Rayman Arena

The latest consequence of the ?Party Game Clause? they?ve been tacking on to mascot characters? contracts since 1996.

Despite having aspirations of being the PS2 answer to Mario Party, Rayman Arena is pretty much just an average mascot racing game in a shifty party game disguise. Much like the titular mascot, this game doesn?t have legs.

Party of One
Even though Rayman Arena is made up of several types of multiplayer mini-games, the race is the star of the Rayman Arena show as you jump, hover, and run laps around 3D platform-style obstacle courses, setting off traps and finding shortcuts in an attempt to be the first to the finish line. Rayman Arena?s single-player race mode actually holds up surprisingly well for a ?party? game with a comfortable amount of challenge and a pretty hefty amount of goodie-and-level unlocking to do. While the basic one-player race mode is pretty frantic and fun itself, obsessive-compulsive gamers will find a lot to like about the Popolopoi and Lums modes, in which you race around the track three times, collecting as many butterflies (or Lums) as possible?meaning you?re gonna have to take a trip down pretty much every possible racing pathway at least once.

Controlling Rayman and his gaggle of robot/pirate/frog friends is simple and tight (as in Rayman 2); the graphics pop with color and character (as in Rayman 2); and the game maintains a good frame rate even in four-player split-screen mode. The music is kinda groovy, too, despite the presence of one or two wholly obnoxious bouncy rock tracks.

Multiple Personality Disorder
As a multiplayer game, though, the fun doesn?t last quite as long as it should, mostly because there?s really not much to it. Rayman Arena?s races don?t have the pick-up-and-play factor required of most party games, and you?ll find that whoever did all the single-player unlocking knows all the secrets and shortcuts, and as a result, tends to win all the time.

The game would have much longer multiplayer legs if the three more pick-up-and-play-oriented ?Battle? modes didn?t feel so much like afterthoughts or remnants of never-implemented Rayman 2 Bonus Mini-Games with uncreative and repetitive objectives (get, shoot, or chase), uninspired arena layouts, and an epileptic camera that turns four-player split-screen battles into limbless French chaos. Most of the fun here comes from the absurdity of watching your giant idiot frog inflate itself rhythmically before juggling and consuming its own eyes.

S?il Vous Pla?t, Aidez-Moi, Je N'ai Pas des Jambes
So non, ce n?est pas Mario Party?but then again, what on the PS2 is? Rayman Arena might be enough to tide cultish Rayman fans over ?til his third real adventure arrives?though anyone looking for goofy multiplayer mayhem should probably just buy themselves a GameCube and a copy of Super Monkey Ball.

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