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    Rayman DS; sigh!
    Topic Started: Apr 2 2005, 11:03 AM (776 Views)
    Stu_J
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    Kirby
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    Rayman is the story of a young.....errrrr.... THING! And this THING lives in a world inhabitated by eveil pirates who capture the good people of the forest and the lums who live there. It is up to Rayman to free the inhabitatnts and more inportanatly the lums, and to defeat the evil pirates, with the help of his friends Globox (shudder) and Ly the fairy, he will go on an adventure that will ahve you screaming with frustration not joy.
    Rayman DS is a port of the wonderfully creative rayman 2: the great escape. When rayman 2 came out it was with great intrepetation that I purchased it as evidently a lot had changed since the cutesy, cuddly days of rayman on the playstation. But I and I'm sure anyone else who played the orignal was glad as it is an understated masterpiece in how to create a game with balance, just enough cutesyness, great gameplay, nice graphics, sound that was good nothing astounding though and a cast of character you didn't feel indifferent towards. Overall a great game that has far overshadowed any other rayman since and probably allows will, it definitely seems to have been the climax of raymans videogame career, though the little man mite prove me worng, personally I think he's armless! get it armless! (COUGH) .....neways on to my review, I'll be honest I wasn't happy with it, ok I had high expectations but why shouldn't I afterall this apparently was a straight port no changes made and really there didn't need to be.

    [size=7]CONTROLS[/size]
    This, for me, is the key to Raymans failings, although the D-Pad can be used, he DS has a touch screen to be used, and the d-pad is overly responsive one tiny push and rayman practically leaps forward, on high ledges and near murky water (a lot of examples in rayman) this can be hair-pullingly frustrating. Many times my cartridge was thrown across the room in anger as yet again Rayman decided to go for a swim, which of course kills him. As I was saying, most people should go for the thumb pad and in theory this works, it gives rayman more freedom to move around intead of the jerky movements that come with the d-pad. But the thumb pad has many problems also, for a start the responsiveness instead of being too much is a bit hit and miss, the arrow on the bottom screen unlike games like SM64 DS dosen't mpve when you set your thumb on the screen but stays in a set position. You can of course move the position but nowhere is accesible comfortable, the middle is too far away so rayman won't move, and near to your thumb causes rayman to jump forward like with the d-pad, it takes tiny movements in the middle but you will be constantly on the edge of your seat, nerves wrecked watchig, praying your thumb dosen't slip an inch and he goes up up n' away. This game was designed for an analog stick, and the lack of one seriously diminishes the quality of gaming and the all out experience instead of fun which in essence is the aim of this game you have wither fury or nervousness.
    Score: 2/10
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    [size=7]GRAPHICS[/size]
    For me Rayman DS is constantly overshadowed by its bigger brother in the ps1, dreamcast n' N64. I know that the graphics can't be expected to be as good as the home consoles, but honestly the backlight on the DS is wasted on this game. The graphics are soo murky so drery so BLAAA, that you'll more than likely have done a "rayman" off a cliff before playing it through completly. I doubt that this was intentional afterall it is basically a kids game, not a dark game at all, excluding the actual lighting. Nearly every background is navy, grey or murky brown/green, rayman has the potential to be bursting with light and vitality instead we are given a rayman whose batteries have been wasted, im surprised he has the will to go in, I didn't in some levels.
    Score: 3/10 (I gave it 3 just for this one gorgeous scene, the only one in the game!)
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    [size=7]GAMEPLAY[/size]
    I think you know what's comin here, since I have already slanderd the controls which evidently make this one of the most difficult games ever created, I will try to be positive. If you ignore the "obvious faults" you will see some great opportunites within rayman that make for some cracker gaming, for example raymsn gets to water ski using a snake as a speed boat. There are a vast array of new powers for him to collect and they have an actaul use within the game not only solving puzzles to help you to move on, but also to make light of situations that prve difficult. But you will relay heavily on the strafe movement and the "zelda OOT like" movement/targetting system Rayman adopts during the game. This does shed some positive points on the game, the enemies are difficult but not impossible, you will find it harder getting past areas with dangerous drops and jumps than beating bosses.
    The game doesn't make good use of the touch screen, you coud have used it for anything, maybe to control rayman's arms with the stylus or something. Instead throughout the game it simply tells you raymans health and lums he has collected. That's it! pretty poor in my opinon. You just get the feeling when playing rayman that the sparkle has been taken out of it, maybe it's the way you can't see what's in front of you becasue of the lighting or because you can't control rayman without wanting an extra pair of thumbs, in any case this is far from rayman 2, FAR FAR AWAY from it!
    Score: 4.5/10

