Rayman's world has to be the closest thing to a living, breathing cartoon that I have come across in all my days of gaming. Rayman himself is wonderfully animated along with the rest of the whimsical and often downright goofy cast. You meet everyone from the frog-like globoxes, to SSSSAM (yes, his name is spelled that way), a Loch Ness-like creature who can give you a lift every so often in the game. Birds and butterflies flutter about the levels, living mushrooms happily pile on each other, fish glide through the water, and frogs comically perform handstands. This game is just oozing with life and color. Rayman's Technicolor world is good enough to make you stop every so often in the game and change camera angles just so you can see the wildlife or watch the clouds slowly roll by. Everything is presented in a very stylized fashion with round bodies and angular limbs; if they have limbs that is. There's absolutely no mistaking a Rayman character when you see it. The visuals are crisp, colorful, and full of life. I applaud Ubi Soft for taking the time to create such a breathtaking universe.

As Rayman, your job is to escape from the evil mecha pirates and find four magical masks that will allow you to awaken the creator of your world in order to restore peace to the land. Throughout the story you will have to interact with plenty of other characters who will assist you in your journey. You'll run into the previously mentioned globoxes, and the teensies, an ancient race of little people who can never remember who their king is, so they take turns with the crown; totally hilarious. The game is linear, but it allows you to backtrack to any locale you have beaten in order to unlock secrets you might not have had the power to access before. Rayman gains new abilities as he progresses through the world and collects lums, the source of all power in his world. Buy collecting all of the lums, Rayman gains more knowledge about his world, as well as some bonus levels. While the story starts off simple, it ends up resembling a weird peyote induced hallucination. I only say that because the story quickly changes from beating up mecha pirates to searching for mystical masks which you bring, via dreams, to your long armed creator who speaks in Indian chants. Odd stuff indeed.

Goofy characters and trippy story aside, Rayman 2 is all about the gameplay. The game engine in Rayman 2 is easy to master and surprisingly solid for a 3-D adventure title. Rayman's basic moves are his magic fist which shoots out white balls of energy and his jump which can be prolonged through the use of his ears as helicopter blades. The left trigger allows Rayman to strafe while auto-targeting the enemy, while pressing both triggers allows you to view the world through the eyes of Rayman. Most of the game involves the classic run and jump style of play, but Ubi Soft added in plenty of innovations to guarantee a fun ride. In a few spots in the game Rayman will have to water ski while avoiding enemies, glide through a crystal cavern, carry canisters of explosives while avoiding enemy shots, and plenty more. For as many times as you see a puzzle that involves certain items, such as the explosives, they always offer a new and sometimes surprising twist on how to use it. And just as Rayman evolves, so does the gameplay. For example, after freeing your friend Ly the fairy, you earn the ability to swing from strategically placed purple lums, adding in a new twist to levels. Since you can backtrack, you can now visit previous levels with purple lums, allowing you to swing to new secrets. The only problem I had with the gameplay was the high level of difficulty. Many of the bosses and puzzles you have to figure out are completely unforgiving. If you misjudge a jump by one centimeter, you're taking a fall. While the first boss was relatively easy, the second boss was annoyingly difficult. At one point you have to force the second boss backwards, accomplished by using the skulls he throws at you as stepping stones to make your way towards him. Basically, you are forced to jump before he even throws the skulls to ensure you are far enough out to reach the next cliff. There are plenty of times like these that tempt you to put your controller right though the TV screen, but since the gameplay is so addictive you'll keep coming back for more.

One of the last things I wanted to mention was the music. Just like the last three titles I reviewed, the music enhances the game dramatically. The overall theme of the music seems to have a distinctive Tim Burton feel about it. With it's bouncy rhythms and beautiful, yet strangely haunting chants you'll want play just to hear the stage select music. The best feature of the music has to be that unlike other 3-D platformers with their loud and annoying repetitive chords, Rayman 2's music is soft and atmospheric, blending in perfectly with the rest of the world.

In the end, it turns out that the Dreamcast port of Rayman 2 was definitely the one to wait for. Unlike its previous incarnation on the N64 and the PC, the DC port comes chock full of little extras. Not only do we get a 4-player mini-game downloadable through the Ubi Soft web site, we get a ton of Dreamcast exclusive levels, earned through collecting all of the lums in each level in addition to saving all your friends.

Overall Rayman 2: The Great Escape can be summed up in one word: addictive. Every part of this game calls you back for more. The highly enjoyable gameplay, the atmospheric tunes, and the quirky cast of characters add up to a winning formula for Ubi Soft. They did the right thing by adding in new levels and mini-games. Rayman 2 is a shining example of what a good game, as well as a good port, should be.