As previously mentioned, Rayman DS is a port of Rayman 2: The Great Escape, probably the best title out of the entire Rayman series. Veterans of the series will no doubt recognise the name, though for those of us who don’t know, Rayman 2: The Great Escape (Rayman DS in this case) is the classic platform title that appeared on a menagerie of consoles during 1999. At the time, the game was labelled as being the greatest platform title since Super Mario 64. With a reputation such as that you would expect that the same could be said for Rayman DS. Frustratingly though, at some point in the process of Ubisoft's conversion, the game has picked up anumber of afflictions that simply didn't affect the original. The result is a game that seems to be a rushed conversion of something remarkable.
To refresh those nostalgic memories of our readers, or of those who haven’t experienced the game, Rayman DS begins with Admiral Razorbeard and his ambitious robot pirates with the upper hand in dominating the world. They’ve managed to shatter the mythical Heart of the World into a thousand pieces and to make matters worse, Rayman is imprisoned and powerless to defend himself. Fortunately however, Rayman soon escapes from his binds and begins his adventure to save the world from it's chaotic imprisonment.
Over the course of the game, gamers will find themselves battling through various environments in a bid to finally restore the world to it’s rightful state and to finally defeat Admiral Razorbeard, once and for all. Many levels in the game present a mildly different style of platforming gameplay than the next, ensuring things don't get to stale. At one stage you’ll find yourself jumping from platform to platform - in true platforming fashion - whilst the next you’ll find yourself in the depths of a lava embedded cave as Rayman uses his helicopter ears to float around to safe land. Each level is filled with some amazing platforming fun and the game truly uses the ‘platform’ genre as it’s selling point. There’s a variety of gameplay sequences where you’ll be swimming under water, jet skiing on top of a long-necked creature, floating on a huge-purple grape on the fiery lava surface and even exploring the depths of the world on foot. In summary, it sounds like a perfect mix for a splendid platform title right? Well unfortunately, that isn’t the case with Rayman DS.
Don’t fall, or we’ll be having barbecued Rayman…
Whilst the story and the gameplay elements are intact - and are easily this game’s strongest points - the title turns into a much more frustrating outing when the new 'additions' to the game are taken into consideration. Probably one of the most recognisable problems with this game on first sight is it’s graphics. With a system that is supposedly capable of rendering similar graphics to those of Nintendo’s N64, Rayman DS looks positively outdated, a far cry from the graphical output that the DS is capable of producing. The textures featured in Rayman DS are rough and hard to distinguish, and the 3D models and animations look extremely weak and are sometimes laughable. It's bizarre in a franchise that has always been visually polished. At times it’s almost like Ubisoft have decided to pass off one of their most treasured games to a group of wannabe coders on work experience.
The environments are often hard to distinguish, as are the textures on the ground and on the surrounding environment. It’s often hard to distinguish if you’re looking at a cave entry or a darker shade of grass on the walls. It may not sound like a problem, but this isn’t something that occurs once or twice, but can be experienced in almost all of the various environments you encounter - trying to find the entrance to a cave when the cave entrances all look like big patches of moss is understandably frustrating, and results in trial-and-error gameplay that's about as much fun as root canal surgery.
Another indication of the poor standard of visuals is the structure of the levels themselves. On occasions a white-line will appear where the environment’s ground and wall are suppose to meet. It’s something you could forgive if you only witnessed it once or twice throughout the entire game, but it’s something that appears constantly and just highlights the lack of care taken with the game. Frankly, it smacks of rushed development. In addition, if this wasn’t already enough, there are a few ‘graphical gaps’ where Rayman will jump to a different platform in the level and will suddenly disappear, entirely!
Spot the cave.
In addition to Rayman DS’s graphics, wrestling with the game’s controls is another needlessly difficult task. Unfortunately, the DS doesn’t include the luxury of having an analog stick, and therefore is destined to suffer through it’s conversion from a game that was once based off the analog stick to a game that uses a touch-screen analog stick that doesn’t feel as precise and as natural as a traditional analog stick. Similar to Super Mario 64 DS, Rayman DS uses a touch-screen analog stick in an attempt to mimic the original’s controls. In this case, Rayman DS uses a control stick that sits in a fixed position and functions like a usual analog stick. Gamers have the ability to change the analog’s position and it’s sensitivity, depending on your taste.
Whilst the idea sounds like a competent one on paper, controlling Rayman correctly is actually a wholly joyless experience. The analog controls are extremely sluggish, and it's often difficult to move in your desired direction because of this. Thankfully, the D-Pad is slightly more player-friendly. With the D-Pad you’ll be able to precisely control where you want Rayman to move. The only downfall in this style is that Rayman is in a continuous running motion, which ruins the sneaking sequences and the areas that require precise movement.
Another obvious flaw in this game is it’s dreadful camera work. On most occasions gamers will need to adjust the camera before every jump. The camera is frustratingly awkward to witness whilst in the game. The camera fixes a behind-the-back view when you don’t need it and on other occasions jumps to a bird eye’s view that makes it impossible to view what’s in front of you, such as enemies and where exactly you’ll be jumping next.
When it all comes down to the end, Rayman DS is an above-average game. It’s unfortunate though. Rayman DS has a very enjoyable, funny and captivating story and the inclusion of some spectacular gameplay features that makes this game an amazing platform title. Although, this once fantastic platformer title has been struck down into a very sluggish and amateurish conversion and leaves us here at PALGN questioning what exactly happened? The long delay, of it’s original November release in the U.S, was a promise to include an all-new multiplayer function for the DS, although it obviously never made it and it leaves us wondering what exactly were the development team doing instead of adding it.
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