Ubi Soft struck gold when it released Rayman 2 on the Sega Dreamcast and then later renamed it Rayman: Revolution and released it on the Sony PlayStation 2. The game was a major critical success and is regarded by many as one of the premier 3D platform games to date. Naturally, Ubi Soft quickly began work on a sequel to the game, aptly titled Rayman 3. But as work on the highly anticipated sequel continues, Ubi Soft plans to whet the appetite of fans of the limbless mascot with Rayman Arena. Featuring arena-based multiplayer battles and a fast-paced racing mode, Rayman Arena can be looked at as a side story to the ongoing Rayman series.

　　Development on Rayman Arena began two years ago. Visually, the game was based closely on Rayman 2 and even featured a variety of environments from that game. However, as development progressed, most of the textures were replaced and eventually much of the graphics library was completely redone. The result is a game that is unmistakably Rayman, but one that should hold some level of unique appeal to fans of the series. As discussed, Rayman Arena features two primary modes of play. They are the race mode and the battle mode.

　　Two-player split-screen action. In the race mode, players can compete in head-to-head races, shown from a split-screen perspective. Through the game's 12 racing levels, you'll encounter a variety of environmental obstacles. You must navigate multilevel platforms, slide across narrow suspended pathways, dispose of enemies, and avoid traps. Also, much like in Rayman 2, the environments themselves can be manipulated. For instance, in one level we were able to close trap doors after we had passed through in order to slow down our opponent. According to Ubi Soft, the greater the risk you take in these racing levels, the faster you'll be able to go. Of course, taking risks also means that there is a larger chance that you will run into an obstacle and be slowed down.

　　The game's arena, or battle, mode has three different gameplay styles. The first, titled leumps fight, is a rather direct deathmatch-style mode where a variety of weapons and projectiles are strewn throughout the level. In this mode, players scramble to the power-ups and face off in direct battles. The game's so-called spring leumps mode is rather unique. Here, players have access to only one projectile--a freeze ray. The objective in the spring leumps mode is to collect a preset number of crystal balls, which are placed randomly throughout the level. The only catch is that each of the players has the ability to freeze his or her opponents for a few seconds. So, as players race to grab the next crystal, they can frustrate their opponents by freezing them and grabbing the crystal themselves. The third and final arena mode features traditional capture the flag-style gameplay. Of course, the objective here is to grab your opponent's flag and bring it back to your base.

　　There are eight playable characters in Rayman Arena. Newcomers such as New Henchmen, Tily, and Razorwife join familiar characters such as Rayman, Globox, Razorbeard, Henchmen, and Tinsies. All the characters in the game share Rayman's abilities. So, every character is able to jump, slide, shoot, roll, and helicopter, just like Rayman. The only difference is that all the characters have their own unique animations for these various moves. Ubi Soft feels that because the character's abilities are identical, the actual player's skill will be the ultimate deciding factor in the game.

　　Rayman battles it out with one of his foes. A fast-paced game like Rayman Arena demands fast frame rates. Thankfully, for the most part, the build shown at Ubi Soft's recent Gamers Week ran at a smooth 60fps. According to the game's developer, 80 percent of the game's levels are currently running at that speedy frame rate. The remaining 20 percent should catch up by the game's final release in November.

　　Following our hands-on time with the game, we had the opportunity to speak with the game's producer, Arnaud Carrette, who provided further information on Rayman Arena. Our entire Q&A follows.

　　GameSpot: What stage of development are you in right now?

　　Arnaud Carrette: Right now we're in the debugging stage. We have a lot of work left to do, with both technical and what I call quality-check bugs to correct. Once we have a quality that we want, we can then make small adjustments to the level design in order to gain fluidity throughout the game. Like for example, we want to avoid bugs in the level design that halt the players' progress or force them to replay a certain section several times.

　　GS: There are some visual similarities between the worlds in Rayman 2 and Rayman Arena. Did you borrow any level designs or environments from that game?

　　AC: Some of the environments in the game were borrowed from the Rayman 2 universe, but all the textures have been redone. When we began, we borrowed quite a bit from Rayman 2 and there were more similarities, but today there are only one or two areas that share the old graphical work, the old textures. So, generally, the games have two completely different universes.

　　GS: Can you talk a bit about the gameplay modes?

　　AC: There are exactly 12 levels each in the race and battle modes. Then there are a few bonus levels that can be unlocked as you play the game. All the levels are divided into four zones. In each of the zones there are six levels, generally divided equally between the race and battle modes. There are different modes for single-player and multiplayer. In single-player, there are four modes, which are training, single race, time attack, and a leumps mode where players collect leumps as they race. For the arena mode, there is leumps fight, which is like a deathmatch; spring leumps, where players must collect items and can also freeze each other for short periods of time; and capture the flag, where you have to grab the flag and bring it back to your base, which is a small circular flower.

　　GS: What was the reasoning behind combing two distinct gameplay modes such as racing and arena-based battle into one game?

　　AC: Well, that is exactly it, our goal was to give the player two totally different kinds of games in one package. In the arena mode, you don't have all the moves such as the slide and roll, because these are actions designed specifically for the races. Similarly, in the arena mode you have actions, such as using projectiles and weapons, which are not in the race mode. We look at it this way: If in Rayman 2, for example, the player enjoyed all the platform-jumping elements, he or she will enjoy the race mode in Rayman Arena. But if, in Rayman 2, they liked fighting against the pirates, they will fully enjoy the arena mode.

　　GS: In the arena mode, all the characters have the exact same abilities. Is there a reason you did this, as opposed to giving each character its own strengths and weaknesses?

　　AC: In the arena mode we have a lot of projectiles and weapons, so we felt that it would become difficult for the player to manage all the different skills for each character and still enjoy the weapons-based combat. The risk was confusion and frustration for the player. Rather than the challenge coming from the differences between the characters, it comes from the players' ability to use their skill and the level design to their advantage.

　　GS: What is the general gameplay feel you're trying to convey with Rayman Arena?

　　AC: In Rayman 2, players were taken on a great adventure, but Rayman Arena is more about action. Also, in Rayman 2, the levels were pretty free and open, as players could go pretty much anywhere they chose. But the drawback of this, for a developer, is that you can't really take a player from one point to the next as you would like, giving him or her the optimal gameplay experience. So, in a sense, you lose a part of the intention that you had with the game. In Rayman Arena it is different. Here you are usually on a track and the levels are designed so that the action is fast and flows smoothly. So, in this way, the player can experience all our intentions for the game. Rayman Arena is a concentration of pure action.

　　GS: Will we see Rayman Arena on consoles other than the PlayStation 2?

　　AC: Yes, it will be released on the Xbox. It is not confirmed yet for the GameCube, but our intention is to eventually release it on that console as well.