Rayman Arena
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A Rayman Party Game even before the Raving Rabbids games was a thing.
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Rayman M, known in North America as Rayman Arena, is a party video game developed and published by Ubi Soft. A spin-off of the Rayman series, it features two modes in which players control one of the nine characters.
Note: This page only focus on the 6th gen consoles game, for Rayman Rush, click here.
Development
Rayman M was originally separated into two projects: Rayman Tribe and Rayman Shooting Fish, which would turn into the game's modes. Rayman M was announced in April 2001 for the PlayStation 2. Ubisoft launched an official website for the game, containing a description of the game's characters, modes, and environments, along with galleries of screenshots from each of the game's version. Danny Ruiz, the band manager of Ubisoft Entertainment, said that the game "[promised] to provide gamers a new multiplayer experience while maintaining the production value associated with the Rayman franchise." In 2002, the game's producer Sylvain Constantin said that he wanted to do something serious after the game's development which Constantin was asked to lead the driving team and come up with a new idea because he was a driving game enthusiast.
Why It's A Great Multiplayer Experience
- The idea of a party game about Rayman is a pretty good idea and this game proved, and while it isn't completely a party game, it still can count as one in a way because of the lot of modes present, even if we had to wait for the Raving Rabbids series that came out in 2006 for a true party game (at the time).
- Excellent gameplay that adapt the mechanics of Rayman 2 to a combat and racing formula and it work incredibly well, especially that because of it, the game is fun to play especially because of the fact that the game mostly had a Rayman 2 gameplay mechanic (in which that game was already fun to play), and it thus had unlimited funs.
- The racing mode is especially very fun because those levels are very well designed and the mechanics are once again fun to use, also it is fast-paced and can pass as a done right version of Sonic R, it help that there's some challenges in this game.
- The battle mode is also absolutely great, especially when playing as multiplayer since not only it is the closest we come from having a Rayman fighting game but also it is fast-paced, fun and overall you will never get bored from playing this mode and even the game itself.
- Lot of modes to play from, and they are all fun, those are:
- Racing Mode: In this mode, the players take part in a foot race and face a number of obstacles depending on which environment they are playing in. There are no power-ups in this mode, although throughout each course there are Purple Lums, speed ramps and small trampolines that are useful. This mode has four different types of racing game. Obstacles include boxes that the player has to shoot up to eight times in order to pass, bear traps and electric bars.
- Training: This mode allows the player to explore the course and practice before playing in the other modes, as well as setting their own personal records. Only one player can play in this mode.
- Race: This mode involves up to four characters to race each other, the first one to the finish line wins. In single player mode, the other players are computer controlled and there are three laps to run, while in multi-player mode the players can set how many laps to run before winning.
- Popolopoï: This mode uses a time limit in which a character must complete three laps in. Although the time starts at 20 seconds, the time can be increased by shooting butterflies named Popolopoïs, which come in different colours that represent how much time is given. Only one player can play in this mode.
- Lums: In this mode, the player has to complete three laps while collecting the maximum number of yellow Lums required in order to legally win, and must come in first place as well. This is also needed later on in the game, as the amount of yellow Lums the player collected will be transferred into the amount of time the player gets to finish that particular race in On and On, a bonus race level. Only one player can play in this mode.
- Battle Mode: Rather than an obstacle course, the battle mode is made up of an arena in which characters run around playing three different modes. Unlike the race mode, this mode uses power-ups.
- Lum Spring: In the mode, the player has to collect as many Lums (which unusually look like crystals this time) as they can in order to reach the winning conditions - in a typical game, this is up to five Lums - or before the time runs out. To help the player prevent the opponents from reaching them first, they are equipped with ice bullets to freeze them, thought the others' shots have to be avoided.
- Lum Fight: Each player starts with five hit points each, and the player has to knock all of the opponents' hit points in order to score Lums. Each time a player dies, they respawn somewhere else in the arena. A negative Lum is given to a player that loses to a self-infliction. Various power-ups called generators are scattered around, and contain a different weapon to use against opponents. Uses the same winning conditions as Lum Spring.
- Capture the Fly: This game is similar to tag - the player has to find a Light-Fly and keep hold of it as long as possible without getting hit by an opponent's shot. The character is equipped with five bounce bullets which are only effective on the player in possession of the Fly. The player that reaches the winning conditions first wins.
- Racing Mode: In this mode, the players take part in a foot race and face a number of obstacles depending on which environment they are playing in. There are no power-ups in this mode, although throughout each course there are Purple Lums, speed ramps and small trampolines that are useful. This mode has four different types of racing game. Obstacles include boxes that the player has to shoot up to eight times in order to pass, bear traps and electric bars.
- The soundtrack is very good and is as good as Rayman 2, if not even better for some of the tracks, this is mostly because they are so catchy that it is unforgettable and will make you want to refuse to forget them, or even downloading the ost on your MPE player.
- The intro is quite well, since the animation is decent and there's a lot of funny moments, such as when Rayman got burn by Razorbeard, and dying in a funny cartoon style, though it isn't even as good as the cutscenes before starting a mode.
- Lot of weapons to choose, which are all fun to use, and some are even overpowered in a good way, at such they make the game even more fun to play, those include but not limited to:
- Fake generator: It looks like a normal generator that gives the player a weapon, but is in fact a bomb that has been placed down by another player. It explodes on contact (or just after a character passes) and it inflicts 3 hit points.
