Product Description

Assume the role of Rayman, the fearless friendsly hero, as he defeats the pirate terror that has enslaved his world. Travel though magical worlds with fantastical landscapes and explore waterfalls, deep sea caves and more in 45 diverse and detailed environments. All action and endless fast paced fun. Full of off-the-wall humor. Track Rayman's health and stats on the bottom screen of your Nintendo DS.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3091 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: UBI Soft
• Model: DSUBI 008888160403
• Released on: 2005-03-11
• Rating: To Be Announced
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platform: Nintendo DS
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .75" h x 5.25" w x 5.00" l, .20 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Just as Rayman Advance was one of the first new games for the GBA, so too the limbless French wonder has booked a place on the first wave of games on the Nintendo DS. The game is similar in many ways to Mario 64 DS, in that it's a fully 3D adventure played using a faux analogue control system with the stylus.

Unlike the Mario game though, Rayman DS is an entirely new game, with 45 different levels which although reminiscent of Rayman 2 on the Nintendo 64 have been specifically designed for the DS. As such you get a pleasingly variety of deep sea caves, pirate hideouts and verdant waterfall-filled coves to explore.

Rayman himself has his usual suite of abilities as he runs, jumps, skis, swims and turns his rather strange coiffure into helicopter blades. He can also fly on rockets, ride in whirlwinds and surf lava flows, which is pretty good for someone who hasn’t got any knees.

The use made of the DS’s various unique features is relatively limited but as mentioned you do get the option to use the touch screen and stylus as a simulated analogue joystick--much as you do in Mario 64 DS. The bottom touch screen also doubles as an interactive options screen, detailing your progress, keeping track of how many lums (yellow lights) you've collected and by default displaying Rayman’s health--all of which helps to keep the top screen completely free of clutter.

As a launch game this is impressive stuff and means that Mario isn’t the only one with a decent 3D adventure on the DS. --David Jenkins

Customer Reviews

A reasonable game
Basic overview - 3d platformer, with emphasis mostly on linear progression through levels. While some exploration is involved, it is mostly about overcoming a broad range of interesting challenges.

It is quite a fun game to play, with many entertaining and fairly unique elements. Much of the level design is very good, graphics and sound are decent (for a hand-held), there is plenty of variety all round, and it will keep you occupied for quite a while. I rather enjoyed playing it, although I did get frustrated by a number of problems:

- tricky controls (needs analogue, but the touch-pad 'joystick' is badly implemented)
- some unclear objectives
- various glitches
- dodgy camera
- non-skippable cut-scenes

In addition to these small problems, there is a major flaw in the general design of the game: as far as I could tell, it was not designed for a hand-held console (and as I have since discovered, this is in fact the case, as the game was ported from another console). My main criticism in this area is the length of time you need play for between save-points. I found myself needing to play for nearly an hour sometimes, which isn't always possible.

If you like 3d-platformers, have plenty of patience, and can afford to play for quite long sessions, then it is worth playing once. Unfortunately, it is not much fun to replay. Some sections would be great as replayable mini-games, but it simply takes too long to get to them for it to be worthwhile.

As a whole, it is a reasonably good game, but is let down primarily by the lack of consideration for the platform.

Quite good ,but hard!!
Graphics
For the DS, these graphics aren't too bad, and the environments are huge. My only complaint, which is quite a big one, is that all the textures are very pixelated, and sometimes this can make it harder to see some things.

Gameplay
The gameplay on Rayman DS sets it apart from all the other DS games, even super mario 64. You can climb on ropes, swim through underwater coves, water ski, and use your hair as a helicopter. The levels are very challenging- especially in the later levels!

Control
The control lets this game down a bit. In a lot of places, it would be so much easier if you had a joystick in your hand, but instead you get a non-responsive d-pad thing. This doesn't ruin the game too much but its a shame its like that.

P.s: After playing Rayman 2 on the Ps2, I realised how bad this game is. It really doesn't have any charm whatsoever...Lol

RAYMAN DS.........
RAYMAN DS.....................

Listen carefully -
I eventually ended up buying this game - there were a lot of "bad" reviews about it, but eventually, i got it.
And i had the original rayman 2, so why i would play it again, i dont know, BUT..
This game turned out to be one of the greatest on DS I had ever played. AnddI'm not a crazy rayman fan either - so imagine what one would be like!

Lets get things straight - it is the original game, but made for ds... and that is what makes it so amazing. The original game was unbelievable, and this is carrying on its spirit.
Yes, that right, you can drive flying pirate ships in it, you can water-ski, you can sliiiiiiiidddddddeeeeeeee!!! and you can ride a car-like bomb-bomb, and you can even fly! flying is so much fun. And a lot of time is spent just jumping around, killin bad pirate robots. The story is convincing, and NO you cant skip cut-scenes, but who wants to!? So in general the gameplay is polished and really addictive. There are a few glitches, but so few they are totally ignorable. The difficulty increases throughout, there are no unbelievably easy bits, there are no unbelievably hard bits, simple simple. The gameplay is thumbs up

The graphics are the best so far. They will blow you away, and im not joking. these are brilliant. The so called "fluxing framerate" is not true, since it is ALWAYS relitively smooth. You will be thrown into the most beautiful worlds, covered in foliage and green, and everything looks so satisphying. Its beautiful. As beautiful as Mario? I think so in its own way! The only graphical complaint i have is the sky looks like water, but it just makes it more exotic - and besides, you dont offen see the sky unless you want to!

Music is close to the original - sound FX are FANTASTIBOLLICAL! but music can sound a little confusing only cause ive heard the original and theyre not quite as good. But when they want scary music for a scary level, youve got it. How about intense music for a chase, yep its all in there. Soft music for relaxing beach strolls, uh-huh its all there!

AI and other characters could not be better. You sometimes even work together with another character, BEAT THAT MARIO! AAAHA! with fully animated characters that you can work with, you really enter the game and you make friends and comical enimies. Its what keeps the gameplay at its best.

This game is one to sit proudly atop your yoshi touch and go and your wario ware, and it can sit on top of mario for all i care. But not animal crossing, oh no! None the less, if you have doubts about this game, please just get it and see for yourself the ABSOLUTE beauty behind this game. This is rayman not at its best but at its proudest!

Thanks for reading!