Rayman 4: Darkness Returns

this is the story of Rayman 4: The Great Escape, a game that I wish had never been made. It's not because it's bad; in fact, it's quite good compared to some other games out there. There are plenty of things about this game that make me sad, though. Sad because they're so perfect and yet still go wrong...

When you think of a platformer, you probably picture an environment with lots of little obstacles for players to overcome. At least, I do. From the Mario series to the Crash Bandicoot titles, you're expected to get from point A to point B without dying too much. But what if I told you that in Rayman 4, death wasn't the only way to progress? You could also cheat your way through by simply using the magic power of the cheats menu!

In order to play as the main character, Rayman, gamers need to use the cheats. In fact, you're encouraged to do so because he has a special ability when he does—the ability to jump higher than normal. If he doesn't use the cheats, then his jumps are really only as high as yours would be.

Now, I know what you're thinking. This is cheating. And yes, technically, it is. But Rayman isn't the only one who can use these cheats. He just happens to have the most convenient ones. That's why the rest of the characters' abilities don't work at all unless their players are using them. So, yeah, it's okay to use them once you've gotten past the first few levels. In fact, you should use them after each level until you get to the end of the game. Why? Because there's something really strange going on here, and you won't believe what it is.

Rayman has a lot of enemies. In fact, there are tons of them. They come in many different forms, too. Some are big, like the giant crabs. Others are small, like the spiders. You see, Rayman is supposed to find keys in order to open doors. Once he finds one, he needs to turn it to enter a new area. Unfortunately, the doors are usually guarded by tough-looking creatures. For instance, there are some scorpions that shoot fireballs and others that shoot arrows. Then, there are the bigger guys, such as the three-headed giants. Oh, did I mention that they also breathe fire? Yeah, you'll definitely want to avoid those guys.

But what if you don't have enough keys? Well, there's another way to defeat these foes. All you have to do is press R1 while you're in a fight with one and you'll automatically win. Sure, sometimes you have to dodge some attacks and try to get close enough to hit them with a couple of punches before you're able to finish them off, but, hey, that's just a theory, a game theory.