When you first explore levels you’ll notice plenty of platforms and hidden areas that you won’t initially be able to reach but make sure you remember these, as you’ll be granted new skills later on that allow you to take completely branching paths in the levels. The titular hero starts out with a very limited moveset – he can jump, duck and throw his fist but otherwise he’s not particularly mobile. Unfortunately, there were also times I also found it somewhat dull, meaning this isn’t one I’m likely to return to in the future. Rayman is an example of a well-made and polished 2D platformer – all the pieces here fit to make a coherent final product. Soundtrack highlight – Flight of the Mosquito Sound is the only aspect of the presentation I wasn’t as keen on – music is fine with a particularly Jazzy flavour at times, but didn’t have that same addictive quality of some of its PS1 contemporaries such as Crash and Spyro – although there are a handful of pretty songs here. Lighting is very impressive (expect both night-time zones as well as early dawn as you explore more of what the game has to offer) meaning the whole package hasn’t really aged a bit – it’s just as impressive now as it ever was. With that said, I did find some of the locations somewhat creepy (like something out of a nightmare) and I personally wasn’t a big fan of this. The environments you’ll run through are pretty gorgeous too – each looks like a hand-drawn picture stuffed with detail, whether it be all the foliage in the forest levels or the bright vibrancy of the musical levels. This extends to many of the enemies, whether it be the stuffy hunters or cutesy mosquito, they all look and move in an impressive manner. Some of the animations are brilliant – the way the wind rushes through his hair when he’s falling for example show an attention to detail that’s impressive to this day. Rayman himself seems completely bizarre as a character – with his limbless structure and massive quiff he doesn’t strike me as a platforming mascot, but it works within the confines of the game. With its vibrant colour palette, quirky character designs and inventive levels there’s plenty to love in Rayman – and thanks to its 2D design it looks surprisingly good to this day. This is a very old-school 2D platformer through and through, in that it lets its gameplay take centre stage. The actual story here is nothing to write home about – minor cutscenes in-between levels show what’s happening but there’s no dialogue and very little exposition to tell you what’s going on (although I did like that the level select was designed around the bad guy looking at you through his binoculars). Everything about it is weird and nonsensical and it feels like you’ve been transported to an alien planet, for better and for worse. One set of levels are based around music and have you riding maracas and running through crashing cymbals, while the next will have you planting seeds and escaping rising water while you dodge out of the way of hunters shooting deadly brooms. The thing that immediately stands out about Rayman is its larger-than-life world – it’s packed with little details that highlight its whimsical design. The world needs saving and there’s only one man for the job – the limbless hero Rayman. The evil Mr Dark has bested Betilla the fairly, stolen the Great Protoon from Rayman’s world and trapped the Electoons (tiny purple creatures that gravitate around it), causing chaos in the process.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |