Rayman Raving Rabbids

Written by Chris Reiter  on October 11, 2006

First Impressions: Silly kids, world domination is for rabbits!

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Trying to do the Hokey Pokey is the least of Rayman's worries. As always he's got a pile of trouble up to his neck, if he had a neck. The limbless hero returns to the fray this fall for his fourth quest, this one marked as a Wii launch title. To ensure this Rayman rises to the top, Rayman's creator Michel Ancel, who for the most part had been absent from the previous offeringalso returns to support the newest edition in full. If you're one for iconic characters with a twist, prepare for a hare-raising experience in Ubisoft's Rayman Raving Rabbids.

A lean, mean, fighting machine, Rayman is fit enough to deal with any animal species you toss at him. Wolves? No problem. Bears? Keep going. Whales carrying an army of man-hungry bears and wolves on top? Cake. But, this is all too easy for Ray. He needs the most vicious and dumbest creatures on the planet. He needs...bunny wabbits? A maniacal underground army of rabbits, called Rabbids, are storming out from hiding and invading the surface world just like those aliens from War of the Worlds. Enslaving everyone including the limbless wonder Rayman, it's up to the planet's savior to rise in popularity through a series of Rabbid rampaging mini-games.

Rayman is traditionally a platformer star, but Rayman Raving Rabbids looks as if it'll translate the series into something unlike a Rayman game has ever been before: a collection of party games. In Rayman Raving Rabbids, 80 mini-game trials will present the titular star with a large spread to dig into. It'll be up to Rayman to defend a tropical bar just off the beach in one spot, as Rabbids in snorkel wear advance from out of the sea. Here, you'll have to shake and aim the remote in a shooting gallery way to fill up these critters' masks with carrot juice. Another type of mini-game switches focus to a dance club scene, where Rayman will bash incoming Rabbids from either side of him using the remote and nunchuck attachment. Taming creatures (a shark, a spider, an eagle, etc.) in order to race them or ride them across Rayman's new open-ended world is another assortment of possibilities waiting. Of the four mini-game classes in all (dancing, first-person shooter, racing, and micro), this Rayman may boast variety but it further proves that Wii developers have a tough time sticking to the grandiose conventional games they could and should make otherwise.

At least for gamers who like their graphics pretty, Rayman Raving Rabbids is shining itself up for a show this fall. Though not on the level of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games, Rayman Raving Rabbids looks to be one of the more impressive titles on the Wii system. Hundreds of the Rabbids are said to be onscreen at once, while the game portrays itself with a colorful array of these guys. One look at their alien eyes, and you'll start to notice that not all Rabbids look the same -- a good thing in my book. Stocking up on an effective amount of shadow and light detail to make better the cartoon-like visuals, and as is said Rayman's got it going on for the scenic side of life.