Australian Gamer Review :: Rayman Raving Rabbids

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Rayman Raving Rabbids

Reviewed on: Wii
Available on: PC, Playstation 2, Wii, Xbox 360

Essentially, this game is a true testament to what I believe will be the Wii’s greatest strength: party games. And if this is what Nintendo was thinking when they wanted to 'widen the market demographic' then they’re going the right way about it.

Players: 1 - 4 Players
Genre:
Release: 2006-12-07

Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier
Distributor: Ubisoft

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Ubisoft’s Rayman Raving Rabbids had a huge advertising campaign in the lead up to the Wii Launch. It was this advertising campaign that actually got me interested in the game – beforehand it was just another party game coming to the Wii; afterwards it became a bastion of screaming Rabbids to be unlocked.

When my family got the Wii, Rayman was the second game we tried out. It stayed there for three days (meaning I didn’t actually try Twilight Princess for a few days – Shock! Horror!). Despite the somewhat unbelievable premise, Rayman manages to stay appealing once out of the box.

Essentially, this game is a true testament to what I believe will be the Wii’s greatest strength: party games. And if this is what Nintendo was thinking when they wanted to “widen the market demographic” then they’re going the right way about it. The week following that joyous holiday consisted of numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and family friends becoming intrigued in the way my sister was standing up to play a game. Within minutes, guests would be standing there themselves laughing at the Rabbids and waving their arms about helplessly as La Bamba cranked up.

Sure, you can try to sit down to play Rayman, but personally, I wouldn’t recommend it. Some of the actions are so hilarious; you need to give yourself the room to really give the game its rightful attention. It also helps to make you out to be a bigger fool, increasing the entertainment value of people watching you play. This game gets people involved. There are very few games that can claim to include people who aren’t actually playing it.

Firstly, however, you’ll have to unlock all those delicious mini-games for your guests to explore when they’re over! You start off in Story Mode which has Rayman and his globox friends kidnapped by the rabbids! Rayman now has to survive countless mini-games (set in a Roman gladiator-esque setting) in order to rescue his little friends and win the hearts of the raving rabbids. Normally, each level included four mini games and then one “Boss” kind of game.

Yeah, nothing special. I didn’t think so either. But then, this game isn’t relying on plot to sell itself. Let’s sample the goodies, shall we?

Cow-Throwing
Exactly as it says. Watching my sister do this first off, my eyes literally bulged out of my little head (like this: O______o). Using the remote, pretend you’re lassoing something, then let go and throw. Your Rayman has just hammer-thrown a cow. Just don’t miss. Or, actually, try to miss. It’s hilarious. The developers really put a lot of effort into making this game laugh-out-loud funny.

Kick a Goal
You know, starting this game, I honestly thought, even after watching all the promos, I would be kicking a soccer ball. Yeah… This mini-game was one of the best games that used a variety of moves, rather than the one repetitive motion. Playing just once is never an option, even if you do get the required points; it’s worth it just to see the little guy scream towards the net.

Whack-A-Rabbid
I found it a lot easier to take my contacts off and pretend not to notice the depth perception used in this game. Or lack thereof. Double vision also helps. You have six rabbids to choose from, each popping out of the ground for you to hit with your trusty spade.

Bunnies Can’t Close Doors
A bit like the whack-a-rabbid mini-game, this one has you whacking their toilet doors shut. Don’t get there quick enough and they freak out, yelling GRAWWWWR and shooting you with a plunger. And trust me, you want to be quick enough. Rabbids on loos are strange and getting shot with a plunger is never pleasant.

Running Games
Like in the ad (you know, with the goth girl, the annoying little brother and condescending grandpa), to run, you literally flick your wrists in opposite directions for around two minutes as fast as you can. For your first time: after twenty seconds, you’ll get tired but push on! By about a minute, you’ll get some strange cramping sessions… by the time you finish, there’ll be a dull pain. This is by the most annoying game I found. Mainly because of the repetitiveness and the strain it puts on your arms.

