The vehicle handling still isn't great, but it's better than in WD1, trust me! They were like skips with NO wheels lol.
Hmm yep, it's very repetitive, as are most of Ubisoft's games... doubt I'll ever pre-order any of their titles again, as they've let me down far too many times now.
They're mostly know for Assassin's Creed, which I must admit I was a big fan of for a while, despite those being quite repetitive at times too... especially nowadays. They go way back though -- off the top of my head... Rayman (like you said), Prince of Persia, Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six, Far Cry.
The more recent games of theirs which you may have heard of though are The Divison, Ghost Recon, For Honor, Steep, The Crew (to name a few). Their latest entry in to the Rainbow Six series titled Siege is pretty cool, especially with friends... even that gets quite repetitive after a while though.
As for the "electric guy" you mentioned... are you thinking of Infamous? If so, that was by Sucker Punch I believe.