Rayman® Forever

I've been looking for this game for quite a while, and after reading all the reviews here at GOG I felt very enthusiastic and bought it. Unfortunately this version is not like the original game. There are no film sequences and you won't understand the story (even though the story is short and simple). A LOT of the games beautiful music and sound effects have been removed or replaced, which to me was the biggest disappointment. The difficulty level of the game also seems to have increased quite a bit, as a lot of extra lives and helpful items are no longer there. The graphics are good, but it's just not the same without the music! If this version was truly like the original game then I'd give it 5 stars! They just don't make beautiful games like Rayman anymore...

This just feels plain wrong. Without the music, this game isn't even half as fun for someone that enjoyed the actual original... GOG, it's time to fix this!

There are many reviews for this game that (rightly) criticise the incomplete soundtrack that made this 90s classic so memorable and is a huge part of the experience. It's not really GOGs fault - Rayman Forever cut out huge swathes of the soundtrack to save on disk space, and spliced many together so that each world has a continuous track on a loop. It makes for a very disjointed and nostalgia-crushing experience. However, there is a simple fix in the form of the Rayman Control Panel, which is easily findable by any good search engine. With it, you can restore the full soundtrack with the click of a button - no messing around with replacing files. Most importantly, there is also a second option to have each world play its own track. I found enabling this option (and not enabling the 'complete soundtrack' option) restored the game to exactly how I remembered it - each level has its own unique track which adds bags of flavour and atmosphere. With this simple fix, the game gets 5 stars. It's an absolutely classic platformer that despite its beautifully colourful and playful presentation is devilishly difficult. Hugely enjoyable, and well worth the price.

Rayman was originally released in 1995 for the SEGA saturn and SONY playstation, it was made By Michel Ancel - The wonderful talented man who also brought us Beyond Good and Evil. Rayman then was ported to many systems and of course found it's way on the PC which is arguably the best version of the game available, right here on GOG.com Graphics: Even if the game is 2D the hardware of SS and PS allowed many different effects and tricks. The result? The game looks absolutely BEAUTIFUL! It's still a marvel to look at and is very appealing to the eye the PC takes this even further by bigger resolutions and effects Sound: Top marks, the effects are very different and varied and almost all of the music is fantastic and memorable, I can almost guarantee you that "lily's theme" will be stuck in your head for a while after you hear it! Gameplay: Although Rayman did not innovate much in the platformer genre it did things very very well, the Levels are Diverse and varied, you do a lot of different things in the game. WARNING: The game is extremely hard and challenging! DO NOT let the "childish look" fool you! this is one tough game which is more than challenging for any adult! Replayability: There are many things to do after you are finished with the game, you can free all of the "fairies" out of their cages, the more you free - the more rewards you earn. You can also do special hidden challenges in levels which are fairly difficult to access, so keep an eye out! Controls: The controls in Rayman are very responsive, it works well and is pretty right, the game never feels "jerky" or "unfair" because of the controls or game mechanics, if you die - you die because of your fault, always. Overall: A Brilliant platformer which is probably one of the Best 2D platformers ever, right up there with Sonic2/3 and Mario 3/W - It's that good! For only 6 dollars this game is superb value and with Rayman you cannot go wrong 5 out of 5 stars