Rayman Advance
Reviewed by James Wardle
Hey Hey, no need to get mad at me with the tag-line
^_^. Rayman is a great character, but I couldn't
resist the joke! Anyway, the 1995 / 1996 Platform
game for the Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn is now
on the Game Boy Advance. Rayman Advance is a bit more
like the Playstation version, rather than the Saturn version.
Graphics - 10 : Rayman Advance pushes the Gameboy
Advance to the limit, the game is actually pushing
the Gameboy Advance off the edge, as it looks so
good. Looking at the game from a Playstation or
Saturn view might not look that pleasant, but this is
the Gameboy Advance, and Rayman has great graphics
for a portable machine, it'll be years before you'll
be playing Final Fantasy VII on any handheld machine.
The cut scenes/Picture scenes in the game look
fantastic, and are in great detail, and sometimes add
humor. The graphics are in great detail, even every
ting have lightning effects coming off it. Now for
the Character animations, They have no slow down, and
act great, The detail in the animations are also
great, if you jump with Rayman, his hair, arms, head
and body will move as well! Genius or what?
The backgrounds look very.. French (Maybe because its
a weird and French game), but they still look
gorgeous and they are hand-painted.
Storyline - 8 : The Great Protoon provides Energy and
Balance for Rayman's world. Mister Dark, a sinister
evil, who is less scary then anything you've seen on
Scooby Doo, steals the Great Protoon. Betilla the
fairy, tried to stop this Mister Dark, but she wasn't
powerful enough, leading to her defeat (This Mister
Dark isn't really a gentleman). A little later,
strange and horrible monsters like, walking black
dots and tall green men with funny little hats are
terrorizing Raymans world.... and its up to one man
to stop him (Look at the title of the game to find out who.)
Sound and Music - 7 : If you have played one of the
other versions of Rayman, you'll notice that it has
great sound, and the sound and music is the only
thing which lets Rayman down, it is not converted
from the Playstation very well, but it "IS" listen able.
What the game is missing, it is the Voice Acting. The
voice acting in the playstation was good, and very
funny, but since the Gameboy Advance is a handheld,
it can only handle a little voice acting (like Super
Mario Advance) but maybe Broken Sword Advance can
change that...
Gameplay - 10 : Rayman handles like a dream in Rayman
Advance, and is easy to control. The D-PAD moves him,
the A button makes our limbless friend jump, the B
button likes him punch and the R button lets him
frighten monsters by sticking his tongue out (These
French games have genius ideas!)
There are lots of long and challenging levels in the
game, each taking a while to complete, that means
finding all the electoons. Electoons are locked in a
cage, and you need to free them by punching the cage,
but many cages are guarded by flying sweeping brushes
(You heard me), Maniacs with guns and green men.
Every-so-often, you'll get in to a boss fight, these
are sometimes challenging, and the bosses are
comical, and very very weird, like a massive
saxophone and A alien housewife which uses rolling
pins, there are many more, but I wouldn't want to
give too much away.
Each level is different, and has its own
environments, like one might have a huge lake,
another might have a giant hull with spikes all the
way down, leading to puzzles on what you can do to
carry on. Rayman Advance is split in to a few worlds,
like grasslands, a Music world, a Pen, Pencil and
Ruler world and a few more. There are a few
mini-games in the game, like riding a mosquito, these
are also fun, as well as vital to Raymans journey.
Replaybility - 10 : Rayman Advance will take ages to
complete. There are quite a few cages on each level
to get, and for some, you'll need to return later
when you get new moves. This will last for ages,
since it is challenging and jam-packed with things to do.
Overall - 9 : A Brilliant conversation, which is a
great launch game for the Gameboy Advance. A few more
tweaks in the sound could of gave this game a 10.
This game is great, and you should part your cash if
you like platforming games. Go on, Treat yourself.
Overall: 9 out of 10