Rayman Advance Game by UBI Soft Reviewed by Philip Wesley Size: 32 megabits (4 megabytes) Save: Battery 3 save spots. Rated: E for Everyone (Mild animated violence, and Mosquito bashing.) Works with: Game Boy Advance and above. **************************************************************************** Opening Snide Remarks: It's a port of the award winning PC, and Play Station game called Rayman. You play as a weird looking guy with no arms or legs. Rayman must rescue some other odd things and use his odd moves to defeat an odd assortment of weird foes. Yay. It has all the trappings of a generic side-scroller; so why is Rayman so popular? Why is he considered to be so good? Well, let's take a little look at Rayman's Game Boy Advance game! **************************************************************************** Gameplay Descripion: When you first start out in Rayman's adventure, you can't even attack the enemies. You see, punching is a talent that Rayman learns later in the game. And that's why this game is so acclaimed. Rayman learns a nice variety of moves and each of those moves must be used to rescue some weird things from a cage to get further in the game. Each of Rayman's powers allows him to get to new areas. So, he will need to go back to previous levels to rescue the "toons" or something and stop Mr. Dark. The plot is silly; but the game does provide some great challenge and the levels are varied enough to be interesting. There are levels where things chase you, bonus levels, levels with special powers, and lots and lots of jumping platform action. The challenge is just right and the game is very fun, if not rather weird. The bosses are weird looking, and the whole thing is just a trip to play. It's nice! Liked: It's challengeing and the powers give it more then your average platform game has. Fun, if not a bit odd. Hated: My be too hard for some players? Also, Rayman is an aquired taste. He's cool but his games are just weird beyond belief. **************************************************************************** Graphics Description: Don't do drugs, kiddies. Don't do drugs. But, if you did drugs like LSD or pumped pure MDMA into your blood stream, you would probably have visuals similar to this game before you died. (Yes, kiddies! Drugs KILL! And being dead sucks; because you don't get to play Game Boy Advance or read DMG Ice when you are dead! So, don't be dead. Being dead isn't cool.) The graphics are bright, colorful, and full of life. Fancy rotation, and huge enemies with a decidingly bizzare look to them that screams psychosis. Rayman is smoothly animated; and his enemies are also smoothly animated. Everything is graceful. But also a tad zoomed in; and there's the graphical problem with the game. A lot of muddy pixels in various areas and that just seems wrong. Liked: The graphics are trippy! Look at the floating Buddha men! Hated: The "Moskito" looks so incredibly Fruedian that one can not help but wonder what is wrong with the people who made this game. And the first time you fight the Moskito, Rayman "befriends" it after beating it up. The little sequence after that is by far the most disturbing thing I have seen yet. It even tops the first cut-scene in Quest For Camelot for Game Boy Color. **************************************************************************** Sound/Music Description: The music and sound effects seem to be playing in a metal tube. What the Hell? The music isn't catchy, nor are the sound effects worthy of comment; but they do the trick. However, they sound like they have been stored in a hollow metal tube. It's hard to describe; but it isn't very astounding. In fact, it's a tad not cool. Liked: Decent.... Hated: But hollow sounding. Like it's in a metal tube. **************************************************************************** Play Control/Game Design: Level design and play control are spot on. No real problem there. The game is a tad zoomed in making it a little harder to judge jumps then if it was zoomed out slightly. However, it's a great port of an above average game. Liked: It's good stuff. Hated: It's difficult at times; because of it's incredibly zoomed in graphic style. **************************************************************************** Improve: Zoom out, fix the sound. RIYL: Trippy French Platform games, platform games in general, Rayman. **************************************************************************** Final Words: I have had dreams about that Moskito and I blame UBI Soft for the horror afflicted unto me. Damn Dirty Moskito. **************************************************************************** Score Gameplay: ***** Graphics: ***** Sound/Music: ** Play Control/Game Design: **** Personal Opinion: *** Total: 19/25 Final Score: 76% **************************************************************************** Currently Known Codes: "OFF" is available in your local stores and it works pretty well to keep Moskitos away. Also, to keep ticks from crawling on your legs, apply under arm deodorant to the lower part of your legs. For some reason, that keeps you from getting ticks.