The graphics for Rayman DS are on par with the other games to come out for the dual-screened system. Unfortunately, since the release of the PSP, those graphics don’t look as advanced as they once did. The models and scenery are comparable to something you would have seen on the N64 or PSOne. The textures on the forest walls and floors are pixilated and spread really thin, while the characters themselves also seem a bit jagged at times (though this does add to the character’s cartoony feel).
I’m not saying that the graphics are bad in Rayman; they are some of the best 3D graphics I’ve seen on the system so far (when you consider how close you are getting to the models, that is). In games like Super Mario 64 DS, the graphics looked really clean, although you were further away from the characters and you didn’t get the opportunity to see the details. Rayman, on the other hand, has the camera close to the action.
The sound, on the other hand, is pretty good. The music is very upbeat and the effects seem to fit the visuals that accompany them (like the bouncing sound whenever Rayman’s energy balls ricochet off of a wall). Even the “voices” are clean. Rayman DS doesn’t use actual, intelligible dialog. Instead, the characters use a Sim-ish type of speech, though it seems to be more involved. Instead of just spouting out random sounds, the words actually sound like another language that is close to, but not quite English. I thought this was a great effect because it made me feel like the gibberish they were speaking could actually be a real language.
