Rayman Legends

Rayman Legends is a two-dimensional platformer from Ubisoft Montpellier that arrived on PlayStation 4 in an expanded form and still ranks among the most polished games of its genre. Rayman and his friends make their way through a series of visually distinct worlds, from fairy-tale forests through medieval castles and underwater realms to settings inspired by Mexican festivities, and in each one they complete tasks built around running, jumping, swimming and freeing small trapped creatures called Teensies.

The controls are among the most precise you'll find in any platformer. The character accelerates smoothly, mid-air flight can be corrected with a helicopter spin, and punches and wall-sliding feel so intuitive that after a while the player stops thinking about buttons and focuses purely on the rhythm of the level. Alongside classic arenas, the game offers chases where you run from a threat with no way to stop, levels controlled by the helper Murfy who clears obstacles for you, and above all the musical finales of each world, where jumps and hits are precisely synced to cover versions of well-known melodies. Co-op for up to four players on one screen works brilliantly and turns the game into chaotic fun.

Technically, the game runs on the UbiArt Framework engine, which allows hand-drawn art at extraordinary resolution, so even years later it still looks sharp and colorful, and on PS4 it runs at a perfectly stable pace. The sound design is inventive and playful, with parodic bits alongside more earnest musical themes. The reception was enthusiastic, and critics repeatedly ranked the title among the best platformers of its generation. The scope is enormous, since besides its own levels it also includes reworked missions from the previous installment and daily challenges, giving it dozens of hours of content. The difficulty rises very gently, the main path is manageable even for less experienced players, while the hidden levels demand absolute precision. That's exactly why Rayman Legends is still recommended today as the first choice when someone is looking for a classic two-dimensional platformer on PS4, for themselves or for the whole family.