Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition Review

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Fast Facts

Beginning Thirty Years Ago

Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition is a collection of different versions of the first Rayman game as well as some additional bonus content. Each game in the collection is a platformer, and for the most part, they resemble the same game, but in different formats for unique platforms. Are these titles enjoyable? Find out in this Rapid Review. 

To begin with, the Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition includes both an in-game story and a history about Rayman’s creation. The in-game story was nothing special. I was introduced to a few characters, watched a brief cutscene detailing their history, and then navigated through the levels. There were no major narrative beats and the characters did not develop any sort of personality over time. It simply served as a vessel to get me emerged into the world.

On the other hand, there were a lot of neat design themes leveraged in Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition. I maneuvered through musical setpieces and classroom areas in addition to more traditional caves and forest zones. The novel themes help Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition stand out, despite being older. 

To complete the collection’s narrative offerings, the developers included commentary and design documents pertaining to the original release of the title. These are neat tidbits, but they did not move me, especially since this was my first time engaging with the title. I have enjoyed documentary style pieces on video games previously, but I did not have too much curiosity about how this title was designed. It is neat that this exists, but it did not bring much value to the package for me. 

Jumping into the Gameplay

As for the games themselves, Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition includes five different versions of Rayman and two bonus collections with additional levels designed for the PC release. The development team explicitly outlined that the PlayStation version of this game is the definitive version, and as a result, I spent the majority of my playtime in that title. Still, getting to experiment with and compare the different iterations of the game was a neat experience. 

In these games, I played as Rayman, a character who incrementally gained abilities such as punching, hovering in the air, and swinging on rings. These movement abilities make levels fun to navigate. In addition to functioning as traversal abilities, these skills unlocked new routes in previous levels. This segues into how the minute-to-minute gameplay functions. There are roughly twenty levels in the original Rayman. In each stage, I needed to reach the end by evading enemies and jumping across platforms. However, in addition to the primary objective of completing the stage, there are hidden collectibles in each. These are placed throughout a level, and encourage exploration. Encourage may be a bit of a loose word though, as in order to face off against the final boss, collecting each collectable is required. 

These items did not add any value to my playthrough, as the challenge typically pertained to either having the right power or knowing where to look. In fact, this issue was exacerbated by the difficult nature of the title. Levels are challenging, and death has fairly catastrophic consequences. Checkpoints are somewhat infrequent, especially considering the challenge of some later levels. Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition combats this in a few ways. For starters, there is a rewind feature that can help either in practicing levels or pushing through monotonous sections. However, in addition, there are optional cheats to enable. These range from infinite continues to unlocking all power-ups and levels. Given that this title was challenging, having different ways to combat the difficulty helped a lot. 

Level with Me

As important as it is to incorporate interesting mechanics and themes, the way they integrate into the level designs is the most important piece of a game to me. Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition does a good job with this. In one level, I used a magic potion to enable intense twirling of my hair which I used when platforming and even to sever rope. Many locations are silly, which adds a lot of charm to the title. Even simple stages are fun, and keep me engaged. As I mentioned above, these stages are tricky though. Contact with dangerous items put me into knockback, and many jumps require tight timing. I found these things fun, especially with the additional assistance options available. Overall, I enjoyed the level designs.

Within each level were a handful of enemies too. Many of these were unique and required me to pay attention. Each needed to be handled in a different way, which ensured I knew what each enemy did. Moreover, often, enemies withstood more than one hit, so I actually needed to pay attention to who was in front of me. The variety here was fun, and helped keep me engaged with Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition. The game’s boss fights were similarly fun, sharing a style that embodies both the levels and general design. While not standing out as superb, the enemies helped make my playthrough enjoyable. 

Bonus Pieces

To further supplement Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition, the developers included a soundtrack that was upbeat and matched the style of the game. I saw that others were disappointed that the soundtrack was not indicative of the original music, but as this was my first time with the game, I had no issues and happily listened throughout. 

Additionally, while I alluded to the visual design in the theming section, I also want to call out that this game looks stunning. The pixel art that comprises each level is fantastic, and it was neat to explore the different areas just to see what things I run into. Colors are vibrant and kept me interested in what would come next too. Overall, the game looked great. 

As a whole, I had a great time with Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition. It is a bit pricey for a retro platformer, but the game is fun, and I enjoyed being able to experience this on a modern console with all the added benefits of cheats and saving options. If you enjoy platformers, and are not afraid of a bit of a challenge, this is one I can easily recommend. 

4 out of 5

4

You can purchase Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition on the Microsoft Store here.