Rayman 2 is one of the greats that pushed the 5th gen's boundaries to the skies with its technical finesse and wonderful presentation.
An awesome 3D platformer with a nice sprinkle of varied concepts for its never staling set of levels.

I think I'm a masochist.

I've often returned to media I've consumed that has emotionally scarred me as a kid with a sense of reverence. I appreciate when a piece of media affects me deeply in just about any way, even if it's kept me awake at night. Pain and fear are truly ugly, grotesque feelings that can cause deep rooted damage to one's mental psyche, but I've always had a bit of an appreciation towards them. Pain is the greatest teacher, fear is the greatest motivator.

Not that Rayman 2 is an embodiment of pain - far from it. Rayman 2 is one of the smoothest 3D platformers I've ever played. Even with moments of repeated dying, like with the Ssssam's chaotic water skiing extravaganza, to the final boss's checkpoints restarting you from the beginning of a section that requires tight flight navigation, the game never made me want to quit playing. Each level is fun with it's own interesting gimmick, each gimmick is fun within their own right, some of which could be stretched into full of centerpieces of entire game. Riding a pencil shaped rocket, flinging yourself forward on a giant bouncing plum, all of it is just pure game feel fun. Jumping is smooth and easy, hovering helps with any types of complications. Simplistic as the combat may be, the act of shooting dudes with your balls of light is a fun little break up from the main platforming. I personally wouldn't even ask for a more complicated system, but I could see why others may find it a detriment.

So no, Rayman 2 is not at all painful. What Rayman 2 is, is a childhood fear. This comes down almost purely through the art design. The way webby, sticky cobwebs are drawn, to the look of the Zombie Chickens with their tattered clothes, to murky bubbling swamp lands, everything embodies the look of a dream world. A fat stubby man with long arms asks you to assemble strange looking masks as he uses his gigantic finger to create a swirling vortex to teleport you, disintegrating Rayman in the process. The Marsh's Shaman forcing you to go into his mindscape to prove your worth, chasing you from the perspective of inside his mouth, his saliva dripping around his jagged, distorted teeth. (That one in particular gave me such deep anxiety.) The Robo-pirates juxtaposing Rayman and friend's rustic roundness with their jagged edges and rusted metallic bodies. The game starts you off at your lowest point, trapped as a slave within the belly of the ship that houses these monsters, the ever growing count of slaves rising as you progress through the game. Razorbeard himself, as silly and whimsical as him and his men are portrayed, still carry a bit of bite to them. Literally - he eats one of the collectable Lums, forever changing the number from 1000 to 999. Tiny blue men who have debated and bickered on who is the real king among them show you the way to new levels, performing a kick dance along with Rayman to summon the portal. They also open these ancient, primordial gates for you to venture into a new world. It's all so surreal.

And yet, it's playful with a wonderful sense of charm and wit. Characters speak in their own language, making funny mouth sounds as they speak, followed by a triumphant "Yeah! Rayman!". Characters perform slapstick comedy that's incredibly chuckle worthy. The music is spry and springy with bubbly delight, warm and inviting with a sense of wonder, sometimes with sweeping orchestral pieces, to literal and actual genre jungle beats, all of which set the atmosphere of these primarily green soaked world's with life, tension, and wonder. It's such an endlessly charming world.

The darker tones of Rayman 2 have always left such an impression on me. Of course, playing the game as an adult has lessened these feelings of sheer horror. But there's an irresistible lure to them. They've served as an ever lasting reminder of the dark aspects of world, and how even within the darker world, there's light within that darkness. There's always humor, whimsy, charm. You can't appreciate the light if not for the dark.

Kinda like Goth girls. I'm really into goth girls, so Ly kind of does it for me. She has a tail though, so maybe she's a furry? The heck is that? Ly The Fairy, Ly The Furry more like it. She's got nice hands either way.

Yeah, I'm definitely a masochist.

This game.

Rayman 2: The Great Escape is a masterpiece. It's a game that I play at least once a year all the way through, and I never regret a single moment of it. It's one of those games that came to me at the right place, right time, and hit all the right notes. As a kid I was swept away by the mystical setting, the serious and stark (but not TOO serious and stark) tone that contrasted the other platformer games I was playing. The handpainted textures that gave it an ethereal quality. The charming, bizarre character designs and lively animation only a French production could provide. The mystical leitmotif-heavy soundtrack. The strange, alluring goobledegook language they all speak. And Rayman himself. That weird, weird guy. He really baffled me when I saw him on the cover of this game the first time. I couldn't make out if that right foot overlapping his torso was supposed to be a dress/kilt thing. Or if his hair was bunny ears. I was so confused..

The narrative pulls of Rayman 2 are not that deep, but everyone in this game is so lovable and whimsical that you really want to help their plight the best you can anyways. Globox is so inherently funny and I'm glad he stuck around for the rest of the series; in a similar way I really wish Clark the Giant got to as well. And Ly the Fairy is.. well, I crushed on her a lot. Maybe I still do. She's a cool catgirl, leave me alone! But anyways I wish she didn't disappear with this game. The game does a good job of making them feel like they've been your friends for a long time. Also Jano is seriously creepy, Razorbeard is a lovably despicable villain, and Polokus's design is wicked cool. Love those crazy arms.

