It may sound clichéd, but playing Rayman 3 HD really brought this writer back to the old days. I’m talking of the times where the days would stretch on forever. The times where you had to make one game last you for weeks because you didn’t have the money to buy anymore. That was ten years ago, and playing the platformer again with an older, hopefully wiser set of eyes is certainly an interesting and different experience. I don’t mean this in a bad way either, no; I enjoyed playing Rayman 3 back then, and I have enjoyed playing it ten years later on.
For clarity, let’s start with the new additions in this digital upgrade. We now have gorgeous 720p visuals, achievements and last but not least, an online leaderboard. There are nine mini games included, but these were actually in the original GameCube release all along, so they’re not really anything new. The aforementioned achievements often require perfection in a certain area of the game, while the leaderboard system is very rudimentary, but adds a competitive nature to the solo experience. The mini games vary in the strength of their entertainment, but are creative and welcome. Anyone hoping for something more radical in this HD update will be sorely disappointed.
After being impressed by the remastered visuals, the next most immediate thing I noticed about the game was the camera. It can be pretty awkward at times, getting stuck in walls and scenery, often at the most inconvenient sections where careful platforming is required. You can manually rotate the camera, but this only seems to annoy it more, as it further becomes tangled and caught amongst the world. It’s not always an issue, but is nevertheless an unwanted hindrance affecting the overall enjoyment of the game.
The different worlds help to shake things up. Personal favourites of mine include the Land of the ‘Livid Dead’ and the Desert of the Knaaren. While these do provide a host of well-designed settings for our limbless hero, which look fantastic in HD, the gameplay within them can become repetitive and predictable. The formula roughly revolves around defeating enemies guarding power ups, then using these power ups to progress further. You can argue that most games are formulaic, but Rayman 3 is particularly transparent in places.
Another positive aspect is how witty and occasionally hilarious the script is. If I could go back in time and ask my younger self whether I thought Rayman 3 was a funny game, then the answer would undoubtedly be no. Now years later as a product of maturity, I found myself laughing in quick succession. Murfy, the flying frog-like creature that accompanies Rayman at the beginning of the game, comes out with smart, humorous remarks complaining about the tropes of video games and narrative in general. At one point he also comments on the Fairy Council going out clubbing, “Doing an all-nighter.” It’s elements in the script like this that prove Rayman 3 is catered for all audiences.
On a similar subject, my latest playthrough of the game has reminded me just how wacky it all is. And it’s not just the bizarre story I’m talking about. Curious sections include chasing around your own shoe that has become ‘the Crazy Shoe’; riding on thin pink platforms where disco music and a collage of colours assault the senses; and saving the many Teensies locked up in cages that protest about their needs to iron kilts and attend bingo night. It’s absolutely crazy, but is all the better for it.
Rayman 3 is a pretty average platformer on its own, but it’s the quirkiness, the characters and the amusing script that propel it forward and make it something unique and worth playing. The HD remaster merely adds some extra icing on an already bountiful cake. If you haven’t taken the plunge into the psychedelic, engrossing world that encompasses Rayman 3, then there’s no better time than now. Finally, after the brilliant Origins was released last year, we can only ask one thing: what’s next?