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News: Tom Morello stars in Guitar Hero III
Activision has announced that Tom Morello, from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, will guest star as a boss character in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Click here to read the article.
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Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc
Platforming at its best. The multi-million selling series returns with Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc. Last time we saw a Rayman game, actual game, not some cheap party game, was on the PSone. Rayman was a huge hit when it came out thanks to its easy gameplay and unique visuals, especially the design of Rayman... he has no limbs (arms, legs, or neck). Now the third game in the series is here on all next-generation consoles. How does the Xbox version stack up? Read on.
Rayman has never been known for its deep story lines. They have always been wild and wacky and no one seems to care. As you might expect, the same goes for Rayman 3. The story goes like this: Globox (Rayman's friend) accidentally swallows the Lord of the Dark Lums, an army of crazy Hoodlums wreaks havoc to get their Lord back! Now Rayman's only chance is to journey to the vast reaches of the world to purge the Dark Lum Lord from Globox, scour the lands for new powers, and do battle with the Hoodlum soldiers. See? I told you its not much of a story... it'll take you a few minutes to know just what is going on the first time you play. :-) But hey, who cares.
Rayman has many moves in the game. He can Jump, Roll, Climb, Hang, Swim, and use Special Power Ups. The controls are easy as pie. The Left Thumbstick is used to move Rayman while the Right Thumbstick is used to move the camera. The Back button is used to take a photo while the Start button is used to bring up the menu. X is used to attack, A is used to jump, B is used to display the Life Bar or pull a grimace, while Y is for Look Mode while you're in Photo Mode.
The game levels vary greatly. In one level you'll be riding a snowboard in some really trippy background with weird music and colors that would make a hippy proud while in another level you'll be controlling a huge Hoodlum crushing machine. All in a day's work for Rayman.
After you're done with the main game you can play the extra mini games included. There is a 2D Rayman level and even a First Person Shooter level... yeah, you read correctly, a First Person Shooter level. Along with these you can also squish Frogs with a brick ball or perhaps you'd like to play some Hoodlum Tennis? All these extras are great and should be an example for other developers, Reward The Player With Extras!
Visually, Rayman 3 is the best looking platform game to date. Huge, lush environments full of detail and that unique Rayman style make Rayman 3 a real looker. FMV videos are amazing. Character are modeled with a good amount of detail and the character movement is great. Rayman 3 does so many things and each is animated well. Not once did this game stutter or skip or go down in frames. Great job.
Sound wise... nothing revolutionary but it gets the job done. You've got your normal cartoony sounds like the classic 'Bug Squash' noise and the little bell noise when you get a crystal. What does help a little is that the sound is, as with 99% all other Xbox games, presented in Dolby Digital sound. As for the voice overs, they are done well... in a 'they are appropriate for the game' way. They aren't going to win any Best Voice Over award but they are wacky and go with the game and its overall theme.
Overall, Rayman 3 is an awesome game that should definitely be checked out! One of the best platform games in a long time, some might say even better than Super Mario Sunshine. I'll let you be the judge of that. Great gameplay, fun to play, awesome graphics and good sound make Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc a great package overall.
Report Card:
Gameplay = 9
Graphics = 9
Audio = 8
Replay Value = 9
Overall: 9/10
Click here for the Rayman 3 screenshots gallery!
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