Tim Jump
02-25-2003, 05:00 PM
If there was ever a game to justify to your kids why Daddy's (or Mommy's) Pocket PC is better than their Gameboy Advance, Rayman Ultimate is it. With rock-solid gameplay housed in a beautiful package, this is one of the best games I've played on my PDA. However, you may want to try this one before you buy it. Read on to find out why.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/jump-feb20-rayman-1.jpg" /><br /><!><br /><i>Rayman Ultimate is a fantastic game with some minor control issues. For hardcore gamers, it doesn't get much better than this.</i><br /><br /><span><b>Background</b></span><br />Gameloft's Rayman Ultimate is pretty much a direct port of the original Rayman Playstation game released by the French developer, Ubi-Soft. Rayman himself is...well, I'm not entirely sure what he is, but he's awfully cute and has appeared in a number of games on both the PC and the various consoles over the years. In Rayman Ultimate, Rayman's world has been invaded by the dreaded Mister Dark, who has stolen all the Electoons, creatures that provide energy to the universe. Not that any of that matters, of course - we're talking about a platform game here, not Shakespeare. Basically, your mission is to travel through six worlds and over sixty levels to rescue all the little guys trapped in cages and eventually defeat the big baddie at the end.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/jump-feb20-rayman-1.jpg" /><br /><i>Figure 1: Rayman is a bit of a cheeky lad.</i><br /><br /><span><b>Features</b></span><br />This game is, for all intents and purposes, a throwback to the old days of 2D platforming in the same vein as the Mario or Sonic games; in today's gaming world of "let's make everything 3D" this is not a bad thing by any sense of the word. The game is played in landscape mode by tilting your Pocket PC on its side - unfortunately making this one of those games you probably won't get away with playing during a staff meeting at work. Control of Rayman is accomplished with the cursor pad and several "soft" buttons on the screen, although the application buttons can be used as well. The gameplay is standard platformer fare, although it's more of an exploration game than it is a "get from point A to point B" game. You'll find yourself going through each level several times in order to rescue all your friends. Thankfully, you are given a healthy amount of lives and are able to accommodate all this traveling as well as extra powers such as punching and Rayman's famous "helicopter ear-spin" as you proceed through the game. The save system shows its console roots, as you can save the game only at save points on the level selection screen. Luckily, most levels have an in-level save feature that will prevent you from having to start the level over when dying (although if you quit the game, next time you play you'll have to start the level over again).<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/jump-feb20-rayman-2.jpg" /><br /><i>Figure 2: Rayman uses his famous "helicopter twirl" to get around, just one of the powers you gain throughout the game.</i><br /><br /><span><b>Bells & Whistles</b></span><br />This game, to put it mildly, will knock your socks off. The graphics are nothing short of spectacular. From the well-crafted characters and creatures moving smoothly about the playfield to the beautifully created backgrounds that look hand-painted, the game looks like a well drawn cartoon. The sound effects and background music are luxurious as well, though you'll need to plug in some headphones to get the full effect. Of course, what truly matters is the gameplay - in that area Rayman Ultimate does not disappoint. This is old-school platform gaming at its finest, harkening back to the old days of spending days trying to get past a level to see what's next. Although the game does give you a couple of easy levels at the beginning as a sort of tutorial, things get challenging very rapidly. The levels have been intricately designed with plenty of different paths to explore in order to rescue your buddies. It's easy to see why the Rayman games are considered by many gamers to be the cream of the crop when it comes to platforming action.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/jump-feb20-rayman-3.jpg" /><br /><i>Figure 3: There are a variety of vehicles and objects for Rayman to travel around with.</i><br /><br /><span><b>Gotchas</b></span><br />Unfortunately, even a near perfect game like this has its minor drawbacks, though I did find one to be major. For one, the price is a little high for a Pocket PC game, although it can be argued that for an average of sixty hours of gameplay, $29.95 is not a bad price. In addition, those of you looking for a lightweight arcade-style game to kill a few minutes with might want to look elsewhere - this game can get quite challenging and, as mentioned before, the save system does not lend itself to casual gameplay. The control scheme of the game takes a little getting used to and is unfortunately not configurable, possibly making things difficult for the left-handed gamers out there. After trying several different methods of playing, I found the best method was to actually press the action buttons on the screen with my fingers - a method of play that might be a little off-putting to those of us without screen protectors. Despite these minor quibbles, the biggest problem I had with this game is not the fault of the designers at all - I found that the control pad on my iPAQ 3835 simply was neither sensitive nor precise enough for a game that requires the exact control that this one does. I cannot relay the amount of frustration I felt when trying to guide Rayman through the intricate levels of this game with a controller that would not do what I wanted it to. Once again, I cannot hold Gameloft responsible for this, but I do strongly recommend that you give the demo a try to see if your system can handle it better than mine.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/jump-feb20-rayman-4.jpg" /><br /><i>Figure 4: Hopefully you won't be seeing this screen as much as I did.</i><br /><br /><span><b>Requirements/Where To Buy</b></span><br />Rayman Ultimate comes in both ARM and MIPS flavors, with a playable demo version available for each. It requires 8.4 MB of storage and 4 MB of RAM to play and I can happily report that it installed on external storage with nary a burp. The full version can be purchased from <a href="http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&platformId=2&productType=2&catalog=0§ionId=0&productId=44418">Handango</a> (our affiliate) for the price of $29.95.<br /><br /><span><b>Conclusions</b></span><br />Gameloft's Rayman Ultimate is an excellent game all around, both in gameplay and presentation. The game can be quite challenging, but make sure the challenge does not come from your Pocket PC's controls before giving up on it. Above all, this is a great game to prove that the Pocket PC can provide games at least as good as the consoles.