I've mostly mentioned art, music, characters and presentation so far. But thankfully, my feelings on the game are not purely about aesthetics. Rayman 2 has brilliant level design that, while linear, makes use of every square foot with fun and exciting ideas. The levels are atmospheric and at times haunting, but simultaneously really, really solid platforming. While the stages have very similar theming all throughout (rather than doing a wide variety like most Rayman games), it makes sure to tie them well into the "Glade of Dreams" locale that the game's characters inhabit, and every single stage, scene and setpiece is dedicated to progressing the story, so I never feel like I lose interest in the next place I'm headed.

Your movement feels tight and responsive at all times, no jump feels off, and ledge grabbing into jumping feels like magic. Sliding down slopes feels extremely satisfying and lets you make big leaps. Your helicopter hair lets you descend through massive chasms and across giant gaps in ways that not only help platforming but can heavily enhance the scale or atmosphere of the surrounding stage. The combat mechanics aren't perfect as they couldn't make Rayman throw his fists in 3D yet, so they had him throw energy balls instead. While not AS engaging as what they wanted, they turned it into a positive by giving the energy balls a rubber-esque quality, letting you bounce them all around the stage and screen, with even some puzzles centered around ricocheting them at specific angles. It's really clever and makes up for the lack of the projectile-fist in spades.

This is one of those games I try my best to get everyone to play. Even if they don't like it as much as I do, I know exactly why I love it, and will always recommend someone to try it out. No matter what version of the game you're playing, you're not playing anything under an 8/10. Yes, even the Playstation 1 version with over a third of the content truncated. And yes, even the terrible DS or 3DS versions. Any version is gonna be a good game.

But if you were to ask me which version is my favorite, I'm gonna have to pick the N64 version. It's framerate is a little choppy, but the slightly lower poly count strangely makes the character models cuter, and the soundtrack (while MIDIfied) has some alternate tracks that I think are compositionally superior to the standard OST! If you want the general opinion though, Dreamcast did it best, and I wouldn't say no to that either.

Regardless, you should play this game. Everyone should. I keep asking God to tell Ubisoft to do one good thing and remake this game for me. But God will not listen, for he turns a blind eye to letting anything good come out of Ubisoft. Sigh.

A complete tonal whiplash after the sugar-rush pop of Rayman 1. I felt a degree of uncertainty, and could already tell within the first five minutes as the opening cutscene revealed that ROBO-PIRATES FROM DEEP SPACE had ENSLAVED the entire population of Rayman’s world and destroyed the HEART OF THE WORLD, that this game was going to exude quite a different atmosphere. And to this day, I’ve never quite seen another game replicate the exact atmosphere of Rayman 2. From dense, lush fairy tale forests to abyssal, skeletal caves where zombie chickens abound (yep, you heard, zombie chickens - actually more terrifying than the name might imply, particularly to an impressionable 9 year old!), to subdued coastlines and ancient abandoned temples, the world feels LIVED, feels much, much older than the characters inhabiting it. It’s the jarring hopelessness of a magical, fantastical world being invaded by an unstoppable, inhuman force – and the design really makes you feel this quite palpable sense of dread...of things being off...or damaged... or sickly, in a way which is sometimes difficult to pin down. Like a childhood nightmare, half remembered, but still gnawingly unsettling. Also buoyed by a sometimes catchy, often melancholic soundtrack, which again mixes fairy tale, tribal and robotic rhythms, sometimes within the same level, to augment this morbidly beautiful atmosphere.

It IS like playing through a child's nightmare in places, even though the game is mostly a lot of fun with its puzzle-platform dynamics. The combat seems tacked on, though: shoot at enemy until enemy falls down and, annoyingly, some enemies have a cooldown/invincibility window where you must wait before lobbing another energy fist-beam pellet at them. I mean, it only seems fair given that Rayman also has the same invincibility cooldown, but it does lead to a bit of aggravating waiting around during fights and turns them all into the same dance: dodge, shoot, wait, dodge, shoot. There are "bosses" which slightly eschew this pattern, but whatever. Does a game like this even need combat? asks the reviewer, tentatively waiting for the onslaught of dissent.

More complaints? Sure, I got ‘em. The camera, while not a massive dealbreaker in the sense that it can be stiffly controlled to some limited extent, still swings around obstacles rather awkwardly, sometimes getting stuck on terrain if Rayman’s too close. On the other hand, there are some cool shots where the camera will automatically zoom out as Rayman walks out of a dank cave to reveal a sizeable coastline or traversable vista, giving a much wider scope to the world. Certain platforming segments also have their own bespoke camera angles, usually to the benefit of the player. In fact, I wondered if a fixed camera for each corridor or gauntlet would be more beneficial, but then you’d lose some of the sense of wonder the world wants you to feel.

