Rayman DS review

You would be forgiven for thinking that the 'DS' part of the title infers that DC Studios, the game's Montreal-based developers, have, in some way, embraced the unique features that Ninty's new handheld offers. But you'd be oh-so-very wrong.

For starters, Rayman, so called, DS is actually just a port of the N64 and Dreamcast game, Rayman 2 The Great Escape. Which may well have been excellent in 1999 but today - six years later and on a revolutionary piece of kit - it's a doddery geriatric.

Rather than exploit the potential of the handheld to flourish an ageing game with fresh ideas, the touch-screen, when used with the thumb strap, becomes an analogue stick substitute. It's an approach that lacks any kind of creative vision and totally defeats the point of the touch-screen.

If there are any attempts to harness the pokeable display for something vaguely resembling a good idea then it's buried somewhere beyond our point of departure, when we remembered that we had far more pressing engagements with other, infinitely more enjoyable DS titles.

Rayman DS is meant to have a wireless multiplayer option but, judging by the skimpy application of effort evident elsewhere, we'd be very surprised if this feature would be impressive enough to elevate the game in our lowly estimations of it.

If Nintendo are going to prove the doubters wrong and show that their silvery wedge of wonder is a genuine trailblazer, as opposed to a short-lived gimmick, they're not going to want too many uninspired and unimaginative titles like Rayman DS on the release schedule.

Rayman DS will be released on 11 March for DS