Rabbid DDR
Literally DDR, but with your hands. It’s almost like playing a set of bongos. This is the game’s crowning mini-game. Simple premise, like in the majority of mini-games, this one excels in it. A great soundtrack – including a bastardised version of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (never thought I’d actually like that song but… there you go) – that ranges from Hip-Hop to Rock to Disco. The greatest thing about this mini game is the back up dances. Clear a level and you’ll be greeted with the maniacal, bouncing grin of a new back up dancer. I lost several rounds because I’d be paying too much attention to the way their ears flopped when they did this little move, just like this… and then they’d GRAWWWWWR and do a little twist and jump! So cute. Difficulty gradually increases with each level in the Story Mode, as well as few double ups where they’d just tack a 2 or 3 on the end, which is disappointing, but with the right adjustments to difficulty it doesn’t become too much of an issue.

In all of the mini-games, repetitiveness is a bit of an issue, especially as you start getting further into the game, you start finding a lot of the movements quite similar and even a number of the earlier mini-games thrown in with a few variants. Times might be sped up or points increased, but it’ll generally be the same premise. You might even find some of them plain boring, but enough of the good ones come around to keep you going. You’ll find that all of the mini games will include the motion-sensing capabilities of the Wii to good effect (and they don’t leave out the nunchuk!). You can see how much thought they’ve put into making sure that Rayman really suits the Wii platform and it helps to appreciate the game all that much more.

One of the biggest pluses for struggling through Story Mode is the extras you can unlock along the way. This included an array of costumes for Rayman to play around in (such as the goth, granny, DJ and gangster styles) as well as songs for Rayman to relax to in his cell. Your cell acts as a base, where you’ll start and finish levels, save and whatnot, reflect on past mini games (on your dunny, no less, but then, where else would you reminisce?) and check up on your progress throughout the game (in a rather amusing fashion, might I add).

Rayman has an excellent soundtrack, but those expecting next-gen graphics… well. Like most of the Wii games out at the moment, Rayman’s graphics, while an improvement on the GameCube’s graphics, still could use some tweaking. It seems rough in parts but then again, you’re not in a position to really worry about it while you’re playing the game. If you’re big into graphics, then you may feel a little disappointed in Rayman. But for me, who honestly doesn’t care what a game looks like unless it interferes with gameplay, I found them perfectly fine.

ANNA SHOWS OFF HER RABBID WII SKILLS

Ultimately though, it’s the Rabbids which make this game worth it on the Wii. I haven’t yet played Rayman on any other platform, though at the moment, I couldn’t imagine doing some of those mini-games without the Wiimote. The way they’ve shaped this game to the platform continues to amaze me.

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Yug's Comments

I have to say, the Rabbids won me over even before I had played the game. Those 'Rabbids don't play football' and other ads were genuinely funny, and as someone who spends way too much time drawing cartoons, I loved them.

I found alot of the actual mini-games to be very hit and miss, some of them exceptionally easy (bash the button as fast as you can), while others were extremely difficult (trace a line around the object). I think a bit more Q&A wouldn't have gone astray to try and even up the difficulty between mini-games, but even so, after you've unlocked enough of them, it won't matter as you'll simply keep coming back and playing the ones you enjoy over and over again with friends.

Final Verdict

Rayman Raving Rabbids should become one of the must-haves for anyone with a Wii and is hoping to show it off to friends. The multiplayer options really help this game to shine where, without the Wii-technology, you might find it really quite mediocre. The comfortable way it can introduce non-gamers into a bit of competitive fun helps support Nintendo in its objective of expanding its market. In terms of long-lasting fun, it has great value – it also doesn’t hurt that this game is great with all ages.

Pros
Multiplayer, dancing game, soundtrack, GRAWWWWWWR! Rabbids, cute visuals, inventive use of Wii-technology, great for all ages and all levels of gamer.
Cons
A lot of it can get very repetitive, re-use of mini-games later on, limited soundtrack, some uses of the Wii-mote can actually really hurt!