Hands-On: Making 4-Player Mayhem With Rayman Origins

Rayman Origins is just like New Super Mario Bros. Wii, except you can slap the other players. And I think we can all agree that is the exact feature Mario needed.

This long-awaited return of Ubisoft?s onetime mascot, the armless, legless whatsit hero and star of several acclaimed platforming games, features a four-player cooperative mode that is suspiciously reminiscent of Nintendo?s four-player Wii Mario. Since it is a multiplatform game, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners will also be able to get in on the slap-happy action when Origins is released later this year.

When I tested the E3 Expo demo of Rayman Origins at a preshow event last month, the first thing that struck me was that it uses the same workaround that Mario Wii does for having four players engaged at once: If a player dies, he comes back as a balloon, which can be floated around the level until another player pops it and restores him to active duty. If all four players end up as balloons simultaneously, it?s game over.

This is exactly what Nintendo?s game does but with a humorous Rayman twist. The character isn?t placed inside a bubble ? they become one, inflated out to beachball proportions like Violet Beauregarde.

Goofy humor is what sets Rayman Origins apart. Slapping your friends around with the attack button has absolutely no use. It?s just cathartic fun. At the end of a level, the characters (Rayman, his pal Globox and two Teensies) pose for a wacky picture behind one of those Coney Island photoboards. (Does anybody know what those things are actually called?)

Rayman and friends have more moves than Mario, too, inasmuch as they have that attack button. On the ground, it?s a slap to the face of enemies or friends. In the air, they?ll do a powerful flying butt-stomp. There?s one more salient feature: By holding up on the analog stick, characters will hold their hands in the air, creating a platform for others to stand on. If you boost your friends in this way, you?ll be able to access areas you wouldn?t on your own. Origins?s levels are filled with secret chambers and hidden goals, so you?re encouraged to work together.

Chris Kohler is the founder and editor of Wired.com's Game|Life, and the author of Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life. He will talk your ear off about Japanese curry rice.
Follow @kobunheat and @GameLife on Twitter.

Source: http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/brUZIPL2Xo8/

bryce harper lenny dykstra holly bobo kotaku os x lion ann taylor chipmunk