Maths and English with Rayman: Volume 2

Maths and English with Rayman: Volume 2 for ages seven and up is the second in a series of educational single player games that uses the platform character Rayman to teach basic numeracy and literary skills.

The games are based around a typical arcade game story. Mister Dark has stolen the contents of the 'Magic Book of Knowledge' and the wise old wizard and Betilla the fairy have called on Rayman to recover it. To do this Rayman must recover twelve golden rings, six grammar related and six maths related. To retrieve a golden ring Rayman must complete what the game calls an activity. Each activity has five stages and the game is automatically saved at the end of stages two, four and the final optional bonus stage which is timed. Progress through the game is shown on the 'Map of the Worlds'. As the player completes the fourth stage of an activity, new paths open up on this map allowing the player to tackle other activities. At the end of the game, when the player has reached Mr. Dark's hideout and retrieved the 'Magic Book of Knowledge' the game ends with a video sequence and presents the player with a diploma that can be printed

The games themselves follow the format of the platform game very closely. There are blue bubbles to collect along the way (fifty bubbles earns an extra life), super power balls that increase Rayman's health, Save points, plus speed fist and golden fist power-ups that improve Rayman's fighting ability. The games in this package are:* Art Alley: This deals with phonics or speech recognition. Rayman rides an artists palette around the course and the player must use his skills to answer questions relating to spoken words while fighting off baddies that attempt to knock him from his platform.

• Pebble Peril: This game deals with numeracy. Rayman rides flat stones and must choose the numbered path based on the wizards verbal instructions.

• Ring Rhapsody: Here Rayman jumps from one ring to another grabbing the ring that corresponds to, or is closest to, the word provided by the Magician.

• 'Copter Candy: Here Rayman flies using his 'Copter Power. When given a spoken number such as 947, he may be asked to fly to the number (4) that corresponds to the 'tens' place.

• Butterweed Bog: Is a game based on mental arithmetic. The answers to sums are on purple fruits. Selecting the right fruit causes it to become a platform or boat allowing Rayman to advance.

• Eraser Rebound: This is a game based on numerical patterns. Rayman is given a sequence to follow and must identify the numbers in that sequence from those presented and jump from one to another.

• Rocky Road: This game is based on vocabulary. Rayman's path through the caves is blocked by boulders and on each boulder is a word. The magician gives Rayman a clue and he must use his fist to smash the correct boulder.

• Slick Slopes: This is a word reconstruction game. As Rayman skates through this world, he comes across groups of three letters and must select the correct one to either help spell a word or complete an existing word with a missing letter.

• Crazy Caves: This is a maths game based on multiplication and counting groups. There are two types of challenges facing Rayman. As he flies through the caves, he must leap from one flying saucer to another numbered saucer based on a multiplication sum provided by the wizard. The other challenge facing Rayman is to identify number groups and act according to the wizard's instructions, e.g. "Leap over all odd numbered rocks and smash all even numbered ones".

• Rising Tides: This is a game based on putting words and/or letters in alphabetical order. Rayman chooses his answers by planting a seed in the appropriate place. If it's correct a friendly plant grows and allows Rayman to progress.

• Percussion Path: This game has Rayman sliding through this world on rocket maracas. The symbols '<', '>', and '=', are answers to questions asked by the Wizard and they guide Rayman's route on his travels.

• Tasty Chase: Is a spelling game in which Rayman must choose between correctly and incorrectly spelled words.

In all games there are traps, hazards and enemies to be avoided or defeated. The player must not only be able to answer questions correctly, they must be able to jump from platform to platform with precise timing.