Introduction: Along with Sonic, Spyro and Crash it's fair to say that Rayman is one of the better known 3rd party creations and his various appearances on Nintendo handhelds have been, on the whole, very entertaining. This isn't the first time the limbless hero has made an appearance in a launch line-up either and Ubi Soft's mascot has been rolled out for the GameBoy Advance's release some years ago. Probably the main thing it has in common with its predecessors though is the fact that rather than being an original game it is in fact a conversion. This time it's Rayman 2, which appeared on the Playstation, N64 and SEGA Dreamcast some five years ago to a considerable amount of critical praise. We've already seen this game delayed once due to the developers desire to 'make an even greater gaming experience' but was the time used wisely?

GamePlay: If you've encountered Rayman before then you'll know what to expect but in case you haven't, Rayman is a platformer in the purest sense, complete with moving platforms and collectables not to mention a fair number of dangerous henchmen around every corner determined to stop you in your tracks. You're on a bit of a rescue mission too though as the pirates (yes, there are pirates) have imprisoned many of the local inhabitants. Your main objective though is to locate the four magic masks that will awake the mighty Polukus and so bring balance back to the land. What separates Rayman from other platformers is the sheer variety you?ll find even in a single level, making the whole experience always fresh and challenging.

Another thing you'll quickly have to get used to, is the fact that backtracking is essential to your success. This is because as the game progresses you become more powerful. You can jump higher, not to mention punch further and more powerfully, allowing you to access areas you've previously only viewed from a distance, although if you are new to the game it's likely you've already wasted a considerable amount of time trying to actually reach them. All this is possible thanks to a map which allows you to access any previously visited area to either locate a missing item, because you've received a password, or attempt to complete the game in its entirety. Disappointingly saving can only be done when you've completed a level's objectives but there are checkpoints along the way making things a little easier.

Control: Given that the touch screen analogue stick is incredibly frustrating to use you'd assume that the developers would produce a tight 'traditional' control system as a back-up. Unfortunately it's not nearly as responsive as it needs to be so you'll occasionally misjudge a jump through no fault of your own. You can alter your game slightly in order to adjust to the various control quirks but decent platformers have always demanded pixel perfect control and collision detection as a bare minimum and Rayman disappointingly falls short on both.

Graphics: Had this been released before the DS version of Super Mario 64 there's a good chance that the majority of gamers would be reasonably impressed with the on screen visuals. Unfortunately it wasn't and the results suffer in a handful of areas most notably the blocky textures and significantly darker worlds. Obviously this effects the clarity on some levels and you'll occasionally find the game frustratingly challenging simply because you can't see what's going on. There's also a bit of slow down when there's a little too much happening during the game but it's all still suitably impressive when you consider you're playing a true 3D platformer on a handheld games system.

Sound & Music: Unlike the visuals the audio does not seem to have suffered during the conversion process with both the music and sound effects enhancing the on screen action. Most of this is down to the excellent soundtrack accompanying each of the levels as well as the various sound effects and not to mention the garbled Raymanspeak. This is a lot like Nintendospeak, which appears in a few Mario games, but we're almost certain it's a different language. Or... maybe that's just us?

Dual Screen Use: To be honest this is one of the poorest uses we've seen of the DS's capabilities and while the top screen displays a competent 3D adventure, the touch screen is hardly used at all. In fact all the developers were able to come up with is an alternative control method by utilizing the shoe, much like Super Mario 64 DS, to navigate Rayman around the screen. This does mimic an analogue stick giving you a greater degree of control over your main character but like many of these experimental DS control methods you're likely to dump it after only one session in favour of the more traditional means.

Final Comments: You do get the feeling that many of Rayman's problems have been brought on by the developer?s lack of understanding of the hardware?s capabilities and, just as importantly, its limitations. Given that this is a first generation title though this could be simply that they have not spent enough time with the new development systems. The problems begin with the visuals and the questionable, sometimes frustrating, control. It's not all bad though and because the source material was so good in the first place much of this has filtered down into this conversion. Key to this is the ever-changing game play styles ranging from puzzle solving one minute to fast arcade action the next. It's also a pretty lengthy adventure with added replay value if you wish to uncover all the collectables. Overall though Rayman DS is not likely to be remembered as the greatest 3D platformer to grace the system but if you've recently completed Super Mario 64 then this will no doubt fill the gap until the next generation of games hits the DS.

Pro: Lengthy Adventure.
Con: Muddy Visuals.
Final Score: 6.8


Reviewed by: Andrew Blanchard