Although the game is quite linear, it still makes you want to stop and take it all in. The texture work and the environments and the art in general is vibrant and beautiful. Michel Ancel, the creator of Rayman and the director of Rayman 2, once commented on his love of Studio Ghibli, and in particular, My Neighbour Totoro, as a heavy visual inspiration for his own designs. And you can definitely see it in the more forested areas – the kind of almost impressionistic artwork where a flat vegetation texture can suggest a tree or forest far more evocatively and artistically than a real tree would in some way. There’s an artistic cohesion to the world, and hats off to the designers for straddling the line between the natural and the uncanny so subtly.

More about the game itself? Sure, if you insist. As mentioned, this is a relatively early 3D platformer, mainly focused on jumping and occasionally the odd scrap. There are a handful of other mechanics too, such as riding on the backs of missiles like horses (yep) or water-skiing and swimming. The levels are somewhat varied, although they typically fall into ‘forest’, ‘coastline’, ‘ancient temple’ or ‘pirate ship’ categories. You traverse these levels, free creatures from cages and collect Lums, which are pieces of the exploded heart of the world, which must also be collected in order to unlock certain gates in the level-select hubworld, although in truth I was never short on the Lum requirement at any point, which is why accusations of a collectathon nature are rather unfounded here. Yes, you can go for 100% and collect all the cages, lums and see all the bonus levels, but I never felt an imperative to do so and still felt I had a rollicking great time.

call me an 11 year old who just found out postal was a thing but for the life of me i can't stand most cartoonsy-scrimblo-bimblo games like banjo-kazooie, mario, etc etc but i feel like the first two rayman games, beyond just being very nostalgic for me, have a more defined sense of fantasy without being over-the-top with smiling clouds, trees and loud sound effects or trying to put a joke between every word, it just feels like a wonderous world not pandering particularly to kids. not only that, this game in general is probably the definitive 3D platformer of its time and to this day. it pulls off everything right, from the controls to the pacing to the collectathon mechanics and you get fairly immersed in this small rebellious world. i really doubt that you will hate this if you at least like action games and haven't completely forgotten how childlike joy feels like, as close as many of us are to that

Wanted to re-log this as my thoughts on it are still fresh in my mind.

Rayman 2 is weird conceptually. The sequel to an already great, weird 2D platformer (with an amazingly whimsical soundtrack), turns out to be almost a soft reboot; rayman is redesigned, his world has a small bit of lore, new characters who end up being mainstays are introduced, and it’s a 3d platformer on the n64. All of this taken into consideration, I feel like this would be a kind of scary position to put yourself into. Competing against other more popular 3d platformers at the time, as well. Nevertheless, rayman 2 improves upon 3d platformers in the late 90s and is still so fun to play.

The game started out as a basic sequel to the ps1 original, consisting of the same 2d platforming gameplay (you can actually play the first level of the prototype for this version of rayman 2 on the PS1 version of the game). But mid development it apparently shifted over towards the n64. Rayman 2 has incredible soundscapes and simple worldbuilding techniques that allow the game to have a very unique atmosphere and aesthetic, which I’m very fond of. Outside of that, rayman controls extremely well. While not having as varied as a moveset, he’s given “Lums” to throw as a melee attack that locks on to enemies, he has a glide after a jump, and that’s pretty much it aside from being able to swing from flying lums like a grappling hook and being able to strafe during combat (which was a neat addition. But this allows the game age extremely well whereas some would argue other 3d platformers on the n64 could use some refinement. It quite literally feels like it could’ve been made today, albeit with very, very minor hitches (like how rayman’s acceleration and deceleration feels). Puzzles in this game are extremely fun and don’t feel like they’ve been mimicked time and time again; one puzzle had me going from one end of the level, to the other end, carrying two orbs to the center of the level while avoiding enemies and lava. There’s a lot of variety in the gameplay too. Rayman has to carry items, defeat enemies, ride on top of rockets, fly through gusts of wind, find hidden switches to exit a level, its all fun. Never does any part of the gameplay feel like it should’ve been cut.

Collecting lums is extremely simple but fun, very akin to how banjo kazooie throws musical notes into its worlds. But contrary to mario 64 and banjo kazooie, rayman’s “Glade of Dreams” feels lived in. Every level feels connected to the last; the world feels cohesive, not like the disconnected, “themed” levels that both banjo and mario 64 managed. The Glade of Dreams feels dark and moody, not only because of the story, but because of the stellar ambient soundtrack and foley.

Rayman 2 is a very consistent, well paced 3D platformer that I feel doesn’t get enough credit for being released during this era. I would highly convince anyone who plans on picking this up for the first time to try looking at the version differences to see the additional content and George Lucas-esque changes made to the ports of this game. Thats not to say the changes are bad, some are actually very welcome changes. Personally, I love the Dreamcast version; it has a new world map and uses the original high quality assets the team wanted to use before pivoting to the n64 from the pc version for launch in 1999, and is also at 60fps.