Introduction
Rayman 3, the sequel to one of the greatest games ever…Rayman 2. There was Rayman 2, a fantastic game, then in between there were a few terrible Rayman games, and now finally a sequel that wasn't put together in a night. A really deserving sequel, a game that even Ubi Soft decided to fully credit being a sequel and not a piece of crap. Rayman has always been about fast action platform fun. Rayman 3 is a good game but it still has it's shortcomings in some areas.

Graphics - 9.0
The graphics of the game are very good. The FMV cut scenes are really nice and quite well done. The levels just shine in terms of beauty. They look like fully pre-rendered levels, but clearly they are not. Smooth frame rate and not even a hint of slowdown. Great simple clear colors, brilliant effects and amusing animations sum it up.

Sound - 9.0
The game sound is really good. The music in some areas is really good, and in other areas it is okay, but overall it is good. The voice cast is great, and the voice acting is superb. The people really act it out well and overall put a lot of effect into this funny game. Yes, the game is very funny, and it may not have been as funny had the parts not been acted out so well. The only downfall would be that the music in some areas is not as good and can very rarely be even irritating; but as a downfall, that is a very small one.

Control - 8.5
The controls are just fine. They are standard for any platform. The camera control with the C-Stick just isn't enough though sometimes. There are some pre-set camera angles in some areas and sometimes they just don't work, and the camera with the C-Stick just doesn't move around fast enough sometimes. The R button works as an "R-Targeting" kind of thing that sets the camera behind you if there isn't a preset camera. Well, it essentially works like the Z-Targeting (or L-Targeting) in Zelda. Unfortunately it gets a bit irritating. With the R-Targeting, you simply can move around while maintaining aim at your opponent, but the direction you move affects the direction in which you attack your enemy. Unfortunately this can get kind of irritating in the places you are, but really this issue doesn't come up too much, but it'll happen. The aiming or targeting function just becomes an issue when there are a lot of enemies and you're not always hitting the one you want or other things like that.

Challenge - 8.0
The challenge? This game isn't very difficult, but it keeps it challenging enough so that it isn't overly easy, but most fans of the Rayman series or platform game fans in general won't have too much trouble beating it. There are many different modes of gameplay in the game and many of them are more or less challenging than the others, this all helps mix it up a little so it isn't too linear.

Fun Factor - 8.0
The game is fun. The platform puzzle based, action levels are fun. The add-in of changing levels and changing gameplay is also nice, but unfortunately I found it to be a bit disappointing in one sense. I found that there wasn't enough changing in the gameplay as Rayman 2. There wasn't a single slide and the whole combo system really seems weak. Mostly though that is just me griping about it in comparison to Rayman 2. The combo system I mentioned earlier is just their way of adding replay. You can play and attempt to collect points by collecting gems beating enemies, and doing all sorts of things. If you can do it faster and better, you can get a better score! Then you can go online and post this score for a global competition to see who has the highest score. The system just seems annoying at times in trying to unlock things in the game. The points unlock bonus mini-games and hidden videos in the game. The bonus games can be fun at first, but then later they just get tedious and annoying, nothing really to come back for. The most fun to be had with the game is in the single player story mode, which is good. There isn't as much diversity in gameplay as there had been in Rayman 2, but overall, it is a good game that will be enjoyable.

Conclusion - 8.0
This game is good, but not as good as Rayman 2 in my opinion. It looks better, sounds better, is funnier, the story is more entertaining, the characters are more lovable, but in Rayman 2 the gameplay was so diverse, always enjoyable, never as tedious as Rayman 3 could be at times. Now, although Rayman 3 is half the game Rayman 2 was, that doesn't mean that Rayman 3 is a bad game. It is a good game overall, still probably a really great buy, and I definitely recommend it, but probably as a rental. It's one of those games you may play again one day, but that day would probably be a few years from now.

Apr 22, 2003 | 2 comments
Anuj Agrawal