Rayman by Ubi Soft

...One fateful day, the great protoon is stolen by Mr. Dark, an evil being! The electoons who used to gravitate around it lose their naturaly stability and scatter all over the world! Troublesome isn't it?(and untidy too!)

In this now-unbalanced world, strange phenemona begin to occur: freaks and hostile characters appear, capturing every electoon they canb find! They definately need a HERO the save them now, don't you think?

Rayman must recapture the Great Protoon from it's mysterious kidnapper, free the Electoons and reassemble them all to restore the world's harmony.

But will the bad guys let him do it?...After all, he doesn't have arms or legs...but don't panic, neither do the bad guys.

Overview:

Before this game was released, it was one of the most looked-forward-to games the Jag has ever had. Delay after delay held this game almost a year longer than expected. When released, did this game still please? You bet it did!

Rayman is more than just a solid platformer. With 65,000 colors, 60 frames per second animation, intelligent AI, non-linear gameplay, and an innovative move earning system, this game is really a step above the rest. Ubi Soft has done an excellent job.

Good graphics? You got 'em! Astounding color palette with super smooth frame rate and scrolling. No shortcuts were taken here. The animation and detail is just as good in the enemies as in the main character! Superb artwork can be found all over in this game. Sometimes there can be up to 5-6 layers of parallax scrolling too. Super lush backgrounds add to the visual experience as well.

There is a wide selection of well fitting tunes. They are pleasant cartoonish type tunes. You won't find any hard stuff here. My only gripe is that the tunes are too short. The sound effects are very cool. Great swishing and bonking sound effects all high quality. Excellent synthesizer work has gone into the game.

Gameplay is the element that boosts this game over the edge. You begin with nothing but the ability to jump. From there, youearn new abilities from the magical fairy. You can then: punch, float with your helicopter hair, plant platforms, hang, and fly with your hair. Sometimes you'll need to go back to a previously completed level to get an item you've missed with your newly aquired ability. This makes for great replay value and long game length. There are in-game powerups as well as bonus levels and hidden stuff. In each level, there are usually a couple of bosses.Huge bosses with extremely good artificial intelligence. This game is now for kids only. The difficulty in this game will greatly challenge even the most experienced gamers. Believe me, it's tough. This game is one of the must-haves for the Jag.

Graphics-10

Excellent artwork in thousands of colors and 60 frames per second animation. An unbelievable amount of detail was apparently put in.

Sound/music-9

Very good the exception of the shortness. The sound effects are a compliment to the game's theme.

Control-10

The controller becomes an extension of your mind. The most playable version says Ubi Soft's playtesters.

Power-9 1/2

Other versions pull this lush game with some nasty ol' slowdown. This is minimized is the Jag's case. Framerate is kept high and smooth almost every bit of the time.

Fun factor-10

One of the best platformers I've ever played. Totally excellent in all categories.