Mobile phone reviews

iPhone game–Rayman 2 review

March 4th, 2010 |

Author: admin

PAYMAN2

We check out the new portable version of the classic 1999 3D platformer Rayman 2 to see if the little guy’s chops are as sharp on iPhone as they were on the Sega Dreamcast. Read on for the full review:

Gameloft deserves a round of applause for a near pixel-perfect rendition of the 1999 original, but think twice about buying Rayman 2 if you can’t deal with dying a fair few time.

More than 10 years ago, way back in 1999, the second Rayman game was hailed as one of the greates 3D platformers ever. The genre may have been in its infancy, but these weren’t limp claims. It was gorgeous, inventive and a superb demonstration of what the new Sega Dreamcast could do. Gameloft has brought Rayman 2 to iPhone, but is this oldie still worth playing?

Rather than dumbing-down or changing anything, Gameloft has taken a no-nonsense approach to this iPhone port of Rayman 2. Everything is just as we remember it, from the levels to the graphics, and the nonsense noises the game’s characters make.

You control Rayman from a 3rd person perspective, using a virtual analogue stick, as he runs and jumps around a colourful world, saving his friends from a gang of invading pirates. You can roam freely around the environments, but they’re all fairly compact and Rayman 2 boils down to a series of linear levels.

In most respects Rayman 2 is pretty traditional, but it keeps your interest up by peppering the run and jump action with sections where Rayman slides down huge slopes, and rides rockets and whirlwinds. This variety is Rayman 2’s trump card – you never spend to long doing the same thing, over and over.

That is, unless you get well and truly stuck because of the controls. The iPhone’s touchscreen almost always always struggles with platformers, simply because it’s no replacement for a good old console controller.

Rayman 2 doesn’t do itself any favours by bumping you back to the beginning of a section when you run out of life, but we didn’t find this version much more frustrating than the Dreamcast edition was, all those years ago. The camera, which you often can’t control, is tricky to deal with at times though so make sure you take a chill pill or two before setting out for an afternoon with this mobile game.

Combat is part of the Rayman 2 equation, with Rayman able to fire projectiles at enemies. Locking onto these enemies more difficult than it needs to be, done with a pinch motion, and makes fighting the game’s more difficult enemies a bit of a (virtual) button mash.

If you can put aside these frustrating elements, Rayman 2 is well worth playing – and remains one of the best 3D platformers available for iPhone.

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