Amazing Learning Games with Rayman
Reviewed by Ty Brewer
Published by Ubi Soft

Age Group: Age 4 to 8 Type: Thinking Games Price: $35

PC version requires:
P133 16 MB RAM, 22 M x 8, sound card, DOS, 320x400x256, keypad, gamepad, joystick, many supported

Mac version requires:
Version not available.

Description:

We've heard a lot of promise of a game that's fun to play and educational. Those claims haven't always been true. A game was either strong on education at the expense of fun or it failed to teach any valuable lessons. In one situation, you had to force your child to play the "game." The other end of the spectrum found games that inserted educational themes almost as an afterthought. This title, however, hits the sweet spot between fun and education, with a lot of emphasis on fun.

Arcade Roots

I first saw Rayman on the Sony Playstation and its character is translated to the PC faithfully. This title offers plenty of arcade action from the platform jumping genre. Not only does Rayman have to avoid the pitfalls found in most arcade jumping games, he must also follow directions. As Rayman progresses through the level, he will receive instructions directing him to the "right" answer.

In the first level, phonics, Rayman must punch the switch with the right answer. As he progresses through the level on an elevated palette, he receives instructions for the correct switch. In this exercise, he must identify a word that sounds like another word. For instance, the magician will say "uuh - as in America" and Rayman must identify the correct word that has an "uhh" sound. He is faced with two switches, each with a word next to it. The words might be "china" and "face." If you select the correct switch, Rayman keeps progressing through the level. Select the wrong switch, and Rayman dies. Not only does the child have to focus on the task, but he must be agile enough to avoid the flying bombs and spikes found throughout the level.

As Fun As It Gets

This game may be just as fun as any platform jumping game. The fact that it includes elementary thinking tasks is just an added bonus. No child will turn this title away until they have mastered all the levels. The game is fun and inviting and should be popular for quite a while.

Don't Buy an IBM Aptiva

The only thing holding this game back from greatness is the support for Windows95. The game does install in DOS, Windows 3.x, and Windows 95, but it may not work on everyone's machine. In my case, I made the horrible mistake of buying an IBM Aptiva. IBM doesn't have a true "sound card" in their machines - instead they use a Digital Signal Processor that performs the functions of the sound card, the modem, and an answering machine. When I tried playing Rayman in Windows 95, Windows gave me an error saying the sound card was being used by another application (Windows). While most people were smart enough or lucky enough to avoid IBM Aptivas, IBM is not the only company with a poor implementation of sound under Windows 95. The solution is to boot to DOS and run the game there, where it runs wonderfully. Still, you can't blame the game for my bad computer purchase.

I strongly recommend this title to anyone with children ages 6 through 8 - especially those that enjoy arcade style action games. The game comes with multiple installation options as well as an uninstall.

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