Rayman 2: The Great Escape

Rayman 2 for the Nintendo 64 and dreamcast.This is one favourite games from my childhood and it's not because of any game play mechanics or deep story it' because Rayman 2 the great escape doesn't take itself  seriously in any way. The jist of the game is this you are Rayman you are mystical being with no arms, legs or neck who can use his hair like helicopter blades to slow down his falls. You have been captured by robot-pirates. That is just amazing but for this review I will put my childhood away and be impartial. So lets begin: we open with text explaining to us that the pirates have taken over the world and destroyed the heart of the world and only Rayman can save the world. Now before I go any further I must say that for a game like this it has one the best soundtracks I have ever heard; The opening music just slowly builds up and when it reaches the climax you are very pumped for the game. Now we see a robo-pirate dragging Globox(Rayman's best friend and an annoying blue frog-man thing) through an area filled with cages. He is thrown into the same cell as Rayman. He and Rayman have a discussion on the loss of his powers. But don't be a downer Rayman for you see Globox has smuggled you something a silver lum* so you can regain some of your powers. With this you use your new powers to destroy a grate at this point you finally gain control of Rayman as you slide down you can collect red lums which heal you. Unfortunately before you can figure out a way down you are bashed into by Globox and sent plummeting to the ground below. You awake and begin the level when a giant constantly smiling fly named Murfy. Who gives you instructions on how to play the game. As you go through the level you must collect all the yellow lums and break all the cages to release the teensies. After you brake the final cage and release the three teensies who can't decide who is king but seem to know where Globox is open a portal if you have enough yellow lums. Now you enter the hall of doors which allows you to enter new worlds. As you go from world to world you learn more about where Globox is and he has been captured again. You then go to a world where Ly the fairy is being held and after you save her she gives you some of your powers back and tells you to get the four masks of Polokus and awaken Polokus.Now we have to unlock the gate to the guardian of the mask once you beat it you are transported to Polokus who says he will awaken once you find the other three. So you move on to the next world and it's a pirate training instillation where we find Clark another friend of Rayman who has fallen ill after swallowing something so now you must back track to a previous level and enter the cave of bad dreams to find the medicine and give it to Clark. After you've done this you will reach the canopy where our favourite blue frog abomination is being held. When you release Globox he uses rain dance to short circuit lasers although Globox also has another silver lum allowing you to charge your attacks. After a few more levels you reach the next sanctuary, thankfully though this guardian is pacifistic and doesn't wish to fight you and then you get the second mask and give it Polokus. Inter cut between the scenes of Rayman we see the pirate captain: admiral Razorbeard. In these scenes we see that they're getting more and more worried about Rayman. The next sanctuary is one of rock and lava in this level you get the super helicopter power and promptly lose it at the end of the level, anyway you must make the stalactites fall on his head then you get the third mask and once again give it to Polokus. Now for the final mask you must rescue a bunch of baby Globoxes as his wife tells you then have been put into forced labour(Globox is captured again), when you free the children one of them vomits the mask up and you give to Polokus. Now Polokus uses his magic to eliminate all the pirates on land but not in the sky. The final level is the crow's nest in which you fight Razorbeard in his giant robot suit. So he is a robot pirate in a giant robot suit fighting a limbless neckless creature on a flying pirate ship while baby blue frogs watch. For the first part you must use your powers to reflect his bombs until he breaks the floor now Ly gives you a flying rocket which allows you to shoot at the robo-pirate and eventually defeat him. Once the battle is over the pirate ship explodes and we see that everyone thinks Rayman is dead because they could only find his left shoe but from the forest a limping Rayman approaches and all is right in the glade of dreams.
Now this game is awesome because frankly it is just so damn silly and fun but first I will talk about the bad. First the camera doesn't seem to agree with you as it is hard to control and fairly frustrating at times.Secondly fighting can be really awkward as Rayman seems to really suicidal and hates you as the camera angle adds to problem of moving around and not being able to see what you're doing. One thing that really irrates me about this game is the constant back tracking because if you don't have enough yellow lums you have to go back to past levels. Now onto the good: the game just looks amazing not because of graphics but the art and each level has an atmosphere plus the enemies each enemy looks unique and some are just creepy. Another great thing about this game is the story it so damn enjoyable (I know I've said this five times) but this isn't even the craziest one sometime we'll look at Rayman 3. So this game is great but there is the problem of the game play which is quite a large aspect of the game it is somewhat forgivable so I award Rayman 2: the great escape 7/10 I recommend getting you can find it (if you're interested) on Gog.com
Lums are small bodies of magical energy*