- Item leech: When activated, it steals a random other players' weapon. if no other player is carrying something, it will steal one from a generator.
- Buzz rocket: When activated, the player will stop moving their main character (making them vulnerable to attacks) and he or she will instead be in control of a small, highly sensitive flying weapon, the buzz rocket. It inflicts 5 hit points on impact on another player, killing them instantly. The player can only use it once.
- Ultimate barrier: An indestructible force field that cocoons the player for a few seconds. It also effectively inflicts 1 hit point of damage if it comes in contact with another player.
- Glue bomb: When activated, it sticks to a character by contact, spinning around that character (until passed on to another) then explodes after a few seconds. Inflicts 3 hit points of damage. Looks very similar to the helicopter bomb from Rayman 2.
- Rapid bullets: Shoots a row of 3 bullets per round, making 9 bullets in total. Each bullet inflicts 1 hit point.
- Rubber bullet: Can almost always make a direct hit. Can bounce of walls and objects (up to 3 bounces). Each bullet inflicts 1 hit point. In Capture the Fly mode, the player get 5 bullets. It just steals the fly from the carrier and ammo refills over time.
- Hound bullet: Automatically chases the nearest opponent. Each hound bullet inflicts 1 hit point.
- Firework bullet: Is pointless unless a player is nearby, or he or she locks onto another player. A green firework bullet detonates on impact. Inflicts 1 hit point on anyone within explosion range.
- Flametounge bullet: A flame which its direction can be controlled for a few seconds, then remaining active for a few more, engulfing anyone who unfortunately goes into it. Inflicts 1 hit point.
- Ice bullet: Only available in Lum Spring mode. It freezes the targeted character for 1 second. The ammo refills over time.
- While the graphics are more like a 5th gen game, they still look amazing even for a 2001 game, especially on the upgraded versions for the GameCube and Xbox, in which it is detailled, colorful and had amazing characters models that still look solid, even being on par with Rayman Revolution.
- The cutscenes with Murfy are absolutely entairtaining, since they never fail to make us laugh, especially when he get attacked by peoples, also it had a certain charm.
- The game length appear to be pretty short but honestly if you like the game, and that you love playing games with your friends, then there's a huge chance that there's ton of replay values because this game is mostly focused on multiplayer, and multiplayer games mostly had high replay values, and this game prove it.
- Extremely tight and responsive controls that are exactly like the controls from Rayman 2, and here they are just as amazing since the controls are always responsive and will never ever had flaws thank to being well programmed.
- A decent roster of characters, despite that Ly the Fairy isn't present.
- Cool box arts for both regions, especially the NA cover art where we can see Rayman, Globox and even Razorbeard and a very nice background that fit the game tone, and with the PAL cover art, we can see both Rayman and Globox in a red/orange background that still look appealing.
- The updated version titled Rayman Arena is even better, thank to better controls, better graphics and slighly more contents than Rayman M, it even goes as far as being almost a completely different game.
Bad Qualities
- The PS1 demake titled Rayman Rush is mediocre, since not only half of the game was cut but now there's only racing, hence the title of Rayman Rush.
- It also doesn't make any senses that it came out after this version, except if they wanted to make a demake of the game on a weaker console.
- The PS2 version, while it still an amazing version, had weaker looking graphics and doesn't play as well, though both of these problems aren't that important because it still look decent and play well, just not as great as Rayman Arena.
- Some peoples might not like the battle mode, especially if they don't had any friends to play the game, and that mode in single player can became boring faster, even if it's a great mode and that there's still plenty of fun to get even at single.
- It can be frustrating at times.
- The game can be completed in 5 hours, which is quite short, although as stated before, this game had high replay values.
- One of the poster is misleading since the poster had Ly in it but she isn't even mentioned in the game at all and instead it replacing with random fairy.
Reception
Rayman Arena received mixed reviews by critics but mixed to positive reviews by gamers, on Metacritic the game had a score of 63 for the PS2 version[1], 60 for the GameCube version[2], 50 for the Xbox version[3] and 46 for the PC version[4]
The players praised the varied modes, fun gameplay and the graphics but criticized some aspect such as the total absence of Ly.
Trivia
- The Story of Rayman contains excerpts from Michel Ancel and Frédéric Houde 's game design bible for the first Rayman game , which was originally intended for the Super NES . One of them states that Rayman originally had the ability to use a shield made of three spheres rotating around him, which destroyed enemies that touched it. This power ultimately did not appear in Rayman and became the Ultimate Barrier in Rayman M.
- CPU opponents are predefined based on the chosen game mode: Globox and Dark Globox for Obstacle Course mode, the Teensies and Tily for Time Trial mode, Razorbeard and Razorwoman for Ice Battle mode, Henchman 800 and Henchman 1000 for All-Out Combat mode.
- The cutscenes show the different game modes.
Videos
References
- ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/game/rayman-arena/critic-reviews/?platform=playstation-2
- ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/game/rayman-arena/critic-reviews/?platform=gamecube
- ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/game/rayman-arena/critic-reviews/?platform=xbox
- ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/game/rayman-arena/critic-reviews/?platform=pc
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