I've been putting saying this off for a while now because I have a feeling it might anger some folks here, but I need to say it:
I'm glad that the RFN crew didn't bite on the listener's bait to complain about how "unfair" the media is to Nintendo. It's amazing how strong the persecution complex is in the more devout Nintendo loyalists. You can't just like X or Y game more than a given Nintendo Z game or be openly frustrated with certain aspects of Nintendo's overall design. You actually hate Nintendo on a personal level, and your review is just one part of a grand conspiracy to take them down. It's preposterous and pathetic, and the viewpoint is more widespread than it should be for an audience as generally older and presumably wiser as you would think Nintendo's would be.
On the subject of Rayman Origins, I was really skeptical of the game early on, but now that I've put some 5-6 hours into it (I'm currently near the end of World 4), it's easy to see why it's so beloved (even above other Nintendo platformers): it is an extremely polished game that takes risks with its audience; has this weird and unique art style; the soundtrack is leagues above most of what Koji Kondo's composed for a few console generations; and it reminds me of how I felt playing the original Mario platformers on the NES/SNES. Note the difference: it reminds me of how I felt playing those games, rather than merely make those games again with small improvements.
That's a problem I've increasingly had with Nintendo's core-oriented 1st party titles: they feel incredibly safe. They're very competently designed and technically polished, but they also sometimes don't excite me because I feel like I've seen it all before. As I've played Rayman Origins, I don't know what I'm going to see next, and the sheer look of the game is unusual and unique in a manner I haven't seen before. It's creative; imaginative; and it respects my abilities as a player. In their effort to find a way to make their games more challenging, it's amusing that Nintendo decided to create a whole system to allow the game to play itself when the player fails. By contrast, Rayman Origins just removes the arbitrary "lives" system and uses checkpoints, which allows the developers to create some incredibly insidious sections of platforming and exploration while removing a great deal of the frustration. And just look at the art design between Rayman and something like New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and tell me with a straight face that Nintendo's lazy, plastic-looking NSMBW art can even compare.
Nintendo's had some great games this generation that I've really loved, like Donkey Kong Country Returns (though even with that game, Nintendo sacrificed their principles of "great controls" for arbitrary waggle that makes the game worse). But I find that Rayman just has that spark of imagination and pure adrenaline rush that makes it superior to much of Nintendo's standard platformer design in my eyes. I think it might be the same for other reviewers, not part of a "Vast Anti-Nintendo Conspiracy."
Topic: Episode 279: Fo' Slo' (Read 10661 times)
