierce Zimos was a classic pimp who spoke in autotune.  He was done well though; he was who he was and made no excuses for it, the man loved the ladies, loved his style, and loved spreading love.  Pierce was your right hand man, intelligent, witty, a chess pro, stylish, sexy, just fucking cool.  Pierce was definitely a full person and one I loved having at my side.

Gears of War 3- Cole is a superstar, endlessly confident projecting optimism and bad-assery.  He was a football hero turned soldier.  He’s super cool and great fun, and Gears 3 they give him something amazing, a look into what he was and what he’s lost.  A look at what he means to others.  In the game he is the world everyone lost, the innocence and bravado where our biggest conflicts were on the sports field where we cheered our heroes on.  Cole is their symbol, he knows it and does his best to live up to it for them so their world is not so completely dark.  Fantastic.

Bioshock 2; Minerva’s Den DLC- Charles Milton Porter, a brilliant African American scientist in Rapture, was a great character, tragic, honorable, proud, lovely.  He did not bow to the pressure to be anything but what he was, he attempted to make Rapture better, and had a powerful sense of self that could not be diminished. 

Skyrim- Red Guard- Well, it’s a race and people in the game, some of them are even wandering the world.  Look, not everyone is white, and they didn’t make orc the black stand-in.  Good for them.

Infamous 2- New Marin = New Orleans- I don’t know if setting can count as race, but Infamous 2 takes us out of the New York City-esque cities in every other game and makes it distinctly southern, and in it are southern folks.  The game also references Hurricane Katrina.  Infamous 2 gives real love to the city of New Orleans by portraying it beautifully and showing other games there are other great places to set games.

AGE

Dead Space 2- Issac, the games sexy, armored protagonist is not twenty.  His age is unclear, but his hair is gray and he moves and interacts with the world as is he has lived in it and lost something.  He is not a soldier, he’s an engineer, he’s great.

Dragon Age 2- Keeper Mathahari is lovely. She’s the elvish Keeper of their lore and their history, their leader and protector.  She is powerful and gentle.  She is wise and motherly.

Uncharted 3- Sully is Drake’s best friend, companion and father figure.  He’s gruff and funny and sexual and sincere.  He keeps up with Drake, watches his back, guides him, but never feels like he’s found the fountain of youth- they let him be his age, spry and strong, but not superman.

Saints Row the Third- Cyrus Temple and Phillippe Moren are both antagonists and 60.  They are not feeble or addled or the but of jokes, and Cyrus you do not want to fuck with. Oh Silver Daddy Bear, can’t we just hug it out?

Dead Rising 2: Off the Record- Frank West is middle-aged, a little worn down, and round in the middle, but he is sexy and gets the job done.

GENDER

Games have often included women, but games in 2011 showed a variety of types of women.  Some of these women have been listed in other categories, so will not be mentioned here.

Dragon Age 2- Avelinne the by the book warior woman wo can do anything and falls to pieces when trying to woo a man.  She’s a powerful redhead whose physical endowments are masked in armor.  She’s hard and soft.  She is a loyal friend and doesn’t flirt with you.

                Isabella knows hows to get under your skin and into your pants.  She uses her sexuality to keep everyone off balance.  She loves her fluid sexuality, but doesn’t glamorize it.  It is who she is and she will not take pride in it or show shame about it.  She is a pirate queen.

                Merril is powerful, focused and naïve.  She blinds herself to the danger she is in sure she can control it, she goes against the wishes of her Keeper and tribe to try to help them.  She is sweet and gentle, but she practices the most dangerous type of magic, and somehowit all fits with her.  She is beautifully written.

L.A. Noire- June Ballard is a seasoned actress, charming and hard.  She has got her public persona, but she also has ambition and knowledge about how hard it is to be an aging woman in the industry.  She will get what she wants.  She knows fame costs and she’s been paying, but she will not show you her struggle only her sile.

                Jessica Hamilton wants to be an actress.  She’s 15 and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to be famous.  She shows herself as weak and innocent, but she is not.  She’s a young June Ballard.  She doesn’t need your judgemnet or morality.  She knows there is one way to succeed and if you’re not in the game you don’t understand it, so she’ll show you what you want to see.  She is young and incharge of her sexuality.

X-Men Destiny          X-men Destiny, like the X-men universe has a variety of strong female characters and these are represented.  While the game is not great it is obvious the developers loved the characters and universe and presented them well.

Uncharted 3 Elena the hard-nosed, headstrong and sweet reporter Drake loves, and Chloe the sexy bad girl Drake had sex with are both worth seeing.

SEXUALITY

 Dragon Age 2 Anders, the brooding mage, talks about his doomed man-0n-man relationship and will do you if you flirt with him, as will the sexy tattooed elf assassin.  Isabella will do anyone, and Merrill doesn’t care about your gender either.  

 Fallout: New Vegas Arcade Gannon will follow you in his sexy geekiness and talk about homo activities and for the ladies there is Veronica Santangelo.

A Closed World lets you choose your gender and explores coming out and gender issues.  If you haven’t seen it it’s free and it’s beautiful.  It’s also short a a flash game.  Find it.  Love it.

Dance Central 2 may not have explicitly gay characters, but they make no gender distinctions, and check out Angel- that boy seems pretty gay to me.

Skyrim- The characters make no gender distinction and you can gay marry any character able to be married.  No one in the world makes any bones about it.

On top of this many role playing games that allow you to choose and create your avatar do not make a difference between the genders.  Saints Row the Third lets you make a character, dress them however you like (your guy can have lady hair,  wear sexy skirts and heels if you like) which allows you any spot on the gender spectrum and at no time in the game defines your character’s sexuality.  Role-playng games allow you to choose your race as well, and Dragon Age 2 even has different family member character models to fit the look you choose for your character.

2011 shows us that more folks are being welcomed into games, more types of heroes exist.  It’s refreshing that we seem to get more every year and that they play larger roles and move outside of stereotypes.