Rayman

The Good
On the graphics area, this game does a very good job. Everything is colorful and alive. There's a lot of attention to details. For example, there are butterflies flying around and big dancing flowers on the ground. Everything is animated beautiful and the backgrounds are simply excellent to look at. The gameplay is good too. Rayman moves smooth and as he gets further into the game, he gains more and more powers. The difficulty steadily grows and it will take a while before you get the hang of a certain level. The story is good enough too. The Evil Mr. Dark has stolen the Great Protoon, which provides and maintains harmony and balance in Rayman's world. He defeats Betilla the fairy, who is the Protoon's guardian, and flees too his hideout. Evil guys start capturing the friendly electoons. Rayman now must travel through the six worlds. Along the way you'll find cages with electoons. After you break all of the cages in th first five worlds you can go to the last world where Mr. Dark resides. The six worlds are: Dream Forest, Band Land, Blue Mountains, Caves of Skops, Picture City, and Candy Chateau. They are varied and have excellent level design. There are many fun twists such as flying on a bug, floating on a plum and sliding down cake cream. Rayman has weird and fun powers such as a power fist and helicopter hair, which he gains by reaching Betilla. Enemies are smart and not always so easily defeated. Finally, this game has amazing sound for it's time that really is atmospheric and you will soon find yourself humming along with the beautiful tunes.

The Bad
This game is far too hard, even just halfway the game, the levels are very challenging, making you feel you,ll never complete this game since the later worlds are even harder. This feeling becomes even stronger when you read the manual which says you need to break each cage in the first five worlds to reach Mr. Dark. I also found that the levels, although varied and well designed, didn't have very original themes. Themes like forests, caves, candy and music have been used in many games such as Zool, Jazz Jackrabbit, and off course Mario.

The Bottom Line
Although it looks and plays well, the levels are too hard and not very original. However Rayman's powers and characters and absolutely worth a look. If you are a platform gaming expert, and looking for a real challenge in this genre, you'll like this. If you are looking for a less big challenge but still a good challenge you'll be better off with one of it's sequels.

The Good
I think the good things about this game is that you earn special abilities, unlike most games, where you start out with them and then have no challenge. I also like the fact you can punch much farther than an inch. Plus,it's darn funny, for example, fish sometimes fly outta ponds or lakes to knock you down and if you punch them they smile and their teeth crack and fall out. And last, the awesome classic backgrounds, the forests and mountains are breath-taking!

The Bad
Sometimes it's a small bit...ummm...childish. Like the first boss is a bug, which is cool but when you defeat him rayman walks up, pats him on the back, they become friends so easily, and rayman rides this bug around for the entire next level.

The Bottom Line
I'd say it's the game to look for, it's just... FUN!

The Good
In the classic console war of PlayStation vs Sega Saturn, the Saturn always came out as having the more vibrant colours and running faster (at least concerning 2D games) – this game is very much the living proof of that. Rayman looks so stunning, it holds up to today’s standards with no sweat. The graphics are simply phenomenal, with a huge colour palette and very nicely done animations (some of which the PlayStation version lacks). The music in Rayman is also very good, being on par with the graphics in what concerns the overall “pretty” look the game has to offer. It has a wonderful array of instruments at its disposal, and the arrangements are lovely. The gameplay is quite adequate for the game type, and the use of newfound powers to overcome obstacles is nicely done. The bosses are also entertaining and varied, which is a plus.

The Bad
There is only one flaw I’d point to this game – the (sometimes) utterly unfair difficulty. Some areas of the game are just plain simply frustrating, to the point of making many-a-gamer to simply give up on the game. My personal advice? Don’t do it – playing the game ends up being a rewarding experience.

The Bottom Line
Rayman is a game that at first glance seems very appealing (and it is), but which also possesses the capability to steer gamers away due to its frustrating difficulty. If you are able to persevere, you will find yourself immersed into a true fairy-tale world, filled with beauty and awe-inspiring sets and music.