Rayman 3 Hoodlum Havoc – PS2 – Review

It is the year of the sequels thus far, from Dynasty
Warriors 4 to the new Jak II, there are a lot of games that are getting another
game made using the same characters, hoping to create and continue a mighty
franchise. Ubi Soft has released a continuation of their limbless hero: Rayman.
Does this game have what it takes to compete with the other platformers on
the market? Read on to find out!

The story goes as follows: Rayman lives in a peaceful world that is populated
with various creates, one of the main ones is called Lums. One day, Rayman’s
best friend, Globox, accidentally swallowed the evil dark Lum: Andre. This
happened because he was trying to save Rayman, but instead he swallowed Andre,
and now must live with this creature jumping inside his stomach. To clam this
malicious Lum, Globox must drink plum juice, the only problem with this is
that he is allergic to it. Rayman must find a way to get rid of this evil Lum,
and save his friend. As the game progresses, players will find that there is
an evil motivee behind all of this, and it is up to them to stop it. The question
remains: Do you have the strength to accomplish this?

Rayman has a myriad of upgrades that he will be able to obtain throughout
this game through different colored powder, they are green, red, blue,
orange, and yellow. The Green can is the vortex that will give Rayman the ability
to boost a whirly burst of energy, or a tornado, out of his fists. The Red
can is a Heavy Metal first, which gives him the power to knock things over,
or demolish them. The Blue can is Lockjaw, which is a grapping hook, and it
can hit enemies taking a “chunk” out of their lives. The shock rocket is contained
in the orange can. It will give him the power to destroy stuff from long distances
that you cannot normally reach. The Yellow can contains the Throttle copter,
which will allow Rayman to teleport to other parts of the world, which he cannot
normally get to.

There are many bonuses to be had in this game, and the more points you get
the more of a reward players will receive. There are two ways to get points,
get rid of any enemies seen, or by picking up items, such as the jewels spread
across the world. Whenever points are being made, a combo meter appears, the
more things you do, the higher the combo meter rises, and the more points players
will obtain. Players only have a few seconds to get more points, because the
combo meter will only stay up as long as players are collecting points. Also
if a player is using any superpower, any points they receive, are multiplied
by two. It is always a good idea to pick up anything when Rayman is powered
up. Players than uses these points to unlocked bonus level or hidden videos,
this is a great incentive to find everything there is in any level, to see
what can be unlocked.

Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc is rated E for Everyone and contains comic mischief
and Violence. It will take up 77kb on your memory card.


Gameplay: 8.3
Anyone who has played the previous Rayman games will feel right at home with
this latest edition. The game plays exactly like it, but has a few additional
upgrades to keep it somewhat fresh. All of the new moves are really good and
flow into the game really well. The only let down is that in previous Rayman
games, players got to obtain upgrades, and got to use them from tat point on,
these upgrades are only good for about a minute, so it can be frustrating at
times when you run out of one, right when you need it most, but it also helps
keep the game challenging.

Graphics: 8.5
Rayman 3 expounds upon its graphics in Rayman 2 by making the world
seem more alive, and have more dreary levels instead of always seeming upbeat
like the previous game. The wildest looking levels are when players jump in-between
levels, with the wild neon colors flying all around; it will take players for
a trip they will not forget. The game has a lot of textures and looks brilliant,
with little to no drop in frame rate at all.

Sound: 9.0
I am a big believer in having great sound effects, music, and voice acting
in a game, this one portion can make or break any game. Rayman 3 passes with
shinning colors! The voice acting in this game is a riot. There are many one-liners
that will catch the gamers off guard, and make fun of all platforming games,
including their own. Some lines are similar to: “Who writes these manuals, does
anyone even read them anyways?”, and many other things that will have you rolling.
Ubi Soft did an excellent job in this area.

The sound effects used are really well done, from all of the little things, to
the bigger things. Each of these effects is crystal clear and sound really nice
through a surround sound set up. The music for this game really fits it as well,
and changes tone to whatever situation players find themselves in.

Difficulty: Medium
The game’s AI is fairly challenging in this game. There are a few puzzles
that will have players scratch their heads, but nothing extremely hard. If you
have played any platforming games, you will have no trouble playing though this
game.

Concept: 8.1
This game is different from its predecessors in many ways, from the way the
upgrades work to the actual look of the game in comparison to the previous game.
There really is not that much of an evolution in comparison to other platformers
on the market currently. It was a nice change of pace to see Rayman’s world become
more of a darker place, than in the previous game. It shows that the developers
were willing to do something different with it, than keep the same formula and
use it over again.

Overall: 8.5
If you are in the market for a fresh, good Action/Platforming game, than
look no further than Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc. It has a lot of comedy that will
keep you entertained for a long time. The only drawback for this the fact that
it will take only ten hours or less to beat, not including the bonus quests that
are won through out the game. Other than that it is a good game that an entire
family can enjoy!