Topic: Rayman DS makes me want to cry

[Bartman3010]

Ugh, man, I cannot believe this game would make me get tired of going through Rayman 2. Probably since its been on every system imaginable.

See, the thing is, its not the port thats terrible. Its decent. Framerate is tolerable, the touch screen controls feel a little better than Mario 64's, and its a port of the N64 version, so while it doesnt have the extra flaura and fauna of the Dreamcast version, its still got a decent version based off of.

But as a DS title, its a complete disappointment, early press releases hinted at a multiplayer mode which is nowhere to be found. The levels are dark, which should teach developers of a thing called brightness control. Not to mention, theres no reason to get it unless you have never picked up Rayman 2, which is foolish if you STILL havent played it. But then again, some of the sequences of Rayman 2 are rather tiresome, and the DS version just makes them even more boring for some reason.

Not to mention theres no real point to the bottom screen, as my thumb is always covering up the neccesary information I need to read. Its so useless that you can turn on/off the brightness for either screen sepratley.

No touch screen mini games
No maps
The bottom screen is a waste, a disappointing start for Rayman.
Rayman Advance feels like a much better port.

[darknight06]

My take on the game:  (all DS and GBA games I play at home are connected to a stereo system when in use)

First thing I noticed, holy crap it's DDDDDARK.  When both your corporate logo and game logo are dark as night you know something's amiss.  Once you get past that screen you are then treated to....
What the, LOAD TIMES, and with a loading screen at that.  Fortunately it no longer than about 4 seconds but still.

I haven't gotten very far into the game at this point, but one thing that stands out immensely about the game is that it's dark.  It's actually kind of sad and funny at the same time, funny because you now have the opposite problem that plagued Castlevania on GBA at launch, dark rooms give the best picture.  Sad, because it's clear they just took the TV graphics and brought it over without recoloring.(that just screams budget to me) Graphics are for the most part OK.  Textures save for some ugly sparkles and surfaces range from good to really well done.  Framerates are very interesting to observe.  It seems like they dive as you go from one open area to another, but otherwise it stays at a consistent 25 to 30.   I'm not sure whether the N64 version had lighting effects or not since I've only played the DC version prior but there are none here.  Also, unlike most 3D DS games I've seen on here so far, for whatever reason anti-aliasing was turned off.  While surprisingly it doesn't mess things up too much, it's still gone and at some parts would've made the game look smoother.  

Sound for the most part is clear except in the silent areas where every sound effect produces a hiss afterwards.  Music still does it changes in realtime and sounds good, EXCEPT it doesn't loop right because they sampled ALL of the music instead of it being system generated!

As for the controls...
"the touch screen controls feel a little better than Mario 64's"
I beg to differ here, there much worse.  My thumb moves around a lot and it was quite nice to be able to be at center no matter where I put my thumb at on the screen whenever I lifted it off to stop.  Letting go was how I stopped on SM64DS and with that now not an option I feel like I'm better off with the pad which is also not that great because you're ALWAYS in run.

I'm going to have to play through it a bit more and when I do depending on what I see I'll follow up.  

[Bloodworth]

Interesting, I was considering whether or not I'd want this.  Looks like probably not, and I probably want to avoid any game that tries to use the screen as an analog stick.

[Aussie Ben PGC]

From the look I had at my friend's copy, it does the analogue stick better than Mario 64 did.  Rather than having the circle move around with you around on the bottom screen, it stays stationary in one area, of which the placement is completely customizable.  I HATED Mario 64's faux analogue - to the point where I stubbornly used the D-Pad for the entire game.  I certainly finished it more quickly than if I'd decided to stick with that awful thumb strap method.

[KDR_11k]

Bloodworth: It's not like Rayman 2 can't be played with digital controls. I have the PC version, not a problem.

[Bartman3010]

But theres a second delay when you use the D-Pad for like...no reason.

also, I want to know why the X and Y buttons wont turn the camera. You have to hold the X Button and tilt the 'stick' left and right (Or the D-Pad) to turn it. The Y button is to go in 1st person mode.

Thats what REALLY pisses me off.

[darknight06]

Agreed, they could've put the look button on the touchscreen and been done with it.  Worked for me in SM64DS, would've worked here.  

I've been playing around with the game a little bit more and while the analog method is starting to work for me, I still wish they gave you the option of SM64DS style or stationary input.  I had gotten so accustomed to SM64's control to the point where I considered it standard and didn't even think twice about it til I played this game.    

Update:
So how much do you think this'll sell back for?  I think I'm gonna chuck it for YT&G.  I see why this didn't launch with the system, SM64DS would've shredded this 50,000 ways.  Not that I think Rayman was a bad game, it's just this port doesn't do it any justice.