Rayman Review

What do you call a creature with no arms and no legs in a video game?

Ubi Soft's answer is Rayman! All is not well in Rayman's world. The mystical Great Protoon that maintains the peace has been stolen by the evil Mister Dark. What's more, the cute little Electoons that used to hang around the Protoon(Get it?) have been scattered throughout the world. Without the Protoon and Electoons, hostile creatures begin to appear and capture all the loose Electoons. Who can save them? Why Rayman, of course!

One of Ubi Soft's first ventures into the gaming market, Rayman is a cute little character perfect for little kids. The game, however, is difficult enough to challenge even the most adult of us. There is one major problem with Rayman that Ubi Soft apparently failed to see: How do you make an action figure of a creature with no arms and no legs?

The cartoon graphics of this game are very entertaining. From the pith helmets of the enemies, to the photographers at the save points, the designers sense of humor is apparent. You even have the ability to stick out your tongue and make a funny face whenever you want. One glitch appears to be the ability to have three hands. To attack an enemy, you throw your fist across the screen. If you look real closely, however, Rayman still has two hands no matter what you do.

Groove to the beat of some cool baselines. Well, the music isn't that good, but it does work well with the game. If you're in a green pasture, the music is light and airy; if you're in a land of drums and horns, that's all you hear. The designers matched the music to the scenes perfectly. Ubi Soft also put together a lot of fantastic sound effects at key points in the game. If Rayman is walking on a bongo drum, a hollow sound is emitted. Rayman's sound effects and music are one of the best parts of this game.

The control does take getting used to and is annoying at times. Every few levels, Rayman gets a new ability that takes a long time to get used to. Unfortunately, you are expected to use that new ability almost immediately, and that, of course, leads you to losing a lot of your lives.

Another problems is the Electoons. Much like the Chaos Gems in Sonic the Hedgehog, you are expected to save all the Electoons in every level of Rayman. The only difference being that saving the Electoons is mandatory. This sub-plot can be annoying and downright aggravating at times.

Rayman is a perfect example of a game that is better on the Saturn than on any other system. The Saturn is able to produce a better two dimensional game than the PlayStation. More game companies should take advantage of that, instead of producing mediocre games.