➤ Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope – Rayman in The Phantom Show, the review of the long-awaited DLC 🕹

After an eternity, Rayman is back, albeit as a guest in the latest Mario + Rabbids DLC: Sparks of Hope: what is Rayman like in the Phantom Show?

While the quality of Ubisoft games has fluctuated over the last decade, there's no denying that the French giant has created more than one iconic character. Curiously, however, at the top of the lists of lovers of the "good game" most of the time are not Ezio Auditore or Sam Fisher but a curious eggplant-man called Rayman, protagonist of some of the most acclaimed titles of the home. .

Perhaps because sales did not live up to expectations, or perhaps simply because there is nothing in the pipeline that is capable of creatively surpassing what has already been done with Rayman: Legends, the good Rayman has been missing from the world for too many years. market. , and more than a few barely acceptable mobile titles were certainly enough to satisfy his fans' hunger for a new platform dedicated to him. We are not surprised, therefore, that the team to which we owe has been chosen to remove this curious hero from the intellectual property hat. Mario + Rabbids: Chips of Esperanza: Who better than the developers who have already shown enormous respect for the classics of the past to bring some shine back to the character, after all?

However, ours has not yet returned as a protagonist, but rather as a guest, in a curious DLC called Rayman in the Ghost Show, last on the list of extra content for the excellent Sparks of Hope. But don't despair, because the treatment given to Rayman in this new adventure is very respectable, and who knows if it isn't a worthy starting point to see "the eggplant" again on top of the world.

First fame, then hunger

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope – Rayman in The Phantom Show, the review of the long-awaited DLC — Rayman has really powerful abilities in this DLC, which won't make you lose your sparks. His two companions, however, can still use them.

Rayman in the Phantom Show begins without too many flourishes, and sees good Rayman in the mysterious Space Opera Network television studios along with Rabbid Mario and Rabbid Peach, who, after some reasonable initial distrust, we meet almost immediately having to work together to survive the attacks of a group of Rabbids. The singular trio is not there by chance: it was Ghost (one of the most remembered bosses from the first Mario + Rabbids) to invite them personally, with the aim of hiring new stars capable of reviving their now disastrous television schedule. Convinced by the floating singer to embark on a career as actors, the three are forced to solve all the problems of the network, invaded by very aggressive rabbis and by the inevitable obscutiphery. Robetta, for a group already used to saving the world in this way.

Now, while Peach and Mario in the rabbid version are powerful characters to say the least (and fun to watch in action), for obvious reasons, Rayman is the central fulcrum of this DLC and the developers have decided to equip him with unique abilities to say the least compared to his supporting characters. Therefore, there is no spark for him, given that he has the curious ability to change costumes and with them use three different sets of powers. Not only that, Rayman even has special movement abilities linked to floating rings and can therefore move much more freely than his companions on certain maps, clearly designed around his powers.

The new protagonist's abilities are truly fabulous to use in battle and add considerable creativity to a game that, with spark, already offers endless combinations and tactical possibilities. The "fire form" allows, for example, to launch an explosive rocket capable of launching enemies across half the map at a distance, in addition to performing explosive shots; that fool bounces opponents with attacks and draws them all into the surrounding area with an incredibly useful tornado (which can even inflict a water elemental status); If that were not enough, both forms change the elemental properties of a small group of summonable turrets, which Rayman can also freely throw nearby after activation. It's a really nice combination of abilities, which can be used in combination with your companions' sparks or just clever positioning for devastating effects, to say the least. Oh, while they were at it, Ubisoft saw fit to add a couple of devastating sparks to the whole thing, making the player's plans even more unstoppable. It's probably also for this reason that the DLC's difficulty seems calibrated a bit higher than what preceded it.

Between threats and déjà vu

The Phantom Show is not designed to be introductory content and, after a brief (and necessary) tutorial phase that explains the new mechanics related to Rayman, it does not take much time to throw the player into battles of a level comparable to those seen. in the last quarter of the base game. From then on there is no shortage of variety: Space Opera Network's studios are spacious and full of activities and battles, and the team has done a good job of diversifying, focusing especially on the map aspect. HE environmental puzzlesIn fact, while they're not particularly arduous, they're a bit more elaborate and interesting than usual, and are enlivened, at least in part, by Rayman's ability to collect items from a distance.

Even the actual battles offer a good mix of situations, there's just a little less creativity here. Although the boss battles - and the endings of certain phases - are always elaborate and interesting, the same cannot be said for some of the others, which only marginally change structures already seen several times before. To these, then, are added the usual enemies that wander through the different areas, which nevertheless offer banal confrontations. They are largely avoidable, for God's sake, but we would have preferred to focus more on the "engaged" fights, especially considering that in this expansion it is better to fight them more often to gain valuable extra experience.

However, do not think that the reviews we have just written are equivalent to a failure: in general the DLC entertained us a lot and seemed to us to be of excellent quality, not to mention that the possibilities that Rayman offers also make the battles "classic". Much more appetizing than expected, they were not in the past. After all, you cannot expect completely renewed formulas after the incorporation of a single character; The developers have already done a very good job creating maps focused on quick navigation, where careful calculation of the protagonist's movements and the abilities of his companions is very important for success (not to mention doing everything within the preset turn limit is still anything but a walk). Offering permanent companions, then, rebalances things a lot despite the absurd power of sparks, and makes the campaign more challenging overall.

Finally, nothing to say about the technical sector: it is always a pleasure to see the game in action, and it is also very rich in humor and brilliant ideas in this DLC. It's really nice to find a character like Rayman in a title developed by a team that knows what he does and is able to give him a decent treatment after all this time.

I mean, overall, Rayman and the Ghost Show is a brilliant DLC. Although not without its weaknesses, Ubisoft's latest work maintains much of the energy and passion that makes Sparks of Hope an excellent turn-based strategy game, and this is enough for us to recommend it to anyone who wants an enjoyable dedicated experience. to the old days. Ubisoft's eggplant hero. However, now we would love to see him again in a game built around him.