Rayman M-Arena

[stan423321]

Long post incoming. TL;DR: No, it's not really that shallow.

Actually, if you took an "objective review" look at RM, you get various categories, like graphics, music, et caetera, and let's be honest, it doesn't shape well there. Let's assume "standard reviewer logic" for a few paragraphs. Music is technically alright, but whoever took the decision of character themes playing half the time in races would be fired even by me - it's equivalent of Sonic Unleashed's infamous battle theme, maybe a little better because it doesn't get interrupted. Yes, I know, the themes for characters are played over ambient sounds, but still, old per-track music approach seems to work better most of the time. Graphics? Not too bad, not too great. A lot of assets were taken from R2, and while RM had in my opinion a different spin to the style, it wasn't anything that was stunning.

Gameplay "megastructure" is just plain confusing. Let's look at the competitor, Mario Kart family. You have Grand Prixes and time trials. You are supposed to get the best result possible with each of them, and you'll unlock stuff when you'll get medal on certain Grand Prix, or you'll win it, or you'll outrageously win it, or you'll outrageously win 5 of them... In RM, you select a track, then you select a competition type, then you win it or not. But what you'll unlock seems to be relatively random unless you read the manual (which may not be bundled in official release) or are a stupid mathematical savant like me. So it sounds retarded in comparison to MK. But wait, there's more! The game's two main modes work in very different ways. You and me know that this is what made arena mode work instead of being an afterthought like in most racing games, but we only know it because we love this game. Initially it causes huge confusion: is that some awkward 2 games in 1 compilation?

Then, you'll try to compare it to the competition again, just because you can't judge it on its own merit, and guess what? At the first glance, competing games work far better. Maximum of 4 players, of which two can be humans? Come on. No items in racing mode? Please. Characters with absolutely no gameplay differences? And then, some really random new characters in a mascot game? And then, skins instead of more characters? It takes no balancing if they are identical, so they could throw in extra characters instead, and while new robots are cool, the Tily thing is stupid!

So overall, it looks pretty bad. Unless you take your time, sit and learn to play it. You'll eventually notice what are genuine problems with the game, actually. The gameplay modes are actually an afterthought in how they work. Normal racing and Lum Battle are actually the modes which in my opinion define the core experience, and Popolopoï is a really clever take on time attack. But Lums Racing is actually normal racing with a twist: there are no opponents using the worse paths AND you have to take all the paths instead of using the best one all the time. The point there? To get you to know whole level (supposing, that is, that it doesn't have 4 paths in one place, and this happens). But Popolopoï already does that. There is no reason for you to not finish normal Race like this if you fancy. On the other hand, additional competions in arena mode are a genuine addition to the game, but they just lack the epicness of Lum Battle, and Lum Spring is very, very random. And the characters thing is a genuine concern, if a minuscule one. And optimization button... you could just mash it all the time, so why is it there actually?

When you get through those, you can see a lot of potential in RM, and the best thing is it is not just a lot of wasted potential. First of all, arena mode is great compared to anything in kart racers, just because it takes a little dose of everything and mixes it up. It's not exactly a TPS, and it's not exactly a platformer, but who does care what it actually is if it plays well? I do, as as the actually objective reviewer, I want to tell my audience what it really is. So it's a simplified TPS, with - unsurprisingly for that time - some platforming elements, in which there are no hitscan weapons. This is actually a huge point; you can technically avoid anything, and practically anything but lasers, if it's not used strategically in huge doses. It may sound weird, but there aren't too many TPSes or FPSes like this - for networking reasons; I managed to make my fellow FPS fans play the Lum Battle and they actually found it quite cool because "it's actually a TPS without bullet weapons, and boy isn't it radically different than the headshot stuff".

The racing actually works quite well too. By throwing out the karts, devs threw out the engines, and so, they threw out huge punishments for screwing up caused by the game mechanics themselves, instead relying on (not always...) clever level design. By throwing out the powerups... I actually don't think it was really necessary, but it has shown that powerups are not really needed. And the "friendly shot" mechanic? It gave us switches, with so many fancy uses. And exploding barrels. And purple lum knockoffs without eyes, although crediting RM team here is not exactly the right thing to do.

So while an average reviewer could find RM a stupid knock-off, I believe we have the right to praise it even if it is not exactly the best game ever, and not because it's a Rayman game; it's actually a cool retake on mascot racer genre which screws with the standard rules and still manages to work. It could be better, but I love it for the very things most reviewers probably hated, for it being weird like Rayman game should. If I was given right to make one dream game in Rayman universe, I don't know whether I would go for R4 or for RM's spiritual successor, because RM is worth one despite what everyone says.

