Techtite's Wii Reviews

"It's safe to say that if there are features that the Wii remote or nunchuk can handle, at least three mini games in Raving Rabbids exploits them."

---from the review

-----------------

Sidebar :

-----------------

Pros: Perfectly designed for Wii's unique controller; lots of mini-games to choose from; Smacking around muppet style rabbits is fun.

Cons: More than a couple annoying mini-games mixed in with the good ones; rumored glitch makes a "perfect score" impossible, if you're into that sort of thing.

No Sidebar comments for this review. Yet...

-----------------

Feel free to contribute. As always, review submissions are accepted!

------------------

Rayman Raving Rabbids

Click picture to order this game (Nintendo Wii)

A Techtite Review

Okay; so it's not exactly a Rayman game. It's still one of the best mini-game collections on the Wii, close to its original launch. Consider this a departure of sorts, using the invisibly-armed hero as its mascot. You also get to beat up little annoying ugly "bunnies," so why complain?

The premise to these mini-games is that Rayman has been abducted by evil rabbits...er, "rabbids," who he must defeat to save his friends the frogs...er, "grobos." You defeat the rabbids, one at a time, through various mini-game competitions, which are accessed in a five door "arena." Each "day" in the game gives you four mini-games to choose from, and you only need to win three to proceed through the "boss" style mini-game door in the center of the arena. Complete all four mini-games each day, and you get extras like game music and additional costumes. Those are the basics. Now get to winning those competitions!

What sort of competitions? Consider this a game design team's attempt to exploit the Wii remote's uniqueness, every which way they can. One style of competition is a race. Another has you swing a cow (yes, a cow) around, while rotating the Wii remote above your head like a mace, and "toss" the cow as far as you can. Then there are the shooting galleries, the dance-offs (swing the nunchuk or remote for left/right movement in tune with the beat), and many others. It's safe to say that if there are features that the Wii remote or nunchuk can handle, at least three mini games in Raving Rabbids exploits them.

Some of the most enjoyable mini game ideas are, gratefully, seen much more than once. Just about every "day" ends with Rayman competing with a swarm of "Rabbids" in a shooting gallery of sorts. This is a pretty fun mini game (love the "E for everyone"-rating friendly plunger-shooter as your "weapon"), and like all good mini games, is easy to get the hang of yet difficult to master. The same can be said for the frequent dance-offs, where bunnies approach Rayman from the left and right and you need to shake the nunchuck (left) or Wii-mote (right) as the bunnies arrive, all to the tune of the beat. Most mini-games you only see once or twice. These two games you see frequently...and enjoyably so.

Not that all is a bed of roses. When any mini game collection shoots off mini game ideas like a machine gun, they're bound to miss the mark once or twice. We could've done without the challenge where you have to slap the outhouse doors shut, one by one, as you keep the bunnies from leaving their outhouses. It sounds funny though the Wii remote wasn't made for the jerky forward and back "slap" movement that this challenge requires, so shutting the doors becomes a sort of luck of the draw. "Luck of the draw" is never a good mini game.

A similar luck of the draw: you have to get a little piglet home to his mom, when the only way to keep from instantly dying is to hold the Wii remote to your ear and listen to the piglet's "squeals" which tell you where hidden bunnies are. Never mind that bunnies are vegetarians. The problem here is that you only have 25 seconds to finish this game, and good luck having the pig squeal in time before choosing the wrong direction to his "mom," and instantly losing the mini-game. Mind you; if you don't want the music & costume extras that you get for accomplishing all games each "day," you can easily avoid these obnoxious games when they appear, and still complete the "day" with the three other mini-games available for that level. That isn't the point though. These mini-games are a smear on this otherwise flawless game's record, and it shows.

Ask not how Story mode ends. While there is an ending, the real reward is to unlock challenge mode, and that is all. We're not trying to spoil anything, but we must warn story fans: don't go into this thinking you'll get a cool story, nor a cool ending to the story. This is a mini-game collection at its core, and at this core, it's a very good one.

You can even play mini-games again, with multiple players, on a separate main menu option. Multi-player shooting galleries allow two players on screen at once. Other games are played one at a time though the game does keep track of who "wins" with the highest score. There's even a high score list, both privately for your Wii, and online...though due to no true online functionality, you'll have to write down an internet "code" and type it into the game's official web site, to see your ranking nationwide. It's easy to do, so why complain?

In the end this is another mini-game collection for Wii, though so far, it is one of the best. Perhaps that "best" honor might've gone to Wii Sports, had it offered more to do. Rayman Raving Rabbids offers the whole enchilada, with a side of beans. It may not be a Rayman title in the traditional sense, though it's a fun game nonetheless.

---Techtite