Review by ChocoRider

"A good game, but 2, I'm afraid, is better."

When I bought Rayman 3 for Gamecube, I was expecting it to be another classic Rayman game. I never bought it, but I rented Rayman 2 and fell in love with it. I loved the strange world Rayman inhabited, along with all the funny characters that you could find. Sadly, though, this failed to satisfy my lust for another Rayman 2. Why? Read on...

Graphics 10/10
No complaints here. Every level is very well designed, and the Rayman style is back and better than ever. The FMV's don't live up to Squaresoft's, but then again, not much does. The character animations are also very smooth in the game, and it can be very entertaining to watch Globox's actions when he swallows a barrel of Plum Juice.

Sound 10/10
Not many complaints here, either. The tunes fit each world very well, and are easy to listen to. The voice acting, unlike most video games, is quite good. The switch from strange gibberish to understandable English works in this game, although I don't really like Globox's new voice. However, this opens up some very funny conversations. I won't tell you what happens between Globox and the Teensie scientists, but it's very funny.

Gameplay 6/10
This is where Rayman most suffers. While at first it's fun to beat up the same enemies for a while, it eventually get's very boring. In the last game, I enjoyed all the action sequences, like when you're running and jumping on and across collapsing bridges while some pirates try to blow you to bits. Or when you're sliding down a slippery slide, with a nasty enemy on you're tail. You won't find that here, too much. I admit, the Teensie Highway is quite fun. It's like skateboarding, but on very narrow paths through some very funky places. But, that wasn't enough to keep me from missing Rayman 2. The lack of different worlds is also very noticeable, where in the last game, I loved seeing all the different areas of Rayman's world. In this game, you'll spend over 5 levels in certain areas, and the scenery doesn't differ much between them What's most annoying, though, is the point system. Who came up with that idea?? It works if there are lots of enemies in every level, but theyre isn't. There's a few enemies that are kind of hard, but they're all spread out. You can't do combos when the next enemy is over a minute away. Still, the gameplay isn't REALLY bad, but it's lacking some of what made Rayman 2 shine.

Control 9/10
If you're a beginner at video games, it might take you a little while to learn all the different moves Rayman can do. If you're more experienced, though, it's easy.

Story 10/10
No complaints. It's not an RPG, so the story doesn't matter much. But, this story is quite entertaining and VERY funny. You will, without a doubt, laugh several times before this is over.

Overall rating: 7
Gameplay, the most important part of an action game, doesn't shine much in this. That's pretty much the only reason I don't give this a 10.

Buy or rent?
I would say rent, as it isn't very long and there isn't a whole lot of replay value. Once you're done, that's pretty much it. The multiplayer games aren't a whole lot of fun, so I didn't feel any need to go back and get them. Still, if you're a Rayman fanatic, you might very well enjoy this game. As for me, well...I wish I had rented it first.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10 | Originally Posted: 09/02/03


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