It's the same great game in nice-looking 3D, but the controls are terrible.
The demo for Rayman Origins hit the 3DS eShop in North America and Europe today, sampling three levels (Swinging Caves, Playing in the Shade, and Shooting Me Softly). The demo, for better or worse, brings good news and bad news for the delayed 3DS game.
The good news: the game still looks very pretty. The aspect ratio is changed, so it is a little different, but the added 3D effect is wonderful, adding a lot of depth to the 2D platformer. It honestly makes me giddy to see how platformers of this ilk that are built for the system (like say, Epic Mickey) will look.
The bad news: The controls presented in this demo are dumb. Your jump is mapped to the A and B buttons, while your attack is mapped to X and Y. Unfortunately, your sprint, which you hold down just as often as you do in Mario games, is mapped to the L and R buttons, which feels all kinds of wrong. It makes playing the game uncomfortable, sort of like how people complain about "the claw" on first-person shooters on DS, but with no stylus involved. It's even more preposterous because ostensibly only two of the four face buttons are even used.
Hopefully, when Rayman Origins 3DS comes out on June 5 (if the date in the eShop is correct), the controls will be customizable. If not, I'd advise everyone to check this game out on any other platform.