Rayman Origins is special, rare and precious. Somewhere in the last few years, the classic notion of games being benign and whimsical escapist fantasies was lost in favor of battered, war torn landscapes and desolate dystopian apocalypse. Vibrant worlds turned to rot and grit, smiles turned to screams, and it seemed that by and large, gaming lost its innocence.

Is it possible for a game in this era to recapture the magic that inspired this industry to begin, while still proving itself a capable, full-fledged experience under modern scrutiny? In the case of Ubisoft s Rayman Origins, the answer is slapsolutely.