With a frustrating camera, graphical issues, and overall lack of effort, there really isn't any reason to own Rayman DS.
You play as Rayman, who has been captured, along with everyone else, by pirates. The world is overrun with the pirates, and with Rayman captured, their hope dwindles. Rayman's good friend Globox brings him a silver lumb to give him his power back, and the two escape. After escaping, Rayman finds that Globox is nowhere to be found. Rayman then sets out on a quest to rid the world of pirates and find his friends.
The graphics are on the glitchy side. Although the graphics are solid in the 64 version, you'll be plagued by choppy frame rates, and poorly ported character animations. Rayman looks alright, but does seem a bit off in places. Same goes for everyone else. The envirnment looks pixilated in spots, and in others, it looks like a drunken mess of pixels. If you start to swing, or use your hair-helicopter in a large area, the frame rate really slows down. The camera gets in the way a lot. When running around in the world, the camera will steadily wander in front of you, or not go the way you want it to. When swinging, the camera goes all over the place, and makes landing more difficult than it needs to be. Eye effects and others will be a bit off target. As in the eyes are in one spot, and the effect is taking place in another.
Gameplay can be a hassle as well. Jumping and finding your way though the envirnment is made doubly difficult thanks to the camera, and inresponsive controls. You can choose to control Rayman from the touch screen, or from the controller pad. However, controlling rayman with the controller pad is so inresponsive, that it takes 3/4 sec for the game to react. Steering him from the touch screen works the best in terms of being responsive, but you won't be able to reach the L button which you will need time and again. Locking onto enemies to fire your energy blasts gets annoying. The lock-on doesn't stay on the character too often, and will give out after being on for so long. But enough of this negetivity, now let's get to a good part about Rayman DS. The levels are huge and there's a lot of them. There is also secret levels to unlock, but nothing that's not in the original 64 version.
The sound is great. It's clear, and makes sense for each envirnment. The sheer creativity of the music is also a good point. Sound effects are also on the good side in terms of being clear and making sense.
After you beat Rayman DS, there isn't anything to go back to. There isn't any extra features, minigames, or replay value in this game. So if you're looking for something that'll entertain you for long after the game is complete, it's best to look elsewhere.
Rayman DS fails to live up to the pedigree of it's console counterpart, and doesn't provide the gameplay experience that it once did. With it's frustrating camera, graphical issues, and overall lack of effort, there really isn't any reason to own this game.