[Rulez]

Damn, son

[stan423321]

This doesn't exactly tell me what you're condemning.

[Xenon]

I can see why reviews flopped, actually for the reasons Stan mentioned (somewhere) in his post. If you take a neutral view of the game from a non-Rayman fan's perspective, there's nothing particularly unique or special about it.

In order to recognise its merits you have to be familiar with the Raymanian settings, the characters and the overall style of the game, which I have to say are fairly uninspiring to standard gamers.

[stan423321]

Well, I have to agree. RM relies on interest in R2 setting in order to make you start playing it, and that's a little problematic; Mario Kart doesn't need anything similar. What I was countering there was claim that the game's only (and, no wonder, subjective) merit is its setting.

[Haruka]

I can see why reviews flopped, actually for the reasons Stan mentioned (somewhere) in his post. If you take a neutral view of the game from a non-Rayman fan's perspective, there's nothing particularly unique or special about it.

In order to recognise its merits you have to be familiar with the Raymanian settings, the characters and the overall style of the game, which I have to say are fairly uninspiring to standard gamers.

This is why I said before I wouldn't recommend this game to a non-Rayman fan. I'm more than sure that non-Rayman fans would find the game confusing and super random, and not enjoying it at all. I do think Rayman M is only for fans of the franchise, because in order to have maximum enjoyment, it requires basic knowledge about the franchise itself, especially the Rayman 2 universe.

@Stan I pretty much agree with everything you said (I also never liked TIly and I think she's simply an excuse for Ly not being implemented in there due to animation problems, not to mention the real height of her). Other thing I think Ubisoft could have done was creating a tutorial for each mode. I remember struggling a lot as a kid to play the battle mode because of the simultaneous use of the keyboard and the mouse, but then it was a matter of trial and error and practice until mastering it. This said, I also wouldn't recommend Rayman Rush to a non-Rayman fan for the same reasons as Rayman M/Arena, not to mention that Rayman Rush is way shorter and a half-game.

[Raymanarenaps2]

Why was the North American release of Rayman M(Arena) panned by critics, websites like IGN and Gamespot reviewed the game at 4.7 and 5.1 calling it a bad, awful, and mediocre attempt at milking the Rayman franchise concluding it as shallow trash. The game is not the greatest of competitive games but it isn't all bad, I do think the game was a little "lacking" though.

Rayman Rush received a 5.8 from Gamestop so don't feel too bad.
They like longer loading times, laggy gameplay, and glitchy sound effects more obviously.


Reference: http://www.gamespot.com/rayman-rush/rev ... w-2861729/

[TeensieKing]

I don't think it's fair to compare Rayman M to Mario Kart. It's just different. A game you could compare to Mario Kart would be Crash Team Racing, but not Rayman M.

[Adsolution]

the North American release of Rayman M(Arena)

Why not just say "Rayman Arena?"

I think it's pretty obvious. As a game, it's really not that great. It's only really addicting for a few hours before it's both completed and not as fun anymore.

From a graphical standpoint, it's wonderful. From a musical standpoint, it's absolutely outstanding in every way - Rayman Arena has my favourite video game soundtrack of all time. From a gameplay standpoint, it's really meh.

[Haruka]

From a graphical standpoint, it's wonderful. From a musical standpoint, it's absolutely outstanding in every way - Rayman Arena has my favourite video game soundtrack of all time. From a gameplay standpoint, it's really meh.

True. I really like how they tried to bring the R2 atmosphere, and how it worked very well. Maybe this is why I like the game a lot.

[Rayfist]

As far as spinoffs go, Rayman Arena was pretty damn great. Though I will admit the gameplay is okay at best, still a damn great spinoff.

[TeensieKing]

It was good for having a racing game that wasn't a copy of Mario Kart. Still I think if it had been a karting game it would have been fun for much longer. And if it had more difficulty.

[Shrooblord]

Still I think if it had been a karting game it would have been fun for much longer.

No, I think not. Platforming like was achieved in Rayman M only works if you're actually on your feet. I really enjoyed all the mysterious sidepaths and hidden alternate routes in the game - with carts you can't do as much of that.

Of course LEGO Racers will bite my ass there, but then LEGO Racers is fantastic because of a whole range of other aspects.

[TeensieKing]

Still I think if it had been a karting game it would have been fun for much longer.

