Mobile gaming hasn’t been a big focus for the big names in console gaming. Granted this has led to many high quality original titles from smaller developers, like Plague Inc., Dead Trigger, Turbo Kids, etc. Now that Android is getting so big, it’s getting a lot more attention. Ubisoft is one of the big devs coming on board. Rayman Jungle Run has just been released in the Android market, and it carries very high production values. A pretty face isn’t everything though, so how did it fare? Find out in our latest Android game review.Rayman Jungle Run is what we commonly call a “game on rails”. Rayman runs by himself from beginning to end on every stage, it’s up to you to control his other moves to get him to the end of every stage. This includes jumping, hovering, and punching. It’s a very simplistic concept, but it’s a lot of fun. Let’s get one thing out of the way first: this is one beautiful game. The graphics are incredibly well done, they look just like last year’s Rayman game. The animation is also top-notch, everything just looks like very well done cartoon. The music is great too, even though there are only four tracks. All in all, you can tell this is a game that took time to make, and it’s always nice playing a game like that on mobile.
Rayman Jungle Run consists of four sections, each one with eight levels each. You begin just being able to jump, the next section adds hovering, the next one running up walls, and the last one adds punching. You collect what look like fireflies to me, there’s 100 in each level, and if you collect enough of them, you unlock exclusive wallpapers in the game’s gallery. If you get all of them in any level, you get a red tooth, get five in any one section, and you unlock a level in the world of the dead. I’m sorry to say I’ve yet to do that in any section unfortunately, so I can’t comment on it. Regardless, every level is a lot of fun. I had a great time controlling Rayman’s secondary functions as he ran through every level. The music is nice and upbeat, one song a bit silly sounding, but good nonetheless. You can tell a lot of work went into this game. There was no visible slowdown, and the game loaded pretty quickly on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
Now on to the gripe that some people will have…the price. Rayman Jungle Run retails for $2.99 in the Google Play Store. I know we are really used to getting games for free, but these big devs aren’t used to running this type of model. The amount of fun I got out of Rayman Jungle Run is easily worth the $2.99 I spent on it. I don’t mind spending a few dollars on a polished product like this. I think Ubisoft hit the sweet spot as far as pricing goes, it’s not too expensive to the point where I can see people not getting it as an impulse buy, or for someone like me who recognizes the brand and the series to not get it. In case you can’t tell, I approve of Rayman Jungle Run. You should give it a shot. I give it an 8.5/10.