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Everybody loves Rayman
By Oliver
Von Trapp III
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Rayman is one freaky dude;
he has hands and feet but
with no connecting tissues!
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The polygon-based 3D world that
opens up to players is very cool
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I have been playing with
Rayman and quite enjoying it. Now before anyone calls the Police,
he is called Ray-MAN... Not boy. Obviously if I was reviewing Astroboy
on GBA it would be a different story. But I am not.
This is exactly the same game as Rayman 2 that came out years ago
on Dreamcast. Then Nintendo 64, then Playstation, and Playstation
2 I believe.
I Always enjoyed this game, it was a revelation when it appeared
on Dreamcast and N64. Beautifully atmospheric in both visuals and
aurals. Like nothing I had encountered before. It was captivating
like very few games can be.
Michel Ancel was the man behind this game, and seems to be held
in quite high regard nowadays with games such as Beyond Good and
Evil and the upcoming King Kong to show his creative wares with.
Enough frippery. Rayman DS is really good. Once you get past the
brilliant intro, it is a great platformer. Pure and simple. In fact
that's Rayman DS in a nutshell - pure and simple.
You can shoot funny little balls from your hands, jump and hover
with your helicopter blade antennae, and swim and run around. That's
it. The world needs to be saved from evil Robo Pirates and only
Rayman can do it.
The levels can be hard, but there is a huge amount of satisfaction
when one completes a level. Of course to get the bonus levels, one
has to collect all the 'Lums' which are hidden about the place,
so replayability is high too.
It's incredibly engaging. It's incredibly atmospheric too. Thanks
to great art and sound design. Even without the texture filtering
of the Dreamcast and N64, it is crisp and clean on the small screen,
and the visual quality is not an issue.
It sounds great, whether it's through headphones or the speakers
(which are surprisingly good). If you're plunging through a swamp
or a jungle or a beach, all the incidental sounds of bugs or waterfalls
add immeasurably to the overall atmosphere of Rayman's world.
Which is what is brilliant about Rayman DS: you feel part of the
world. I believe the term is 'immersion'. The swamp levels in particular...
Being a DS game, there is analogue control on the touch screen,
if you want it, but I only turned to that once when the control
pad just wasn't precise enough. Even then I used the stylus rather
than the control nub.
But one can make the control area bigger to be more accurate, which
is natty. So if one can be bothered, I'm sure analogue control could
be learnt easily enough. Though I quite like old school digital
controls, despite running straight into piranha infested lagoons
every once in a while.
The touch screen also shows health and score, which isn't really
that exciting, but it keeps the top screen less cluttered. For me
this is a brilliant game for a brilliant system. Despite it not
making much use of the DS' extra features, who cares? Not me...
If this is a sign of things to come on the DS, I for one can't
wait for more.
Game: Rayman DS
System: Nintendo DS
Players: 1
Online: No
Developer: DC
Studios
Distributor: Ubisoft
Rating: 80%
(Ratings
Key/Explanation)
Rayman DS is on the shelves now.
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