For more than two decades, the Rayman series has elevated the art of platforming to new and exciting levels (no pun intended). Sure, there are a couple of exceptions to that rule, but for the most part the entire franchise is solid.
When the series made the jump to mobile a few years back, it could have stagnated and just relied on its recognizable brand to sell units. Thankfully, the folks at Ubisoft weren’t content to rest on their laurels, and the result has been two well-made endless runners in Rayman Jungle Run and Rayman Fiesta Run. The third mobile installment, Rayman Adventures, has seen no dip in quality in spite of the fact that has made the game free to play.
This time around, though, the endless runner plays more like its console and PC counterpart than ever before. Players have an unprecedented level of control over their avatar and more reason than ever to revisit levels and get some exploration done.
Rayman Adventures sees the limbless hero and his buddies trying to collect furry little creatures to rebuild a tree or something like that. To be totally honest, does it really matter what the plot is? You’re most likely playing Rayman on mute while watching TV or waiting for the train, so the plot is inconsequential at best. The gameplay — which is obviously the important part — has you running back and forth across a variety of beautifully crafted levels to destroy some cages while collecting gameplay buffs in the form of fluffy creatures called Incrediballs (I’ll leave it to you to supply your own crude joke … and be sure to share them in the comments for all to enjoy!).
The new additions to the gameplay, however, have made Rayman Adventures the most challenging installment of the mobile series yet. Not to worry, though, simply follow out rules below and you’ll be racking up the Incrediballs and unlocking secrets in no time.
You Can Change Characters At Any Time
For those of you who like to switch it up, here’s a quick tip; you can switch between characters for free at any moment. From the Adventure Map, click on your player character’s face in the lower-right corner of your phone’s screen and you’ll be taken to the player profile page. From here, simply click on the T-shirt button (bottom row, second from the left) and you’ll be redirected to the costume page.
On the costume page, you can either spend real money to switch up your player’s outfits (no judgement here, how you spend your money is your own business), or you can switch between the characters themselves. Right now, only Rayman and Barbara are available to play, but more playable characters will be coming at a later date.
Don’t Be Afraid To Stand Still
In any endless runner, the idea is speed. You should always be moving forward as quickly as humanly possible. But, Rayman Adventures isn’t an endless runner, not really. It’s a platformer masquerading as an endless runner. As such, it’s never a bad idea to take a moment to stand still. When you’re chugging along and you run across a barrier, consider simply stopping at the thing and taking a breather rather than just barreling through it.
There are three solid reasons for chilling out for a bit. First, it allows you to get a close glance at certain sections of the level. Rayman Adventures is an extremely vertical game, and if you don’t stop and look around every so often, you can miss areas with valuable secrets.
Reason number two for stopping: the people at Ubisoft responsible for scattering valuables around each level are total jerk faces. You know that beautiful, layered art style that makes the game so visually appealing? The one that occasionally puts foliage or rock outcroppings in the foreground of your screen? Well, several valuables are hidden in plain sight right behind those seemingly innocuous aesthetic flourishes. If you take the time to stop, then you’ll occasionally see a tell tale sparkle or other indication of a hidden valuable.
And finally, reason number three for stopping every once in a while is so important it gets its own bullet point.
You Should Double Back (And Jump For No Reason)
Every level in Rayman Adventure is incredibly well designed. While each can be completed fairly quickly, each is also home to some secret areas and puzzle-ish (puzzle-esque? puzzle-ensian!) areas. In order to get to every area in all the levels, you’ll need to approach most of the areas from both directions.
As the game advances, each adventure becomes more expansive, requiring that you take more and more time to get the most out of every section. The game experience (and your success as a whole) is made all the easier if you’re simply willing to loop back around and attack the same areas from a fresh angle.
Hey, while you’re opening your mind about your endless running strategy, you should think about jumping randomly, even when it doesn’t seem to be required. This is a good way to catch those aforementioned valuables hidden in plain sight, but it’s also a good way to see more of the level (remember, they’re vertical), which could – in turn – reveal some hidden area you may have otherwise not noticed.
Random jumping is a good practice when you’re tooling along for a second or two uninterrupted. Rayman Adventures loves throwing obstacles, so when the game takes a small break from abusing you, it’s usually because you’re supposed to be noticing something worthwhile.
Replay, Replay, Replay (But Do It Quick Like)
As usual, in Rayman Adventures, your character plays through individual levels (duh). These levels are grouped into “Adventures”. At the end of each adventure, you collect a new egg which eventually hatches into a new Incrediball. Here’s the catch, though: once you complete each Adventure and collect your Incrediball egg, your Adventure is done and you can’t go back and replay levels. Until you collect your grand prize (aka, as soon as you drag your new Incrediball into the Incubator), however, you’re free to play and replay any level in the Adventure. And you totally should.
Again, we can’t repeat this too much, the people who developed Rayman Adventures are jerks. They want to make sure that you don’t get everything out of every level without going through it a few times (sometimes in both directions). It’s as if they wanted to give players the most challenging and lengthy gameplay experience possible, the turds.
At any rate, be sure to go back and play all the levels in an Adventure until you’ve gotten your fill, because once you move on down the line, they’re gone for good.
Incrediballs Are Valuable; Don’t Waste Them
Here’s one that goes without saying: don’t waste your Incrediballs. The whole purpose of the game is to collect these bad boys as they not only fuel the progress of the narrative (what little narrative there is), they also provide serious enhancements to the gameplay. These little guys do everything from seek out secrets for you to shield you against enemies.
Of course, keeping in the vein of, well, pretty much any video game ever, once you collect these guys you can’t go around using them at will. You get one use per creature. After that, to get repeated uses out of them you have to feed them. Food is a finite resource that replenishes slowly over time. In other words, unless you want to drop some real world cash, you’re going to need to save your Incrediballs for when they’re absolutely necessary.
It’s a good idea to try and get through every single level solo the first few times you’re running through them. Sure, in later levels you absolutely will die (a lot), but a trial and error approach to progressing not only saves you some cash, it lets you scout out each level in order to take full advantage of the layout so you can collect every goody on repeated playthroughs.
Be Patient
Finally, be patient. Rayman Adventures is a Rayman game, so you can expect a challenge. The developers at Ubisoft have crafted a complex game that will tax you, but they’ve also hidden tools in the game that allow you to go at your own pace (sort of). It may not be the classic console experience, but it’s closer then ever before.
All you need to do is take a few deep breaths, relax, and remember to use your noggin as much as you use your pointer finger and you’ll be just fine.
Published: Dec 13, 2015 12:32 pm