Re: Rayman M-Arena
Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 9:40 pm
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.
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.
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