I'd downloaded Rayman Origins after reading so many gamer news outlets singing praises about the series return to simple, almost ingeniously so, platforming elements. Something hinted at not-so-subtly in the game's title. Of course I did my research on the subject -- well on this title in particular since I'm no huge fan of Rayman -- and everything was right up my alley. Naturally, all this hype actually meant that all the pieces were in place for me to be gloriously let down.
This isn't the first time that's happened in recent memory, mind you. The Raid, an Indonesian indie flick which has critics out west foaming at the mouth, throwing comparisons to Ong Bak and Die Hard, didn't live up to my expectations. Of course, I did ruin that by watching trailers and clips of the movie and reading dozens of reviews on the subject. In the case of Rayman Origins, I had only been exposed to still images (oh those beautiful screenshots) and all I knew going in was that this was a classic platformer in the vein of Super Meat Boy or Super Mario that looked beautiful. I was right on all counts but for some reason I expected more.