Originally released in 2003, Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc could easily be one of my favorite platformers with some pretty impressive ideas, visuals and wit that went into the game. Even almost a decade down the track I have been guilty of pulling out my old Nintendo Gamecube in an attempt to best my high scores – something that is surprisingly competitive in this game. As with all older games however, they age and new technology cannot do justice to an otherwise standard definition release – thus Ubisoft have released Rayman 3 HD! This title is a Playstation 3 and XBox360 remastered port of the game which brings it into High Definition with 60fps and 720 resolution support amongst other things. Thanks to the team at Ubisoft Australia who have provided me with a download code – enjoy reading my thoughts on the game!
As with previous installments in the Rayman franchise, they have included a simple underlying storyline that remains mentioned throughout the entire game, however I felt was only there to give justification to play through the game without being restricting to the comical or subplots that appear in the game.
The story goes that there is a black lum by the name of Andre, who was born out of pure evil and acts as the primary antagonist of this game. One night, Rayman and Globox are sound asleep in the forest where Andre transforms all the Red Lums (Previously which acted as a source of healing) into black lums, transforming them into Hoodlums and setting them forth on the Fairy Council. Woken up by series-regular Murfy, Globox is scared off and runs off with Rayman’s hands, leaving the two to get his hands back and stop Andre from destroying the world….. but what happens if Globox just happens to swallow the games antagonist?
While the story is simple, with the first half involving a search for three witch doctors and the second actually involving saving the world from Andre – it offers a dark tone similar to that of Rayman 2: The Great Escape however the witty and comical dialogue on the behalf of Globox, Rayman, Murfy and practically every other character in the game is enjoyable, and has not been altered in any shape or form – leaving you with Rayman 3 as it should be played. There is just something enjoyable about Murfy’s war against game manuals or commentary for a battle which really makes it fun. The game is split up into different chapters with one for each world, so unlike Rayman 2 you cannot jump into your favourite part of a stage immediately, but can replay the entire chapter from the beginning.
Whereas the games previous to this were more serious in nature, this was the first title in the series to embrace a more fun and comical side to platforming, which later spawned releases of Rayman Origins and the many Rabbids games.
As this is Rayman 3 HD, the main focus on improving the game pertains to providing a quality remaster with an aesthetic and quality that appears well on more modern high definition televisions. You will be happy to know what while there were some flaws which I will detail in a moment, they did a great job with the remaster, capturing the charm of the original visuals with the added perk of improved frame rates and higher quality textures. Rayman 3 has a number of creative level designs that even in the later levels where they try and be a bit more serious they throw in a quirky area of a level or even the Disco Surfing stages to set things apart and fresh. While the level designs are one thing, you cannot help but smile at some of the character designs, from the witch who Rayman falls on while she is “doing her business” to the Teensies, they set out to provide a serious platformer with some enjoyable storyline and design elements, both of which I have always felt they had successfully implemented. However, there were a couple of noticeable problems that kept it from being excellent. While most of the game had perfect frame-rates in some of the boss battles and especially the Disco Surfing stages, the frame rates dipped down and felt a bit clunky for brief moments at the beginning of these stages. Also, while from a distance they looked good, some of the added bits of detail to the environment felt pixelated and should have had more time spent on them.
Music was another enjoyable element to the game, featuring a sizable soundtrack with music from the soft and calm side of the spectrum along with tracks that are more heavy and intense. At three points during the first half of the game, it will throw you into disco inspired surfing levels which while completely out there provides a very interesting auditory experience. Other than that, the game almost always had some form of musical backing and while the stage music was occasionally repetitive, never felt all too tiring…. but who knows, perhaps might just be nostalgia kicking in. There is not a lot of voice acting in this game with the exception of “The Fairy Council” levels, a couple of cutscenes through the game and the occasional comment from Globox. Despite the minimal voice acting, the quality was overall suitable for what they intended to put across.
The game is overall your standard 3D platformed with a couple of twists added to it. You see, Rayman doesn’t and never has had any limbs, therefore he is able to propel his arms at enemies from a further distance. This might seem like an easy means of defeating the hoodlums, but they never seem to make it a simple button masher – instead providing numbers of hoodlums with ranged artillery at once and increasingly challenging enemies as the game continues (Both health and tactics wise). To diversify even further, the game occasionally provides you with one of five “costume” changes which for a limited time grant Rayman additional powers from the power of flight, increased strength or a grappling hook to name a few. The issue I have with this is they include all five in the second level, meaning that by the end you feel like you have been doing the same challenges in regards to the special abilities for several levels.
For the most part you will be facing off with the same types of hoodlums, with differences only in the number of and environment containing them. Each set of stages have unique boss battles as well, and are quite fun to play through – forcing you to use different techniques to defeat them. While they are enjoyable, they nor any of the battles in the game really pose much of a challenge and for those who are well versed in platformers you might find yourself never seeing a Game Over screen during your time playing this game. But amongst traversing through the different worlds, boarding your way through disco themed portals and cosplaying with *gasp* slightly different coloured outfits, there is something else to this game which will appeal to the avid collector….
In all the above screenshots, you will notice that there is a score gauge… that is because defeating the Hoodlums is only half the challenge – with the other half involving the collection of as many gems, freeing as many Teensies from cages, defeating as many Hoodlums as possible along with comboing them for greater scores. The levels themselves are pretty linear and are in no shape or form open world, however they are littered with hidden side-paths and chambers which contain hidden gems which contribute to your level and final score. This encourages multiple playthroughs in order to find these goodies, and from past experience it is pretty satisfying to return to the different worlds in order to boost your score – which for this game allows you to upload your top score to leaderboards. Although for those who just want to play through the stages, you might end up pretty disappointed where after completing every stage you only get scores of <50%.
The biggest issue in the game is the camera, which they clearly did not improve upon from the original. It is easy for it to get stuck at specific angles or at several occasions felt jerky which provided not only potential of getting a game over during the game but also ruining potential combos, thus reducing your overall score for those who desire perfection (and a trophy). On a more positive note, fighting the wonky camera and increasing your overall score will unlock nine mini-games which while havent received that same HD treatment as the main game, are overall enjoyable. On the other hand, they have removed the Wanna Kick Rayman videos for unknown reasons, disappointing as they were enjoyable to watch.
Rayman 3 represents the final game in the Rayman franchise before they deviated into the Rabbids line of games, which changed the series from a Platformer to a Mini-game compilation set and slowly but surely phasing out Rayman entirely. While we were fortunate last year to see the release of Rayman Origins which returned the series to its side-scrolling platformer roots, it is hard not to miss the short-lived 3D platformer phase, and I do hope that Ubisoft will seize the opportunity to develop Rayman 4 in a similar style, or at least do a HD release of Rayman 2 in the future. While there are issues with the game which linger from the games original almost-decade old release, there is a lot of fun to be had with it at a very reasonable price-tag.
Final Score
Storyline/Character Development: B
Design: B+
Music/Voice Acting: A-
Gameplay: B+
Replayability: A
Personal Opinion: A-
Overall Score: B+
A review was performed on a Playstation Network release of the game.
