Rayman 3 (Game Boy Advance)
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 More like Rayman 2 Advance but still an excellent game.
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Rayman 3 is the port of Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc released on Game Boy Advance in 2003. It is also the sequel to Rayman 2 Forever on Game Boy Color.
Originally, it was intended to be a port of Rayman 2. Elements from Rayman 3 were added late in development, so that the game could be sold as the Game Boy Advance version of the upcoming main game in the series.
Why It Rocks
- It is a huge improvement over Rayman 2 Forever, which had decent gameplay but awful level design and unbalanced difficulty, this game howewer had none of those problems.
- The graphics are really good, since they are colorful, had great sprite work and the colors are less bright than in Rayman Advance, in which the latter had good graphics but we're overly bright, here it adapt very well to the GBA screen, and it look perfect.
- Even the 3D race levels had decent graphics and they look similar to a 2000s Mario Kart game, especially because they are detailed and unlike some other exemples, it doesn't look really ugly, which is a plus considering that it is hard to make good 3D graphics on a GBA game.
- Solid controls, Rayman control very well and always respond to your commands and he is never unresponsive to controls, much like the other Rayman games.
- Challenging difficulty, unlike the GBC games, the difficulty is fairly balanced and make the game difficult in a good way, even better, the game had a lot of checkpoints and extra lifes, which mean that it will never be unfair to play (well except a few sections of the game).
- Also, unlike the GBC games where the challenge is mostly because of the confusing level design (though the 1st one wasn't confusing but way too hard), here it is mostly because of the reflex you need to do and the challenging bosses and enemies to fight, this is mostly the reason why the difficulty is balanced.
- And because of this, most levels aren't in the category of "Where we need to go" levels, unlike Rayman 2 Forever.
- Also, unlike the GBC games where the challenge is mostly because of the confusing level design (though the 1st one wasn't confusing but way too hard), here it is mostly because of the reflex you need to do and the challenging bosses and enemies to fight, this is mostly the reason why the difficulty is balanced.
- Great soundtrack that sound catchy and had lot of great remixes of Rayman 2 to the GBA sound chip, and each music fit the levels.
- The level design is really good and even an improvement over the GBC games level design (even though the 1st GBC game was decent), as here it take liberty for doing either linear levels or levels that require explorations to finish it, and the levels as stated before are balanced in term of difficulty.
- Decent boss fights that require skill and reflection to beat them, and they are once again very fun, just like the rest of the series.
- The final boss for exemple is easily the best because of being challenging and epic, he also take some elements of Rayman 2 final boss despite not being as epic and great as that game.
- In addition, the boss fights are way better than in the GBC games, in which they didn't get what made the bosses of the 1995 game great.
- It perfectly blend the first three games elements all together, which give an unique Rayman game.
- The gameplay is just as great and is extremely fun because of the challenge and the amazing controls, and had ton of unique levels that are fun and overall the game isn't tedious at any moments.
- There's ton of variaty, such as the race levels and some of the levels where you only use your hair to fly to play the level and isn't on foot, which was done in the GBC games and the 1995 game but not to this extend.
- It even got a direct sequel titled Hoodlum Revenge, in which it continue where Rayman 3 ended, but unfortunately that game wasn't as good and had ton of problems.
Bad Qualities
- While it might count as a nickpick, despite the title, the game had almost nothing to do with Rayman 3 aside from the story, because most elements are taken from Rayman 2, which is especially true when you notice characters like Ly the Fairy who didn't appear in the console versions.
- To be fair, the game was originally going to be a port of Rayman 2 but due to the third game recently coming out at the time, they quickly did changes some elements and added some elements from Rayman 3 at the last minute so it could be titled Rayman 3.
- In fact, it is likely the reason why this port don't had the "Hoodlum Havoc" subtitle because they aren't that present in the game story.
- The game is way too short, lasting only 2 hours, though the game thankfully had some replay values.
- Sometime, the game might be frustrating because some levels had unbalanced difficulty, still the difficulty is fairly balanced compared to other games of it's time.
Reception
Rayman 3 received positive reviews by critics and gamers, who praised the graphics and gameplay but criticized the short length, it is also considered to be the best Rayman game on the GBA.
On Metacritic, it had a score of 83/100 which is higher than even the console versions.[1]
Trivia
- Razorbeard is oddly referred to by his English name, Razorbeard, in the game's French manual.
- Over 68 prototype of the game was discovered in early 2024, which we're mostly the prototype for Rayman 2 GBA port before being changed to Rayman 3
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