Rayman Legends, the sequel to the critically acclaimed Rayman Origins, was originally touted as being a Wii U exclusive due for release in March. Fast-forward half a year and the game has finally arrived on all formats (and now due on Xbox One and PS4) with the Wii U getting some exclusive content.

Rayman Legends represents a true zenith for the series, something that can’t be said lightly with Origins being so well received. Anything that can at least partially erase the thoughts of those terrible Rabbids games - originally a Rayman spin-off – must be a good thing.

When you load up the game you'll find yourself in a gallery that acts as the game’s hub. To access levels you simply jump into the paintings, but it's far from that magical feeling you first felt when jumping into a new level in Super Mario 64. The gallery is more of a relaxed place where you just 'chill' in between stages while some half-hearted acoustic track complete with whistling plays repeatedly in the background.

More and more paintings will be unlocked as you progress through the game, including bonus levels from Rayman Origins. There is also the Heroes gallery which allows you to choose from the characters you have rescued during your quest to play as them during the main levels.

Structurally the main worlds consist of six standard stages, two rescue stages where you save a 'hero', plus an inevitable boss battle. Let us not forget that one of the stages per world is a heavily pre-scripted 'musical' stage, these are quite entertaining at least the first time that you play them.

Starting out you'll be taught the majority of the controls within the first world, Rayman controls just as you'd expect with either the left-stick or the d-pad controlling his movement while you can use either A/B to jump plus X/Y for punches. The 'run' action is assigned to either shoulder button. To its credit this is a setup that works rather well indeed for the majority of the game.

It becomes obvious from the start that this game has been designed to be played in multiplayer. After getting used to controlling Rayman, it's time to switch control to the second screen with Murfy to help Rayman’s sidekick Globox out of a sticky situation.

From that point onwards you will be required to use your finger to tap and swipe away obstacles that get in the heroes’ way. It becomes apparent that if you had another player by your side controlling Murfy on the GamePad things would surely go a lot more smoothly, but for those without that luxury controlling Murfy should not pose too much of a problem.  On other platforms, Murfy is activated by a button press. It is clear that this game really was designed with the Wii U GamePad in mind.

During each level you'll come across little blue creatures called 'Teensies' who are usually captured or hidden away. At certain points you may hear a cry of 'help meeee!’ that signifies one is nearby. You will want to rescue as many as you can as they are ultimately the key to unlocking more worlds. There are 700 to find throughout the game, 400 of which you’ll need to discover if you wish to unlock the final world.

Levels are also littered with Lums, the little yellow notes you will need to find if you want to get a gold trophy on each stage. Getting these generally means exploring every part of the level and defeating every enemy, which means you’ll have to play your best to get them – a task that can often be frustrating as there is not a defined number of Lums per level.

For fans of the original Rayman games you'll be pleased to know that there is plenty of running and jumping involved throughout the game’s many levels. Once you get going it's almost as if you're getting into a rhythm. Typically you'll get through the many action sequences on your first few tries but don't worry if you fail because there are plenty of checkpoints throughout. Personally I think there are too many – if you think Mario has been getting easier over the years, Legends should be a piece of cake.

Mechanically everything works rather well, even on the Murfy stages where you exclusively use the touch screen controls on the GamePad. However, there are definitely a few flaws in these levels. Moving platforms is simple enough but when it comes to cutting ropes for Rayman/Globox to swing from you can actually end up cutting too much of the rope which quickly lead to failure. It is a shame, as it detracts from the otherwise smooth experience and accessible feel of these stages, which would have been resolved if the rope cut in just one place.

To keep things a bit more interesting there are many characters you can unlock to play as. Personally I only recognised Rayman, Globox and Murfy so the other characters were lost on me. There are also Mario and Luigi costumes, which as nice as they are - were clearly a tacked-on afterthought to apologise for the delay.

Unquestionably you will have a better time with this title if you are able to play it with friends. Because there are hidden areas plus lots of lums to collect it can also be useful to have an extra pair of eyes so that you don't miss anything, and most importantly the co-op is rather enjoyable even if it makes the game even easier.

There is still plenty to do even if you're exclusively playing solo as unlocking everything will take a good while. Where this game is at its most enjoyable is when you're partaking in daily and weekly leader board challenges, which come in a variety of forms. Some will have you trying to complete a stage in the quickest time, others are a challenge to see how far you can get in a stage that has been tweaked to be more difficult than the disappointingly simple standard stages. These addictive stages will really have you coming back for more.

Visually there is a fair amount to like about Rayman Legends. This is owing to it running on the new 'UbiArt' engine which seems to have allowed for a decent art style that has allowed the Rayman world to come alive. There are plenty of stunning moments showing lots of varied locations, which are set in the kind of backdrops you would expect so as to show off some rather nice elemental effects.

Personally the highlight for me is a level based on spoiled food which, in addition to having an interesting size gameplay mechanic, presented an interesting, visually appealing twist on something that’s not been done before.

High production values have clearly carried over to the audio as there is a full orchestral score employed for the entire game, making for that suitably grand sound that you expect when on a platforming adventure these days. From the excellent opening theme through to the immense scores produced for each set of stages there is certainly a lot to like here. In addition to this, all of the sound effects are generally faithful to the earlier games.

Amusingly there's at least one musical themed stage where you end up 'playing' the music as you progress. These parts work well in context including the first of these stages which features ogre-like characters 'singing' the classic track 'Black Betty' like you will have never heard it before.

Ultimately it is clear that Rayman Legends has both style and substance. It features some brilliant moments in amongst some rather oddly placed experimental ones that sometimes pay off but more often than not end up confusing the gameplay somewhat.

In some ways it seems like Rayman just tries too hard in some areas, which causes it to lose focus. I feel that from trying hard to 'be cool' all of the time it ultimately misses the point of the original titles in the series, which for me was the charm and the challenge.

While it's undeniable that the limbless hero definitely has a brand new feel to how he plays, something greater has clearly been lost in translation as the experience definitely feels a tad too accessible at the expense of the game’s difficulty. It's still very fun to play but just don't expect to remember this title in the same way as the original.