Rayman 2: The Great Escape (1999)

The transition from the original Rayman to a new, fully 3D game called Rayman 2: The Great Escape was a big success and it brought forth a game with hours of content, a fresh look and amazing soundtracks.

In Rayman 2: The Great Escape, you fight a horde of Space Pirates, lead by an admiral, called Razorbeard. He and his gang destroyed many worlds in the galaxy and now the world of Rayman, called the Glade of Dreams, is his next target. Razorbeard already imprisoned many Lums and Teensies, magical creatures that have been introduced in this new installment. Rayman fought hard against the space pirates but was eventually captured and imprisoned in the huge pirate ship of Razorbeard. Just when he thought everything was lost, he got rescued by Globox and escapes the ship.

Now, Rayman needs to take the fight to Razorbeard once again, while freeing the Lums, Teensies and other new characters like Ly the Fairy, who aids you in your adventure.

In addition, you need to collect the four masks of the elements, fire, water, air and earth, each guarded by a boss. The Teensies that you save serve as gatekeepers of the magical realms in the Glade of Dreams and unlock doors to the boss stages when you collected enough Lums. After defeating the boss, you go to Polokus, the spirit of the world itself and present him with the mask, which he snaps on top of his magical pillar thing. Collecting the four masks is the only way to stop Razorbeard.

This story is excellent and surprised me in comparison to the first game, which was a lot more cliché and generic. Of course, I take the time period into account here.

The fresh new mechanics in Rayman 2 are epic. You can still grab rings, destroy cages, just like the original Rayman, but in addition, you can now swim, carry plumes to use at other locations, climb vines and nets, and solve puzzles to progress in the game. Mainly, these puzzles consist of finding switches to open doors, but some require backtracking or coming back later because you need to complete a certain other level first to reveal the passage.

On your journey, you unlock more powerful attacks and skills to help you on your quest. These abilities are unlocked by collecting enough Lums.

I also really liked the bonus games in which you race against other magical creatures. In this race, your character moves on its own and follows the path. The only thing you need to do is mash the left and right button in turns as fast as possible to build up the speed meter. This was some intense stuff back then.
In addition, you got levels in which you ski on the water while a lake creature carries you forward, you swim with a giant whale who produces air bubbles for you and best of all: The rocket races, in which you tame a bomb shell by riding it like a bull. When it gets tired, you jump on its back and need to complete the stage while constantly moving. These sections where hard as hell, but a lot of fun to play. Especially with the epic soundtracks that played in the background.

Rayman 2 is a really big game with a lot of different levels, all themed differently, according to the elemental mask that you are after. You got volcanic levels in which the floor is lava everywhere, ice palace stages and underwater stages. Completing all the stages and collecting everything takes many hours and I really liked the new 3D world map in which you can choose the stage you want to play. It is nicely detailed and gives a certain charm to the game.

The leap to 3D in Rayman 2 is really well done. The graphics look amazing for its time and the environments are filled with all sorts of life like butterflies, frogs, small creatures and fish. I really like the steampunk/gothic theme that this game has, a theme that can be seen in the later Rayman installments as well.

The sound effects are nice and solid and enhanced my experience by a lot. The music is the best factor in this game. It is ridiculously good and has a mix between early techno, rock and orchestra. It is hard to compare but it sounds amazing.

The final battle with Razorbeard was epic. I don’t know who comes up with the design for the final battles in the Rayman series, but just like the original Rayman and Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, the final boss stage against Razorbeard was a hard and glorious fight with multiple stages that was a ton of fun to play. I felt really proud when I finally beat his ass and reflected on all my hard work throughout the game.

In the end, I can only praise Rayman 2: The Great Escape and its excellent game play, improvements and new story and I would recommend it to everyone.

Even today, the game aged fairly well in my opinion so it is just as fun to play today as it was back then.