Rayman is back for his third round of battling evil in Rayman
3, Hoodlum Havoc. The enemy in this game is the Dark Lum Lord. Unfortunately,
Globox, Rayman's clumsy sidekick, has swallowed the Dark Lum Lord. Now Rayman has to get Globox to the witch doctor to get the
Lum out of his belly.
The graphics in this game are, in one word, seamless. At
first, I couldn't tell when the short movies were done and when I was supposed
to take control of the game. After the first movie, the first tutorial
level starts. The tutorial added a twist - they took Rayman's hands away,
as explained in the opening movie. That makes the player really learn how to use
the controls, like using your hair as a helicopter (hit A to jump and while in mid air hold the A button down).
I noticed that the levels are shorter and there are more bonus levels. One bonus level I've
already come across has a trippy 60's background with music to match; Rayman is riding a rocket down
narrow paths which have money on them.
The characters actually talk to each other in this game and I thought that that made a big difference in the pace of the game. For people like me who play
video games to actually play them and not read the plot of the story, the
acting really set this version of Rayman way ahead of the other two. It's a very welcome change. Also,
there seems to be more parts where movies break the game up; the way it is done in this game
didn't seem to be intrusive and drawn out. There are many games, mostly RPG's, that I don't like because the story
becomes more important than the game and you never get to play. I didn't feel like that was happening in Rayman 3.
Overall, I would give Rayman 3 two thumbs up, 10 out of 10, and a big hip hip
hurrah!! The game is great and it's worth a rental.