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Rayman 2: The Great Escape Review
Noel Brady
00/12/0000
Is Rayman as good on the N64, only time and this review will tell.
A jointless character featured a very unique, colorful look blended with jaw dropping background graphics and, to top everything off, rock solid gameplay mechanics back in 1996 on the Jaguar. This limbless character later made his way to the Saturn and eventually the Playstation. Back then Rayman was one of the best games in it's class. Now, it's kiddy fare in the die hard world of Playstation platformers.
However, Rayman was successful enough to warrant a sequel and Ubisoft are using this chance just to show what use they can make of a small piece of plastic. Even Nintendo's Mario will be worrying when he sees what the limbless one has to offer. After all in recent months the french star has stolen the spotlight by starring in his own cartoon series and becoming a lucrative franchise for Ubisoft who are reaping the rewards.
Rayman has returned to his home planet only to find that a band of dastardly intergalactic pirates - are there any other kind? - have popped in for a visit and are busy enslaving the populace. Unfortunately Rayman only discovers this when the pirates capture him and throw him into a cell on their ship, so that is where the game begins.
The first task is to escape - once that's accomplished, Rayman must then track down his various friends in order to find out exactly what has happened since he's been away, and from there work out how he's going to go about setting things right. It transpires that the pirates have shattered the magical core of the planet which supplies everything with life energy, so Rayman must find and collect all the pieces to restore order. In addition, to defeat the pirates Rayman must first wake a chap called Polokus, and for this he needs to recover four masks which have been hidden at various secret locations. It goes without saying then that he's got his work cut out for him!
Rayman 2 is a very traditional platformer that is executed extremely well. Players take control of the jointless main character through 45 differing environments, each with their own unique puzzles and challenge. All of that traditional platformer stuff you'd expect of such a game is, of course, standard. This includes the variety of moves: running, swimming, flying, jumping, hovering, climbing, grabbing, shooting and more. But there are some extras in the control department you might not think about. Rayman can strafe left and right, for example. He can also target enemies and objects. He can swing through the air, hang from vines, ride rockets, hide in bushes, and even use his friends' abilities to his advantage. It all comes together wonderfully with brilliantly tight control that is, when mixed with the game's puzzles, environments and quest, nothing short of addictive.
One of the most important items in the game are the lums. Lums are strange glowing pieces of energy with little wings. The yellow ones are the shattered pieces of the planet core and you need to find them all in order to complete the game. Red lums give you more energy, blue lums give you air when you're underwater and purple circular lums can be used to swing from place to place, Tarzan-style. You need to use all the lums in conjunction with Rayman's various abilities in order to complete the game. While you don't need to collect all the lums to complete a level, if you do manage to collect all of, say, the red ones you may get a bonus stage.
Rayman happily trots through the lush 3D environments in the game picking up the various lums. But this is hardly the character's only task. There are also cages that must be found and opened, shells that must be utilized to gain access across otherwise uninhabitable terrain, magic spheres that open new areas, and carefully hidden switches that reveal doorways. Players must use their wits and all of these items in order to solve some of the game's refreshing puzzles and advance.
Rayman 2 is one of, if not, the prettiest 3D platformer ever. The game is an amazing sight to behold from start to finish. Every level is lovingly detailed; textures are crisp, animation is smooth, environments stylised and colourful -- we could go on and on. With the 4MB Expansion Pak, Rayman 2 runs in a semi-high-resolution mode that, somehow, is just as fast as the standard, but much more slick. Even more impressive is the speed at which the game moves and the smoothness of the animation. When you see Rayman hopping about you pretty much expect at least a bit of lag in the controls because surely something which looks so nice can't respond perfectly too? But it does. Control over Rayman is absolute, as he runs, jumps, rolls, flies, hangs and otherwise makes his way around the incredibly detailed levels of the game.
The camera is extremely intelligent, zooming in and panning out where appropriate to give you the best view of proceedings. On the odd occasion where the camera doesn't give a perfect shot of things, the camera buttons make fixing the view very simple. And most importantly, the camera never results in an untimely death - the most you are likely to suffer is a second or so of disorientation.
The game's remarkably smooth framerate can be attributed -- at least in part -- to the fact that the title doesn't feature very many 3D polygonal characters on-screen at once. If you're expecting to do battle with a never-ending army of enemies, you're going to be disappointed. The game is more about solving puzzles and progressing through the environments than it is battling pesky Robo-Pirates. One look at the lush worlds in this game and you won't care if there is one enemy to be found in the entire adventure anyway. Rayman 2 is, without a doubt, one of Nintendo 64's most visually stunning experiences.
Flawless control; huge, stretching worlds; extremely clever puzzles; loads of variety. And it's all brought together with some of the very best graphics yet seen on Nintendo 64. This is a deep, rich platformer that must be experienced. If you're after a top-notch highly addictive 3D adventure game then Rayman 2 is the one to go for.
