Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc
- March 19, 2003 00:00 AM PST
Everyone�s favorite no-arms-havin�, no-legs-havin� Frenchman returns to hurl his appendages at a whole new batch of Hoodlums.
When you�re talking about movies, sequels are generally far inferior to the original films. When you�re talking about games, it�s usually the opposite�their follow-ups are generally more polished, more fully realized, and more fun. Apparently Rayman 3 thinks it came from Hollywood.
But What If the Giant Has No Shoulders?
No one really expected the sequel to a pretty OK 2D French PlayStation game about a limbless Fraggle-man with an �O� on his shirt to be any good�but by golly, Rayman 2 for the Dreamcast turned out to be something fantastic, a magically playable, superlatively beautiful 3D platformer that could stand on a weird mushroom next to Mario. Rayman 3 undoubtedly contains pieces of what made the last one great�but ultimately our hero stands in the shadow of his former European glory.
Rayman 3 feels like a somewhat less polished, slightly more incoherent version of Rayman 2�which is very odd for the sequel to such a magical game. The control feels looser and not quite as refined; you�ll find yourself slipping off platforms and missing your jumps way more than you did in Rayman 2. Fighting against the Hoodlums (the game�s main enemy) winds up being more chaotic than fun. And the camera�probably the biggest culprit in the game�s problem prison�is hyper and hard to work with. All of this is a bit disappointing, given Rayman 2�s elegance.
Where Rayman 3 doesn�t disappoint is on the artistic level. This is a very, very pretty game with lots of nice lighting, surreal colors, creative backdrops, and cool boss oddities to behold. And the frame rate stays sky-high, except for a few intermittent jitters. The game also features some truly unique and wonderful music (the theme in the early part of the Swamp is quite notable), but the soundtrack is prone to distracting fits and starts that sound like mistakes, and certain sound effects seem slapped together and inappropriate. There are lots and lots of voices, too, but very few capture the charming (and very foreign) magic of Rayman 2�now the game�s inhabitants just sound like obnoxious Americans.
French Twist
While most of the game is your standard run/jump/collect/smack 3D platform fare, there are a few twists this time around to make things more interesting. Rayman�s powers (his ability to �grapple� and swing on purple lums, for example) are no longer permanent�now, special canisters appear containing timed power-ups (such as guided missiles or door-breaking knuckle-gloves) when Rayman completes a certain task, like clearing out a group of enemies or finding a hidden switch or caged creature. As a result, most levels take on a two-tiered nature: clear out the enemies and hit all the switches, then take a step back and figure out how to �race� through the area using the unlocked power-ups. It�s an interesting gameplay mechanic that keeps the levels from being too linear.
Parts Is Parts
While Rayman 3 is a good game, it�s a victim of heightened expectations�and the devoted cult of Rayman 2 worshippers is bound to be disappointed. The game suffers from the same problem as its hero�the pieces are all there, but there�s nothing really holding them together.
