Rayman Origins

By
on

Based on email received this week from several Brew readers who attended E3 – this is the game with the most interesting animation and art direction. At least in 2D. And I have to agree. Rayman Origins is a prequel to the original Ubisoft Rayman game published in 1995:

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  • Nipplenuts McGurk

    FANTASTIC! I never liked the 3D Raymans…the original game was so beautiful at the time. Definitely buying this game – and the Scott Pilgrim game – another new 2D game w/ great animation/design.

  • http://www.animationbrad.com Brad

    Wow. Really beautiful color palette and silhouettes.
    Although, I’m always creeped out by characters with hands but no arms.

  • http://www.sandor.com.my Kent Tan

    Very nice – so animated and funny. :) I think keeping rayman 2d is good!

  • Isaac

    The color palette is very nice, but the flatness disturbs me.

  • http://www.segaltoons.com Steve Segal

    I’m not a gamer, but I loved the exaggerated cartoon gags and also the narration and music.

  • http://aalong64.blogspot.com Aaron Long

    For a video game, this looks really nice. Makes me wish I had a current-generation system.

  • Antonio

    “this is the game with the most interesting animation and art direction. At least in 2D”

    Well, I didn’t attend E3, but from what I’ve read from its coverage, I can think of at least another two:

    Scott Pilgrim
    http://kotaku.com/5566576/scott-pilgrims-e3-trailer-blows-our-pixellated-socks-off

    Kirby’s Epic Yarn
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7l3N-yNVBo

  • http://twitter.com/danny_shea Danny Shea

    It looks fantastic, but the art style for Kirby: Epic Yarn looks amazing as well. Yarn rendering, people! YARN!

  • Kyle B

    My game of the show at E3, made watching the unbearably awkward Ubisoft press conference completely worth it

    There was a nice little set of games with great 2D design and animation at the show between this, Scott Pilgrim, and Kirby Epic Yawn. Really refreshing

  • http://www.studiomiguel.com David Michael McClain

    My favorite part was the silhouetted stuff. The more I watched the more I liked it.

  • VinceP

    This looks really cool! I really miss 2D platformers, I wish they made more of them…especially when today’s technology allows for such cool art design!!

  • Paul N

    I don’t understand – the art direction is great, but the animation is of the cutout Flash variety that people on here complain about constantly. So this style of animation is O.K. as long as the pictures are pretty?

  • erlab

    Yes.

    I already discovered this a week ago! Brilliant concept and art direction!

  • http://aalong64.blogspot.com Aaron Long

    “I don’t understand – the art direction is great, but the animation is of the cutout Flash variety that people on here complain about constantly. So this style of animation is O.K. as long as the pictures are pretty?”

    That occured to me when I posted, which is why I added ‘for a video game,’ because I think that’s the key distinction. Most video games have boring visual styles that are desperate to be realistic and gritty, so to see anything with more fun, intentionally cartoony visuals is a welcome change. Stretch and squash are almost completely absent in most video games.

  • Kyle B

    “I don’t understand – the art direction is great, but the animation is of the cutout Flash variety that people on here complain about constantly. So this style of animation is O.K. as long as the pictures are pretty?”

    I thought we learned this lesson with the Ratatouille end credits.

  • http://palais.wikidot.com Jordan S.

    So, he had a hood, then switched it for an ascot, then switched back to a hood some years later?

    Yay for the parallax fly-in effect, silhouette sequences and the return of the photographer and, while Globox works fine drawn, the toggled hood is clunkily out of place in this thoroughly cartoony world, as is, since the second, American or British voices in something so thoroughly and characteristically French-looking. But maybe those that have owned more than the second won’t find it such a disparity.

  • http://mitchworks.blogspot.com Mitch Kennedy

    Yea! 2D platformers are back in business!

    Here’s an indie game with the smoothest 2D animation I’ve ever seen incorporated into gameplay:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmSAQwbbig8

  • http://www.pantoufledeverre.blogspot.com wd_kimmy

    Antonio is wright.

    I would love to see the Scott Pilgrim game on the brew. It has superbe animation done by animator Paul Robertson.

  • Tekena

    This looks straight hilarious in a really retarded way.

  • http://mrseanlane.com Sean

    One of my favorite game series. I hope this does well, it might mean more games like it.

    Is it just me or are more and more game designers going towards a 2D or retro craze?

    I’m not so into the pixelated artwork like the Scott Pilgrim game, but 2D games with strong art direction in HD is very welcome.

  • VGREER

    I never dug Rayman’s design but I love the look of this game.

  • Paul N

    Aaron, I understand your point, but here’s what Jerry said at the top:

    “Based on email received this week from several Brew readers who attended E3 – this is the game with the most interesting animation and art direction.”

    If this clip is getting a pass because it’s a game, that’s pretty weak. Current generation game platforms have more than enough power to crank out sprite-based side scrollers like this one, and are more than capable of supporting full animation in character actions. Hell, “Earthworm Jim” did it better in the mid-90′s

    If this was on Nick or CN, there’d be no end of griping about “another Flash disaster.” But because it’s at E3, several readers write in to say it’s interesting? There’s a logical disconnect there.

  • http://amber-gail.blogspot.com Amber

    Looks like a 2D Lost Winds. I don’t understand the kudos for this.

  • http://www.sexymecha.com Hal

    Everyone bitching about the SCOTT PILGRIM GAME not being on the brew – send Amid or Jerry or both a link and stop griping in the comments.

    Whether you love this style or think its too Flash-y, its great that the downloadable game market is presenting the opportunity for smaller dev teams to get their games out there – the fact that 2 of the 3 best looking 2d games at E3 are via Ubisoft, one of the largest 3rd party developers, proves that even major studios will take risks on smaller scale projects now that the cost of distrubution on them is so low they can profit off of a $10-$20 sale.

    You may or may not like the look of this, but its going to open doors.

  • Florence

    I really enjoyed the classic, campy feel and great animation from Batman: The Brave and the Bold video game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uwervr2nMQ

  • Josh S

    There’s a lot of really nice animation and design work being done in videogames these days, both in the indie scene and in small projects being published by big studios.

    Here’s a few more examples to add to the list:

    Shank: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/pax-east-shank/63732
    (note: violent, NreallySFW)

    Limbo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1vexQzA9Vk

    Swords&Sorcery EP: http://vimeo.com/10066962

    Journey: http://thatgamecompany.com/general/tgcs-third-psn-title-journey/
    (no video, just stills at the moment)

  • GhaleonQ

    Totally disagree. Yarn animation is far too rare, so try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK4gKc9OuTk

  • Rooniman

    Beautiful! Thats all I can say. I’m definately getting this game.

  • http://www.spiteyourface.com Tony Mines

    Journey.

    That is all.

  • Pez

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wufQAivf7M8

    Batman the Brave and the Bold video game looks like it is real hand drawn animation. I am extremely excited.

  • Ashley May

    It’s funny. . .The general tone of the animators here suggests not liking Epic Mickey, but liking this. On the flip side, gamers are seemingly disappointed by this, but looking forward to Epic Mickey.

  • http://rodtoons.blogspot.com/ Rod T.

    It´s great to see that some new Wii, PS3 and XBox titles are avoiding the sameness of 3D environments and returning to the 2D platformer format from the 16-bit era… Rayman Origins, along with the new DK and Kirby look really promising ;-)