No, I think not. Platforming like was achieved in Rayman M only works if you're actually on your feet. I really enjoyed all the mysterious sidepaths and hidden alternate routes in the game - with carts you can't do as much of that.

Well, to be honest some online mode would make Rayman M much more fun I think.

[Shrooblord]

Yes... it's been tried before, but the means to this have become impossible, alas.

[Robotic Teensie]

"have become"? Was is possible in the past?

[Master]

I think they used this "Hamachi" thing to change the LAN mode into an online mode, and thus play with each other over the internet.
EDIT: Yup, this was how they did it back then:

Source: http://forums.ubi.com/groupee/forums/a/ ... 046244/p/1

Okay people,
After ( too ) much tries, we ( me and pok2, we did the online test! ) can finally say to you: "WE HAVE RAYMAN ARENA WORKING ONLINE!!!" lol. Yes, it's true. Via Hamachi.
What you need to do is:

1. Installing:
Download & Install Hamachi: http://files.hamachi.cc/priv/HamachiSet ... .56-en.exe

2. Connecting:
Open the Hamachi program, and click teh connect button.
If you're the SESSION MAKER, click the 'networking menu' button ( sorry, you'll have to search for this one, but there are only 2 buttons, so... ) and click Create new network. Make a Name and a password for the network, then let other people join with the following instructions.
If you're the SESSION JOINER, just click the 'networking menu' button, and click 'Join existing network'. Type the name and password you recieved from the session maker, and click OK. Now you can see all other people who joined the network.

3. A VERY IMPORTANT STEP:
Go to Network connections in your windows configuration panel. ( If you don't know how, Start-> Run -> ncpa.cpl )
Close your internet connection ( not hamachi, keep that running, but just close your internet connection. ), then run Rayman Arena.

4. Rayman Arena Trick – IMPORTANT!
First I'm gonna give instructions for the SESSION MAKER:
Now Rayman Arena is started, open the LAN game.
Type your name, and click confirm ( or whatever ).
Click Create. You won't see any games open. It's very normal. Type your session name. Choose your character & map. Click confirm.
DO NOT CLICK CREATE YET!!! IT'S VERY IMPORTANT!
Now go back to your desktop, leaving rayman arena on. ( Alt+Tab is your friend! )
Then Re-open your internet connection. Be sure to wait until Hamachi is reconnected.
Now open your Rayman Arena, and click Create. Server should be successfully created!!!
Now wait for some session joiner(s) to join, and click start, ( or whatever it is ), and prepare for a very smooth game!

If you're a SESSION JOINER and the SESSION MAKER already created the server, open LAN game menu, type your name, click confirm. You’ll not see any games running. Normal.
Now go back to your desktop, leaving rayman arena on. ( Alt+Tab is your friend! )
Then Re-open your internet connection. Be sure to wait until Hamachi is reconnected.
Now open Rayman Arena ( DO NOT CLICK REFRESH! ), and what do you see? Tadaaa! There’s your server you should join! Select it and click join, and prepare for a very smooth game!

That's it!

Also, if you're using firewalls, be sure to disable them for the Hamachi connection

Pok2 and I had a very smooth game. He was Razorwife and I was rayman. He chose First Ruins as map. And I beated him! He arrived 2 seconds after me. The game was as I said, very smooth. No problems at all!

Also, I'll edit this post when pok2 finds a way to make this thing less difficult.

And... who wants to play?

Please notice, this method is only for people who have Rayman Arena, not Rayman M. Also, each time you want to play, you'll have to do the steps starting from step 3! Have fun!
It doesn't work for Rayman M, because it hasn't got any LAN option.
Also make sure in your Rayman Arena options your connection is set to: Local Area Network.

Droolie.

Topic Merging has been done, topic is now on both Rayman M/Arena. ~ Hoodcom

I want the online back.

[Robotic Teensie]

That's a clever trick! But why does it not work anymore? Do newer versions of Hamachi not support it?

[Shrooblord]

I'm not sure. Haruka tried very recently and failed to get it working again.

Hamachi is really useful for other things though; I'm able to host a Minecraft server for my friends because of it - and it enables me to play Black & White with people online, now Lionhead's servers (and the studio itself) are dead. It's just that it doesn't update in a friendly way when it does, and I think Rayman Arena is one of the victims for it.

If I had Arena myself, I'd definitely try out a few tricks to get it to work - I've had to go through some trouble before to get Hamachi up and running.

[Robotic Teensie]

Hmm. For some reason Hamachi didn't work at all for me when I tried to use it a while back. Anyway, there are older versions available here.