A very impressive game in many aspects, and while it is quite short-lived, it should be given a chance
You star as Rayman, as usual, the limbless comical hero who is again out to save the world from evil. But again, the story only serves as a setting to one of the greater platformer games out there. Unfortunately though, if you have played the previous two installments, you wouldn't feel much of a difference, with the exception of everything being much fresher.
Story: The "Crossroads of Dreams" was a place of heavenly bliss where everything was forever peaceful (but you all know this is about to change). One day (I told you), Andre, a red Lum, transformed himself into an irrational and quite irritable black pluff of a Lum, and of course wanted to conquer the world. He thought that the best way is to multiply infinately by transforming all the red Lums into black Lums (go figure). The black Lums then (this is a treat) started to attack all the animals, steal their fur, and make costumes for themselves!! Hence the army of "Hoodlums" (as in Lums that wore hooded clothes) was born, and it is up to Rayman to stop them.
Unfortunately, Globox - Rayman's best and rather air-headed friend - swallows Andre, the head chief of the Hoodlums, and they start an entire revolution to get their chief back. Now not only you've gotta save the world from the Hoodlums, but you've also gotta find a doctor to cure Globox . . . crazy stuff indeed.
Gameplay:The gameplay differs from the older Raymans in the form of powerups, but otherwise the gameplay is basically the same. You get to do a huge amount of jumping, swinging, and of course fighting, although this time instead of shooting yellow Lums you get to launch your fists.
The powerups Rayman gets this time are a few but quite handy and very integral to completing every level. Here is a basic rundown of them
Green Box: Allows Rayman to shoot whirlwinds, integral for bringing down twisted objects.
Red Box: Turns Rayman's fists into iron, which can instantly kill enemies and is the surprisingly only way to open doors.
Blue Box: The best of the bunch, allows Rayman to cling and swing onto distance objects and electrcute enemies.
Orange Box: Turns your fists into a torpedo, effective for unreachable switches.
Yellow Box: Allows Rayman to wear a helmet the allows him to fly vertically.
You get these powerups only at specific places and for a specific amount of time (otherwise the game would be a piece of cake). Hence it is tricky to reach that door or swing before the timer runs out - and at many times you get powerups at weird places, which means that a secret are should be accessible nearby.
The game is full of secrets, at many time you would even finish a level only to find out that you have completed 80% or even 6% (yes, six percent) of that level! In addition to secret areas you also get to find hidden caged (though most are not hidden) in order to free captive funny creatures, and you also get to search for a funny group of frogs called the Bo-peeps and little butterflies named the Heebie-jeebies. You also have to collect multi colored gems and of course kill enemies.
The point of all of these things are not only to complete the level 100%, but also to score up points. Rayman scored more points as he performs combos. For instance, if you collect a yellow gem you get 10 points. If you get another yellow gem before the combo meter resets, you add 10 points to you score as well as 10 points in the meter. Hence when the meter resets, you get all those extra points you scored in the combo meter. To cut to the chase, collecting six yellow gems will score you 60 points, with an additional 60 if you collect them before the meter resets. Of course, killing enemies, spotting Bo-peeps and Heebie-jeebies, as well as getting more valuable gems in succession will score you astronomical bonus points. The reward you get for this is opening extra bonus levels which are absolutely cool (including a 2D version of one level, a racing track, a jumping arena, and a frog squshing level) as well as unlocking secret movies which are absolutely hilarious to watch (they are all part of "How To Beat Up Rayman" series released for Hoodlums).
If there is only one big downside in the gameplay, is it the camera, which at the most crutial instances gets in the way or gets locked at a certain angle, making it a guessing match on where to jump next.
Graphics:The graphics are not superhuman quality, but they are Rayman quality - which is very acceptable given the nature of the game. Everything is colored and rendered greatly, and the animation is superb and hilarious. The lighting and reflective effects are cool, although they sometimes cause your PC to lock when you go to view mode. The characters are all weird looking and cool, sometimes cute, and the bosses are enormous and super flashy with their attacks. Fortunately, you get to see miles ahead without anything suddenly popping up or disappearing. Overall the game looks like it is a 3D cartoon, which is really eye candy if you like this sort of graphical style.
Sound:Perhaps the best aspect in the game is the music. It is absolutely wonderful, and not game wonderful, it is wonderful to even own on CDs. And unlike many games where you associate certain music with events and cannot hear that music without the scene, the music in Rayman is absolutely wonderful and could be heard at practically any time. Whether it is Trance or Jazz or even Rock, Rayman 3's music is perhaps too overdone for a game, which is absolutely not something to be frowned upon. The characters also sound good enough and genuine given the fact that they were given the ability to speak in Rayman 3 (they used to talk gibberish in the older installments with a tranlating subtitles). Gorgeous.
Rayman 3 is a game to be played at least once, even if you don't want to find each and every secret. Playing the game on the get-go is a wonderful and hilarious experience from beginning to end, and if you have the patience to re-visit every level to unlock everything, then perhaps you are the one who would get the most out of this game.