Although Rayman Advance is challenging, its production values and creative game design make it an enjoyable game.
The story of the game has the evil Mr. Dark stealing the Great Protoon, which provides harmony and balance in the world, and also locking up all the Electoons, who are little critters. It is up to Rayman to defeat Mr. Dark and recover the Great Protoon. He has an ally, the fairy Betilla, who bestows new abilities to Rayman as he progresses through the game. For example, Rayman obtains the power to punch early on in the game, and this allows him to deal with enemies and also free the Electoons by breaking the cages they are trapped in. Later on, the powers Rayman gets become more important to proceeding through the stages, such as the ability to swing on rings, hang from ledges, and use his hair as a helicopter to fly a limited distance.
Rayman Advance is a challenging platformer game. The stages are difficult by themselves, but to even reach Mr. Dark, you will have to find and smash all the Electoon cages hidden in the five worlds. The worlds each have a theme, such as music, in which you'll find musical instruments making up the levels. At the end of each world is a boss, who have distinctive attack patterns. Powerups in the form of fist and health upgrades are scattered throughout the stages to Rayman's benefit.
The game design is one of the strongest areas of the game and helps make Rayman stand out. The number of gameplay mechanics the designers managed to get into Rayman is impressive. You will be constantly using Rayman's abilities to avoid spiked balls, jump from disappearing cloud to disappearing cloud, hang from ledges to grab powerups, bounce on top of things to get to higher locations, ride on plums, even shrink to a miniature version of yourself in order to obtain well needed powerups. Bonus stages offer Rayman the ability to earn extra lives.
The production values of Rayman Advance are also top notch. Graphics are colorful, and the sound and music is wonderful. The ability to save is available on special locations on the world map
Although Rayman Advance is a challenging game, and will take quite some time to finish, its creative game design and gameplay mechanics make for an enjoyable experience.