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'Enemy Territory: Quake Wars' Review
by Brett

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NDS

22 May

PS3

22 May

WII

22 May

NDS

22 May

PC

22 May

PS2

23 May

X360

23 May

PS3

23 May

WII

23 May

NDS

23 May

PC

23 May

PS2

23 May

Some interesting facts about Rabbits:

• A rabbits teeth never stop growing.
• Rabbits cannot vomit
• Rabbits eat their own night droppings called cecotropes
• The world record for the record long jump is 3 meters.

Now some interesting facts about Rabbids.

Rabbids like to spit carrot residue in your milkshake.
• They can’t keep toilet doors closed.
• They order multiple meals at fast food joints.

The DS Rabbids has a wafer thin storyline. After conquering Rayman’s world, earth is the Rabbids next destination for domination. To do this they see that it’s vital to imitate human actions, such as colouring in pictures, taking portrait photos and dressing up like a Japanese school girl(JSGs). Of course JSGs represent so much of humanity. Your job, as Rayman, is to report the Rabbids learnings to the earthlings. There’s no actual goal apart from that. No earth saving satisfactions to be had. Rayman now prefers gameplay where he ‘likes to watch’. Finishing each country rewards you with a generic text based story arc. Yay.

First lets change some terminology. I hate the word "Minigame", it has too much association with things like casual gaming and short lived fun. Lets call them phatmooz(TM).




There are six countries to travel to in total and each country has six phatmooz to play. A few of the phatmooz are rehashed in several countries, like colouring in the Rabbid or simon says touch challenges. In order to complete a country Rayman must observe a certain amount of Rabbid activity. This usually means you’ll have to play several of the 6 phatmooz over and over again. This can be a good thing. If you find a phastmooz you really like you can repeat it over and over aiming to beat your last record. Of course if repetition is not your idea of fun this game can fall into your bad books. Rabbids 2 does a good job in associating phatmooz with the regions they’re located in. For instance on the Latina stage you are challenged in chilli contests, Lucha libre throwing and cleaning up Aztec artefacts. Most of the levels are original with some minor ripoffs from their Wii counterpart and the Wario touch DS title. Games where you have to blow into the mic to make a bubble or cut fruit and veg have too many similarities to phatmooz titles that were released two years ago.

The difficulty level is aimed at the 5 - 10 year olds. Out of the 36 phatmooz you will find maybe 2 or 3 that you’ll replay to pass. Repeating the simplest of phatmooz to complete each country seems like the wisest choice to get through Rabbids 2. Plenty of phatmooz have you performing a one line stylus stroke or a tapping frenzy on the touch screen.

The one phatmooz that should’ve been taken from the Wii original is the FPS on rails. Recreating this on the DS, with multiplayer, would’ve given this title a lot more life. Speaking of multiplayer Rabbids 2 can be played with up to 4 DS owners but you will all have to own a copy of the game. There is single cart multiplay but all that really does is allow the owner of the game to share one off phatmooz with a non-owner. Successfully finishing phastmooz unlocks costumes and accessories to beautify your Rabbid. Customisation can be fun here, some great outfits such as a reggae hat with dreads, krusty the clown hair, Brazilian soccer shirt and a leek add to the comic relief in this game. The humour Ubisoft injects into Rabbids is well received. In one phatmooz your Rabbid is in the movie theatre and the objective is to talk as much as you can on the phone until the usher walks in. Once the usher is in the room you have to be quiet. You then get the opportunity to pull a prank on one of the other Rabbids by calling their phone which gets them in trouble with the usher. There’s something you’ve always wanted to do at the movies.




The last phatmooz on each country is always a musical game, DDR-style. Hit one of the 4 speakers in time with the music to be successful. Some great remixed tunes like 'Funky town' and 'Celebration' don’t really coincide with the music interests of Rabbid’s target audience but great for oldies like me.

This game can be completed in a mere 2 hours but has some replay value in score challenges. If there were online leaderboards this mode would be worthwhile but without them the game feels outdated. Pity this wasn’t released before games like Feel the Magic XX/XY and Wario touch. It may have had a chance to shine back then.

Ubisoft need to invest their next DS project in a proper Rayman platform and include phatmooz like these as extra content to a main game. A stand alone purchase is hard to validate but if you’re not phased by parting with a good $60 this can be a great stocking filler for the season.

Final Verdict

If you need your party game fix and you’ve got a bunch of friends in the mood for senseless fun than this is for you. Touching animals now feels acceptable on the DS. Longevity is not its strong point.

Pros
Great for families as a shared game, mindless fun, songs like 'Celebration' and 'Funkytown', and humour you rarely find anywhere else.
Cons
No challenges in the main game, you’ll hardly ever have to replay any mini games to pass.