To put it simply, Rayman is an almost perfect platform game. With
its gorgeous colors (everyone mentions the colors!), beautiful
backdrops, silky animation and compulsice gameplay, this is one of
the best games I own.

As Rayman, you have free these cute little things called Electoons
from the cages in which the evil Protoon has imprisoned them. But
first you have to find these cages. Some are easy to find, some
are hidden, some only appear if you solve a puzzle, and for some
you will need to aquire a special power in order to reach them.

Rayman's world is divided up into many sections, and each section
has a number of levels. Each of these levels has a number of screens.
In other words, the total play area is enormous. When you reach the exit
of each level, you can proceed to the next. Sometimes you get a choice
between next levels, and you can always go back. Indeed, sometimes
you have to go back, in order to free some Electoons that were
previously unreachable.

The map of Rayman's world shows each section that you currently have
access to, as well as the number of Electoons that you have rescued
in each. From this map, you can also save your game -- to memory card or
by obtaining a password.

As you progress through the levels, the Good Fairy will bestow you
with special powers. This include a punching fist, the ability to
hang from ledges, a grabbing fist, the ability to fly, and so on.
After having gained a certain power, it is often necessary to go back
to earlier levels and free the Electoons that were previously unreachable.
This, combined with the choice of paths through Rayman's world, make the
game non-linear.

Once all the sections have been completed (ie. all the Electoons have
been freed from each one), Rayman can proceed to the final level and
from there complete the game.

In the meantime, he will face a number of tricky puzzles and a host of
entertaining characters -- some friendly and some not-so-friendly. The
amount of effort put into the design of this game and all its components
is evident from the very minute you press Start. It is both visually
stunning, addictive and humorous. The control is precise, the sound
effects perfect. The animation and scrolling are completely smooth. The
background music keeps pace with the action, and even changes every so
often, so as not to get tedious.

At first, I wasn't sure if I'd like this game. After all, the Playstation
is a killer platform for 3D texture-mapped polygon virtual reality
in-your-face death from the skies games, right? Well I'm *so* glad I
bought it. And some say the Playstation can't do 2D .... ?

OK, is there anything negative I can find to say about Rayman? Well,
the story is pretty weak. It looks like the authors came up with the
story in the last hour before production. Does that affect the game?
Not at all. There is no option for setting any kind of difficuly level
either. Apart from these two points, I can see no reason why I wouldn't
give this game top marks.

lloyd@silvaco.com