    [size=7]SOUND[/size]
    The rayman series has always been a little odd for many reaons but one in particular stands out in my mind and certainly in this game. This would be that all rayman characters including the little man himself don't speak a word of english, in fact not a distinguishable word of anything, unless you happen to be fluent in backwards alien talk. This may be a long running joke by ubisoft or maybe they just couldn't be arsed gettin voice actors in and instead decided to get drunk and make stupid noises into the microphone for a couple of hours, then pass it off as the common tounge in rayman world. This for me, dosen't wash, they are of course subtitles, which are necessary although they are a bit small, though you can disitinguish them thnkfully. Though to be fair, rayman 2 had this ridiculous babble too so I can't discredit this particular game for it completely.
    The music is sufficient, it's dark and spooky in the right places and light hearted in the rare occasions that you happen to see the sun. It is crisp, clear and do add succesfully to an otherwise unenjoyable gaming experince. It's one fo the best aspects of the games and if anything it is the one aspect of the game that improves on the original, the surround sound of the ds' stereos bring out the best in the game.
    Score: 7/10
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    [size=7]PICK-UP-N'-PLAY-ABILITY[/size]
    This is really a no-brainer as due to the controls, it makes the playing of rayman ds a real work at it expreicne, you have to put the practice in, and even experts of the series will find it hard adapting to the gameplay and controls. Although the advantage this game has is that it has a history and a fan base, it is not an unknown to the gaming market, this will get sales in the shops but will soon hit the preowned games bin of game. I really wnated to like this game, constantly I kept making excuses for it, and that made me want to play it again and again but in the end you have to face facts that this game won't appeal to novices nor will it appeal to sum experts. A true example that you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover.
    Score: 4/10
    (If you are a real addict of rayman and a hardcore fan then it is possible to make yourslef play on and struggle through it, otherwise it hits the bin)

    [size=7]OVERALL[/size]
    What can I say? I had such high hopes and it could've been so much more, the orginal was a real rival to Super Mario 64. But this really was a travesty, within 5 mins you lose all fiath in the game due to the dreary graphics and the awkward gamplay. The camera tends to move about even though you can refocus it, it can get annoying adding to an already tiring gaming exprerience. Ubisoft and rayman will have to do much better next time, much MUCH better!
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    [size=14]Overall Score: 35%[/size]

    Closing Comment: stay clear of this, well clear, if you want a gaming experience involving rayman that won't make you cry but will make you glad to be alive see rayman 2: the great escape on any format, dreamcast, n64 or playstation.
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    Sontailsic
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    Chelsea FC Champions 55-05-06-10

    Good review, nice contender for ROTM, I never really like Rayman anyway.

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    Stu_J
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    Kirby
    cheers m8, precciate it, i need all the praise i cn get
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    monkimann
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    Forg Mario PWNS!
    Nice review, it has great detail:D
    Want a step-by-step tutorial to make sigs like these? Click here!
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    NIN10DOH DS
    ChuChu
    GREAT REVIEW I hope you win Rotm!
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    Candy-Feather
    Your worst Nightmare.
    One of the Best review i've seen...Good job!!!
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    Stu_J
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    Kirby
    cheers me dears, unfortunately i ddnt win ROTM, i was told by sonictalistic that this wasnt due to the quality of my review but due to topic , as rayman isn't a popular topic. Cheers for encouragement it does not fall on deaf ears i assure you!
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