Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc

Rayman's back - with a facelift - for his third adventure on Playstation.

Rayman is back - swinging, jumping and punching his way through Hoodlum Havoc, the third in the series of platform titles. It’s a different play from its magical predecessor, The Great Escape, with smaller worlds and rather routine challenges. Still, the quality is there in Rayman 3 and the spunky limbless character resides in harmony in a world fraught with outstanding colourful graphics, a lively cast of characters and a constant string of hilarious one-liners.

Personality plus a plot

When saving the world, it always helps to have a big blue pal around.

Hoodlum Havoc presents a world of Rayman that we haven’t seen before – with a more mature theme and characters, which are more developed and quick-witted. It’s an easy buy-in for players, whether fans of the series or not.

The writers seemed to have pulled at all stops, and the characters – good and bad – are regular chatterboxes with sharp and sarcastic wit. For example, when Rayman is off mark in capturing extra life while speeding through a wooded path, his pal Murfy is quick to note, “What’s with that? Haven’t you played a videogame before”?

When more problems present themselves, Rayman’s chubby blue buddy Globox quips, "C'mon, you haven't scored yet - I hope you have better luck with the ladies".

Humour can get a bit on the raucous side. For example, in one level Rayman plummets into an outhouse toilet in a creepy moonlit swamp and disrupts a wart-nosed witch, who happens to be in the toilet at the time. After collecting a few jewels, the witch throws a tantrum, calling our hero a pervert, which is not entirely off base.

What is it with bad-guys and world domination?

The adventure takes place in a lively cartoon world.

The plot in Rayman 3 is your basic bad-guy-trying-to-conquer-the-world scenario. Rayman’s world is typically a peaceful place, populated with warm and fuzzy "lums". But conflict arises when Globox accidentally swallows one of the nastiest lums, and the big dope has to endure the evil guy, Andre, bouncing around inside his belly. To make matters worse, Andre craves plum juice, which Globox is allergic to. Every time he drinks the stuff, Globox gets drunk. On the plus side, the resulting antics are quite entertaining, ranging from burps that inflate balloons that Rayman can hop on to crazy convulsions that resemble really bad break dancing.

While Rayman is doing his best to find a doctor who can cure his pal Globox, the action heats up when a hoard of evil hoodlums set out to rescue their boss from Globox's belly and send the world into a state of darkness.

Powering up the gameplay

It's fairly easy to get "the hang" of Rayman's moves.

Rayman 3 has no surprises as far as the platform genre goes. Most of the action revolves around running, jumping, collecting things and wiping out enemies. But there are differences from Rayman 2 that tend to centre the gameplay on more action.

First, Rayman’s abilities depend on finding special canisters that power him up with various talents for a short time. Players will need to use more strategy to be effective under the pressure of a clock ticking down before the special power expires. The diverse abilities include "Heavy Metal Fists" that fire super-charged balls to knock down doors and anything else in their path. The "Shock Rocket" is a fully guided missile that players “ride”; the "LockJaw" is a swinging grapple much like the one used in Rayman 2; and the “Throttle Copter” provides a vertical blast to send Rayman soaring.

Because each of the abilities only lasts for 30 seconds or so, players will need to combine platform skills with puzzle solving to get through levels, which makes the action more interesting. The first task is to find or unlock the power-up canisters and then figure out how to use them to get through the challenge.

The "good guys" always smile.

Also new to gameplay, Rayman can curve his fist attacks around objects, which works to score when the bad guys have shields and armour. The assortment of hoodlums is rather impressive – they shoot rifles, toss grenades and even walk on stilts, trying to thwart our hero. Plus, each has an own attack pattern to provide added challenges, and it’s common to encounter several different types of baddies at a time.

In addition to the main game, this time around players can unlock bonus levels by earning points when they destroy hoodlums and collect items. The bonus rounds include clips, such as comical outtakes, and mini-games, such as tennis and whack-a-mole with a Rayman theme.

Controls and Camera

The developers didn’t tinker too much with the controls for Rayman, and he moves as easily as he did in his prized second outing, with responsive analogue control for controlled descending and grabbing onto edges with fingertips. The combat system allows players to lock onto targets by holding the R button and then move to and fro while smacking the bad guys around. In all, the controls as easy to master and varied enough to control a variety of moves and actions.

The most annoying flaw in the game is the camera. At times, it works brilliantly, and players can zoom into corners and then snap back to Rayman’s perspective easily and quickly. Other times, however – usually in the heat of battle or precision jumping – the camera refuses to cooperate and gets hung-up on anything moving, blocking players’ sight and making it extremely difficult to manoeuvre. To make matters worse, when the camera fails to move directly behind Rayman after the R1 button is pressed, the armless wonder begins a taunting dance, surely aimed to annoy the Hoodlums. Instead, it has the effect of Rayman thumbing his nose at players.

In the least, the camera flaws are irritating. At most, it detracts from the game and absolutely stands out when compared to other games in the genre.

Eye-popping brilliance

Vivid cartoon worlds continue to be a trademark of Rayman adventures.

Ubi Soft have delivered again. The world of Rayman 3 is as beautiful and vivid as its predecessor with colourful, detailed levels and lighting and shadowing that is original and creative

From a wooded fairy village to a creepy piranha-infested bog and a mechanised industrial setting, the details are captivating. The cartoon environment is as stylish and realistic, with added particle effects that sparkle and float, making the levels exciting and alive.

The graphics are so delightful, they add to the durability and the game. Players will want to take another turn through the action just to enjoy the environments they are cast into.

Wow! Do you hear that?

It’s clear that much attention has gone into music and voice-overs in Rayman 3. The game runs in Dolby Pro Logic II and the real-time sounds are interesting with whomps, cracks, and splats tossed into the mix to complement the action.

The music is carefully choreographed to enhance the mood of each level. For example, when Rayman takes a frenzied ride through psychedelic space while players must quickly hop and grind from one rail to the next (reminiscent of Ratchet and Clank), high-energy music complements the action. When Rayman is exploring mode through a peaceful world, trance music sets the mood. If a hoodlum enters the scene, the beat revs up and rock music takes over.

The voice work is top notch. Each character comes alive with personality, attitude and accent. Actor John Leguizamo is an especial standout as Rayman’s sidekick Globox. His dialogue and delivery is right on the money.

Rayman 3 is a good, solid game. It is a relatively easy, quick play and many players will feel they crave more after the final battle.

Although the game isn’t as big and open as its predecessor and the action can get frenzied with the erratic 3D camera, the outstanding character work, excellent sound and the continued excellence in graphics, the folks at Ubi Soft have done themselves proud.