Format: Advance
Genre: 2d platformer
Developer: Digital Eclipse
Publisher: Ubi Soft

Another port game... yeahhhh. Honestly, I had to do a bit more research on this one than previous port games. Why you may ask? Well, simply put, Rayman has a very weird and awkward start to his franchise. Originally he was released as an Atari jaguar game, but apparently had some connections with the fabled lost nintendo disc system. The first game was also subsequently released on the playstation after the jaguar version. There's been something crazy like 40 games since then. Rayman Advance is a port of, either, the original jaguar version or the playstation verson. That means this game has been a 3-4 port jump from a lost console to the jaguar to the playstation to the gameboy advance. While trying to find out the true origins of this port I ran into a few reviews as well. Unironically, those reviews seemed to have many of the same complaints I did. For all intensive purposes, Rayman Advance is more or less the same as an SNES port game. That means the screen size is WAY TOO SMALL for it's own good. Let me be clear about this and my views; I don't hate platformers, I hate deathformers. Deathformers as you can imagine are platforming games where the price and penalty for not making a jump is instant death. Unfortunately Rayman Advance is covered head to toe in this mechanic. You have a health meter and lives which are virtually worthless because of said deathforming action. Rayman cannot touch water, spikes, pits of death, or pretty much anything. A lot of things hurt when you're a jackrabbit made of balloon parts. This problem becomes increasingly apparent after the second world starts. Most of the ground is straight up removed and filled with instant death. 90% of the time you'll be on a single cloud that may or may not be disappearing 1 second after you touch it. Worse off, this game is unfortunate to implement the dreaded requirement: "Get 100% to beat the game". If you're like me, that means you're going to need a guide and a second playthrough of every level. The biggest problem of this game, in my opinion, is a combination of the screen proportion size and the horrible level designs. Many of the hidden "electoons" you need to find in order to 100% the game require you to find semi-hidden triggers in order to spawn the cages they're trapped in. This sounds fair at first, but MANY of these hidden triggers involve jumping off random platformers into what appear to be deathpits in order to trigger a hidden platform(That often has a 1 second timer on it) in order to find a difficult path to find another trigger to spawn their cages somewhere you've been to before or nearby. What I've just said is REQUIRED to beat the game. Worse off, you have limited amounts of lives and continues. I earnestly do not know what happens if you run out of continues. When I got down to about 4 left, I put my gamer cap on and just embraced the reset button. Each world has about 4 levels to if you include the boss level. The bosses are wonky and weird, and unfortunately because of screen proportions, you don't get to move around all that much. You are set into 1 exact spot or you get hit. Interestingly enough, when you go down to 1 life, the boss's life is cut in half. At least ubisoft did SOMETHING right in that regard. The visuals/graphics are very good in the game, but the design of constant deathpits just weighs the game down. Rayman also has an issue whenever he's in midair. If he gets hit in midair, his ability to move horizontally drops to 0 and he will almost every time fall straight down. Add that onto the fact that momentum plays a huge role in this game and it makes some levels ridiculously stupid. The music was okay for the GBA. The final boss was a huge let-down. If you're going to make the player do 100%, at least make the final boss worthy of that effort!

All in All, This port gets a 4.5 for it's compounded design issues. Screen Size is an issue, hidden triggers, offscreen triggers, 100% required, ridiculous deathpit fetish, precision movement, precision jumping, quick-action movement of unknown un-seeable pathways required. Walkthrough Required.