Rayman DS
There’s a whole lot to do here, but sadly it’s all been done before.
Tags: Rayman DS Categories: GBA Reviews, Reviews
Posted by David Hinkle on May 3rd, 2005
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rayman DS (title page) | 1 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Platformer | No | ||
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What is up with porting all of the Nintendo 64 games to the DS? First Mario, now this? If you’re unfamiliar with it, Rayman DS is an exact port of Rayman 2: The Great Escape. While that game was stellar, a true benchmark for platforming titles, it’s just too little and too late for Nintendo’s new touch-screen system. I mean come on, at least Mario DS had all those new minigames and whatnot added on to increase the value, whereas Rayman DS is sorely lacking.
In the beginning, we find Rayman imprisoned along with several others by the notorious pirate Razorbeard. In a fit of pirate-like rage (pirates are prone to these, I think it’s all the rum), Razorbeard smashes the “Heart of the World” into 1,000 pieces (known as Lums in-game), which are scattered throughout the world. Naturally, it’s up to Rayman to find these pieces and restore order back to the “Heart of the World,” which he manages with a little bit of help from his friends.
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Initially, we are only introduced to Murfy, one of the lucky few who managed to evade Razorbeard’s imprisonment. Helping Rayman bust out, he is the first of an onslaught of colorful characters and locales that Rayman encounters along his journey. Each area and character is more diverse and colorful than the last, creating a wonderful atmosphere throughout the length of the title. The major flaw is that this is all charted territory, and with nothing new added to the mix it’s unlikely platforming fans will find enough to satiate themselves. It’s a pretty safe bet that they already played this game back when it was on the N64, PSX, PC or Dreamcast.
As one would assume, you’ll be doing a lot of leg work getting around each area. Rayman can jump and climb with the best of them, and you can bet you’ll be doing a lot of that too. Rayman’s other moves include a projectile attack and helicopter-like glide, and while each get the job done, the award for the most valuable move has to go to Rayman’s projectile attack, which needs almost no assistance in the aiming department to be successful. While the touch-screen is utilized much like in Super Mario DS as an alternative to the directional-pad for controlling your character, it doesn’t move as smoothly. It’s only natural to assume the game wouldn’t control as well as its console counterparts, which is the case here. Still, it’s surprisingly responsive throughout the length of the title, and transitioned well enough to the DS to be playable.
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The graphics are a whole different story. While it’s a straight port of the Nintendo 64’s Rayman 2, Rayman DS doesn’t manage to display as crisp of a visual. Of course, that’s not a complete surprise, what with the screen being a great deal smaller than what the console counterparts had access to. Regardless, a lot of the game is very dark, which given its light-hearted and fun nature, doesn’t work well for it. All of the characters still have their charming animations and vibrant textures, but it’s the background textures that really suffered in the jump to the handheld. The water effects really aren’t up to snuff either, but as a whole the game manages to retain a lot of its stimulating visuals.
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Musically, the game shines [Shining music? - Ed.], and with a lot of classical string compositions and up-beat tracks, you’ll find yourself humming along in no time. Along with that, all of the speech that is in-game is a form of gibberish, much along the lines of the language those Sims speak. It’s a light-hearted babble that quickly takes an affectionate place. The audio work truly is wonderful.
So, another port of a N64 game to the DS? Yes, although not as good as Mario, since it possesses none of the extra content found there. Rayman DS is a very fun title and is downright mind-blowing should you be in the unfortunate position of never having played it before. While it’s hindered by the control scheme on the DS, that doesn’t stop it from being enjoyable. So, if you’re a fan of the platforming genre and haven’t played this, then this is a game you’ll find a lot of reasons to invest your time in. For those of us who’ve been around and seen our fair share of games, nothing here is going to make us stop in our tracks.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Platforming benchmark + Fun even today + Light-hearted and just plain fun + Sound |
7.0 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- DS display doesn't do the original justice - DS gets in the way of control - Touch-screen control not all too responsive |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Just another port to the DS that fails to utilize any of the things that make the DS so appealing. Luckily for them, Mario and Rayman are both fine games on their own merits. Seeing as how Rayman hasn't gotten the same treatment as Mario, you might want to pass this up. | |
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Tags: Rayman DS
Posted by David Hinkle on May 3rd, 2005 and is filed under GBA Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
