Does Rayman 3 live up to its predecessor?
Rayman 3 starts with a story that just can be called crazy, some Lums, creatures that live on Rayman's world that are responsible of keeping the world peaceful, have suddenly turned evil and started causing havoc all over the place, during the confusion, Rayman's friend, Globox accidentaly swallows the leader of the evil Lums, that is now in his tummy. So he and Rayman set out on a journey to find him a doctor.
The main distinction between The Great Scape and Hoodlum Havoc are the jokes. While playing the game you will notice that the jokes have the same style as Conker's Bad Fur Day ones, obviously they are not so dirty, so don't worry if your little brother plays the game, he will be fine.
Another characteristic of Rayman 3 that reminds me of Conker is the way the game unfolds, there aren't worlds, or stages, you will just play through many different scenarios that are connected to each other, while playing them you will get a score based on the enemies you've killed and the items you collected, this score will open many extras such as funny videos and interesting Mini-Games. It also adds to the replay value since you can always try to improve your score.
The characters are always important in a platform game and Ubi Soft does know that, all of the characters on Rayman 3 have their own personality and have a lot of charism specially Murphy and Globox. This happens because of the voice acting, that is well done, through most of the game you will hear characters talking, even when you are not watching a cutscene, while exploring an area you will listen to globox complaints about his little problem, the evil Lum Leader threatening you and much more.
Another thing that is important on platformers is the camera, unfortunately here Rayman 3 doesn't succeed. It is important that you have full control of the camera in a game like this, but in some areas you won't be able to do it since the camera will be locked on a certain position and that's dull because with so beautiful scenarios you should be able to use the camera the way you want to.
The graphics are astonishing, although some textures may seem strange, the scenarios and characters are so colorful that you won't care about anything else. All of the scenarios are pretty creative such as The Land of the Living Dead and a desert that it's different from every other desert that you have already played on many games. Rayman 3 has its very particular graphical style. When combined with the songs the whole package is stunning. It is hard to find a game with so nice songs and sound effects.
However Rayman 3 is far from being flawless. The main problem is that you can beat the game on less than 8 hours! It is a short experience and aside from trying to beat tour score there ins't much to make you play the game again.
In a nutshell, Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc is a great gaming experience with great graphics and voice acting, unfortunately it is way too short, I advise you to rent it, as this game can be beaten in just a few hours.