Sunday, November 29, 2009

Rayman Raving Rabbids (Wii) Review

Time for another classic review! Rabbids Go Home recently released to Wii owners around the world. What better time to show off their first appearance in Rayman Raving Rabbids? Here's this brief review showcasing the good and bad the game possesses.

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!


While not the platformer the franchise is known for, Rayman Raving Rabbids turns the series into a new direction-- the party game. The rabbids-- cute, fluffy, white, babbling creatures-- have kidnapped Rayman's friends and imprisoned Rayman in a dark and dank prison cell. Each day they release him into an expansive coliseum where he is forced to participate in four "games" daily and a final challenge. These games make up the core of Rayman Raving Rabbids.

Rayman shows that cows among other creatures really can fly.

There's a wide variety of games to play-- all using the Wii remote and nunchuk combination. Did you know bunnies are afraid of the dark? Neither did I. You'll play games where you'll twirl the Wii remote over your head like lasso to throw a rabbid serving as a shotput. You'll pick worms out of a rabbid's filthy mouth, you'll fill up rabbids' snorkels with orange juice, and let your groove thing hang out in a dance competition. All of the mini-games use the remote and nunchuk well, and most are a blast to play. There's over fifty mini-games in all in Rayman Raving Rabbids, and most of them will make you look like a fool.

An example of one of the rail-shooter mini-games.

The final challenge of each day consists of either racing on the backs of wild boars to a very fun and satisfying rail-gun style shooter where you blast rabbids with your plunger gun. You can even grab a rabbid and use him as a shield against attacks or to simply toss into another foe. These final challenges reward Rayman with an albeit unimpressive plunger. However, these uninteresting plungers are actually Rayman's tools for escaping from captivity. Once he has enough to climb up, he can reach an open window and escape! Seeing as how cute those rabbids are, would he really want to? Oh, well.

As your complete all the games in a certain day you unlock extras for Rayman's cell including new songs for the jukebox and new costumes. As you progress through the game, the rabbids will take to Rayman as if he were a heroic gladiator, holding up signs, rolling out a red carpet, playing a fanfare for him, and escorting him to and from his jail cell in style. Other unlockables can be found outside of the main mode. There you can try to beat the high scores to unlock hidden content such as artwork and entertaining movies.

Move the Wii remote up and down to move faster.

The main problem with Rayman Raving Rabbids is that it's over far too soon. There doesn't seem to be a lot of substance to a game based solely on mini-games. Although I wouldn't mind playing more of the rail-shooter levels over again. Overall though, Raving Rabbids is a very fun, albeit short, party game for single-players. If you're getting tired of Wii Sports, you should definitely pick up the superior Wii version of Raving Rabbids.

[SuperPhillip Says: 7.0/10]

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