My initial impressions of the Wii U back in August 2012 were lukewarm. While I approved of the general build quality and feel of the Wii U GamePad, neither Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition or Scribblenauts Unlimited did much to demonstrate what it was really capable of. Recently, I got to get my hands on a demo of Rayman Legends, which is the current showcase game at Wii U demo stations. Based on my experience with Rayman Origins, I was expecting this demo to show positively. What did catch me off guard was how well it leveraged the functionality of the Wii U GamePad.
One of the two demo levels on display made heavy use of Murphy, who serves a very different purpose from Rayman and his cohorts. I thought going in that Murphy would be the equivalent of Super Mario Galaxy‘s ‘little sibling’ mode, as the character cannot die, but he’s essential to your group’s success. Using the touch screen, Murphy can manipulate the world in a number of different ways that the others cannot. For instance, he can move specific platforms, cut ropes, slingshot characters onto different plains, and take out certain enemies that the others cannot. The level Steff and I played was set up in a way where the teamwork between Rayman and Murphy was mandatory to your success. It was a lot of fun knowing that we were both doing very different tasks, yet working together towards the same end goal.
The concepts of asymmetrical gameplay and the strengths of the Wii U GamePad shine through in this relatively short demo. Of the upcoming games in the Wii U lineup, this was arguably the best one to show at these demo stations. Though the game won’t be out for another few months, it’s definitely a bright example of what the system can do to set itself apart. Hopefully the final product lives up to demo and that other Wii U titles can take advantage of the platform’s strengths like this one does.
In Third Person 
Can’t wait to try this out, looks gorgeous.