App Review No. 34 Rayman Jungle Run

Strong Points:
Great but simple gameplay
Brilliant graphics
Smooth animations
Good physics
Fair few levels
Easy to learn, challenging to master
Nice learning curve
Pick up and play/just one more level gameplay
Land of the Livid Dead levels are amazing tests of skill

Weak Points:
Frustrating
New Heroes (Globox etc.) cost real money
Can get repetitive trying to get all the Lums
Lums only unlock pictures in the gallery and Skull Teeth

In-depth Review:

Release Dates:
World Wide: 20 September, 2012

Controls:
Touch screen to jump
Hold screen to fly
Tap punch button to punch

Rayman Jungle Run is amazing. Taking the pure brilliance that is Rayman Origins and compressing it into the world of smartphones was a great move by Ubisoft. Rayman (or Globox if you buy the extra heroes) is set on auto run and it is your job to make him jump, fly and punch his way through 7 worlds filled with 9 levels each and Land of the Livid Dead Level at the end if you get 5 Skull Teeth.

You get Skull Teeth by getting the full amount of Lums (100) in a level. You can collect Lums on their own or by getting Skull Coins (which give you 20 Lums). Some of these Lums are hidden away and to get them, you need to know the course.

This is where Rayman truly shows it stuff. By giving you bite sized levels, the app encourages you to repeat the same level over and over, to get all the Lums or in the case of the Land of the Livid Dead the best time. While this may get a bit repetitive after the hundredth time, there will almost always be some secret, or animation you haven't seen so you won't get frustrated that easily.

Except for some of the Lum levels however. While the Land of the Livid Dead was great at letting you find those frames in which to jump or when to punch, the regular levels make you follow a pretty linear path (even for a side-scroller) if you want to get all the Lums. Especially as the Lums don't do anything past getting Skull Teeth and pictures in the gallery. It would have been nice if, like Rayman Legends, you could buy the heroes with the Lums instead of with IAP's.

The graphics are superb and the animations crisp, with Rayman doing front flips, front rolls and all manner of other acrobatics. The physics are also great however with the fire, you can pretty much run through the tip without getting hurt. Although the graphics of the fire do make some pretty awesome chase sequences.

The Land of the Livid Dead levels are great for speedrunners because as mentioned before, the game encourages you to find the frames and shortcuts with its small levels. There are however, a few bad points. On some levels, there are lots of hearts (extra lives) which aren't needed and in some levels, there are none. Also, one slip of the finger could make Rayman instantly die (if you press punch instead of jump for example).

Conclusion: overall this is an excellent app and a must buy for anyone who likes just one more level gameplay.

Rating: 94%

Thanks for reading, Satamer

Update: performance improvements and bug fixes