There are some things in life you just have to accept; there's really very little wow gold reviews questioning them. Arguably, in a

gaming sense, the riddle of why Rayman has no limbs must come high up on that list, as well as how on earth did this

critically murdered franchise end up becoming the UK's biggest selling platformer? You think we're making it up don't you?

Released at the same time as the launch of the PlayStation back in September 1995, the game is still selling around 2,000

copies a week, and has shifted around 1.5 million* copies in the UK alone. That's more than any Mario, Crash, or Sonic game

has ever registered on the ChartTrack panel. The follow up hasn't fared quite so well commercially, but as with the original,

once its price came down, the sales ramped up. Suffice to say, this is also selling about 2,000 copies a week at a knockdown

price.
So the Rayman games are for kids then? And they're French? So why do we care about the third (fourth if you count the filler

release Rayman M)? If the truth be known, it's down to the likes of Naughty Dog and Insomniac for restoring our faith in the

genre with classics like Jak & Daxter and buy silkroad gold & Clank. The fact is, we're really enjoying jumping around, collecting

everything in sight at the moment, and even limbless French platformers have snared our attention. What's that all about?
Estimated combined sales of PSX, PC, GBC and GBA as of end of Jan 2003, based on ChartTrack data.
The storyline's fairly tenuous, as they tend to be with jump and collect games, but we'll give you a quick run through in

case you're interested. Basically a 'depraved and hysterical' evil red Lum by the name of Andre wants to conquer the world,

and has somehow turned his fellow red Lums into black Lums, which steal animal's hair in order to weave costumes for

themselves. Dressed in big long coats, hooded and armed with guns, the army of 'Hoodlums' (geddit) have captured all the

Teensies, and it's Rayman's job to liberate them and sort out these pesky Hoods. To make matters even quirkier, Rayman's long

time buddy Globox has somehow managed to swallow Andre, and develops an unquenchable thirst for Plum juice - meaning Rayman

not only has to defeat all manner of foe, but seek out three anetheron gold doctors to cure his pal. No one ever said it would be

straightforward.
Fortunately, our limbless friend is able to harness the Hoodlum's five superpowers for a limited time, giving Rayman enhanced

abilities including Vortex (make enemies spin), Heavy Metal Fist (heavy punch), Lock Jaw (swing between metal handles), Shock

Rocket (guided missile), and Throttle Copter (to reach higher ledges, etc). The experienced platformers among you will

immediately note plenty of inspiration from the aforementioned Jak & Daxter, as well as the recently released Ratchet &

Clank. Just about every one of Rayman's superpowers feature in the latter at some stage, with the major difference being the

temporary nature of his powers - which is the exact mechanic employed in the former. Talent borrows, genius steals?
Obviously as a cutesy third person platformer you don't come around these parts expecting innovation and it's hard to find a

tremendous amount in the core of Rayman 3. As you'd expect from a game such as this, your experiences will roughly follow

this well trodden path: wander around, collect jewels, shoot enemies, collect temporary power up, reach previously

unattainable part of the level, free the Teensie from their guild wars money, repeat until boss encounter.
One element that is quite a novel progression is the combat mechanic, which gives you the ability to curve your (already

detached) fist around corners, giving you the opportunity to knock out enemies even if they're hiding behind a pillar.

Holding down the right trigger allows Rayman to lock on to the target, which allows you to not only strafe left and right and

avoid their projectiles, but it keeps the target in sight while you're moving around. This all sounds very useful in

principle, and in practise it might, were it not for the complete inability of the camera to behave itself, or for the lock

on to work effectively. As with so many third person action games, if the camera's broken, you're in a whole heap of trouble,

and Rayman 3's potty dofus kamas gets you in a mess time and time again.