Rayman Raving Rabbids (Nintendo Wii)

Genre: Party
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montpelier
ESRB Rating: E for Everyone
Price: 49.99 USD
US Release Date: November 19, 2006
Equipment: HP 23" widescreen monitor with composite cables in 480p, standard Wiimote with Nunchuk attachment.
Completion: Approximately 5 hours for the single player story mode.


Bunnies don't give gifts. Bunnies don't understand bowling. Bunnies never close doors. They also have a penchant for kidnapping Rayman's Globox buddies and forcing him to participate in sick and twisted minigames for their amusement. Daaaaaaaaah!!!


Rayman is controlled by the player, but the bunnies are arguably the stars of the game. They're evil and scream like maniacs, but it's hard not to like them, especially as the game progresses. The story mode lasts 15 days, during which Rayman must successfully complete 3 minigames and a final stage each day in order to escape the bunny prison. If Rayman completes 4 minigames each day, he gains either a bonus costume or a song for the jukebox in his cell.

The minigames are fun, quick, and varied, and utilize the Wiimote and Nunchuk in interesting ways. Bunnies don't give gifts, so Rayman has to deliver a present (a lit stick of dynamite in a box) before it explodes by running as fast as he can. Bunnies don't understand bowling, so Rayman rolls a barrel down some train tracks to knock down ten bunnies at the end of the line. Bunnies never close doors, so Rayman must keep four doors shut at all times as the bunnies behind them relieve themselves. Bunnies are fantastic dancers, however, so Rayman can rock out with them in a DDR-style dance contest. The final stage on each day is either a first person on-rails shooter where Rayman takes a plunger gun to a horde of bunnies, or a race against three bunnies on mounts.

Each minigame has a slightly different control scheme, but they're all very simple and often intuitive. Hold the Wiimote and Nunchuk vertically, then shake them up and down quickly (simulating running), then press A to unleash a kick to an unsuspecting bunny, and aim the Wiimote while he's flight in order to score a goal against the bunny goalie in soccer. Strike down (like beating a drum) with either the Wiimote or Nunchuck as bunnies cross the platform in tune to the music to earn points in DDR. Aim with the Wiimote, fire with the B trigger, and shake the Nunchuck to reload in the shooter stages.

Rayman and the rabbids are in full 3D, and the art-style is clean, simple, and cartoony. Bunnies dancing and grooving to the music are fantastic to watch, as are all the other animations. What few CGI cutscenes there are look great.

Bunny screams are surprisingly hilarious. The thunk of a plunger onto a bunny's face is solid, and the resulting muffled protests sound as expected. There are a half-dozen "bunny-mixed" tunes for the jukebox, including Misirlou, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, and La Bamba that are fun to listen to, and even more fun to play in the DDR game.

Shooter stages are first person perspective, while most other games are third person. There are no serious camera issues, as there aren't any platform-like games that require free camera movement.

At the end of each day, the game is autosaved.

Difficulty is a mixed bag. Some games appear more than once, and are harder the second time around. Others only appear once, and range from effortless to hair-pulling. None of the games are impossible, but some may require multiple tries to complete. Certain games are unnecessarily difficult due to either the control scheme (turning the Wiimote to steer while flying is a pain, and would have been much better with the analog stick), or the Wiimote being unresponsive (tilting the Wiimote to tilt a board on screen).

Despite beating each other with spiked clubs, getting blown up with dynamite, having worms infest their teeth, and being smacked in the skull by a ball-peen hammer, bunnies never bleed or appear worse for wear. They do scream a lot, though.

The storyline in story mode doesn't make much sense, especially the ending, but that's not really the point. Outside of story mode, there is a score mode which awards additional bonuses for high scoring, and a multiplayer mode for up to 4 players. Some minigames support simultaneous play, such as the shooter and DDR games, the rest are turn-based affairs.

Raving Rabbids doesn't have much in common with other Rayman games besides Rayman himself. It's definitely not a platformer, though, so it's a refreshing change of pace.

As a party game, it does just about everything right. Some of the situations Rayman and the bunnies are in are outright ridiculous, and getting some friends together to play only increases the fun factor. Even without friends, it's still entertaining.


Heath Says:

Rayman Raving Rabbids is a great rental. For 50 bucks, though, there's just not enough play. I finished the story mode in under 5 hours. If it ever drops to 20 bucks, or if you have friends over all the time, then I'd say it's worthy of a purchase. Since I rented, I never actually got to experience multiplayer, but I bet it's a blast. I laughed my ass off more than once during the course of the story mode. The DDR games and the plunger shooters are my favorite parts. Hell, if Ubisoft released Rayman Plunger Wars or something, I think I'd buy that. This game really shows off what's possible with the Wiimote and Nunchuk. I think Sports is still the king, but Rayman proves the Wii controls are not a one-shot gimmick.


Final Verdict:

Wii Like To Have Fun

We here at Kitsune Games strive to provide gaming journalism of high quality. It shouldn't be that foreign a concept, but in the pantheon of gaming websites, magazines, and other publications, the quality of writing ranges from excellent to absolutely terrible, with results skewed severely to the low end.

Allow me to demonstrate my point with an example you may be familiar with. A number of articles have popped up recently about the Wii. Specifically, about how it may be a fad. This sort of thinking isn't necessarily new, after all, questions had been raised about the motion controls long before anyone actually played the system. Now, however, almost six months removed from the Wii's launch the idiots have come out of the woodwork again.

"The Wii is a souped-up Gamecube."

"It's gimmicky stupid childish nonsense."

"Impressive, but so were the Razor scooter and the Furby."

"Some control schemes are more difficult than with a standard controller."

These people call themselves journalists. Shocking. Let's have some facts, shall we, rather than pointless hyperbole.

Yes, the Wii is based on Gamecube architecture, and is about twice as powerful as its predecessor. Source: http://wii.ign.com/launchguide/hardware1.html

Nintendo certainly has a reputation as a family-oriented company, but there were M-rated titles on the Gamecube, and there will be M-rated titles on the Wii. To name a few: Godfather, Mortal Kombat, Scarface, Farcry, Driver, Splinter Cell, Manhunt 2, I could go on. Source: http://wii.ign.com/index/games.html

The Wii has sold about 6.6 million units worldwide, a ratio of more than 2:1 versus the PS3 in the same time frame. It's only 3 million units behind the 360, which had a year head start. Source: http://www.vgchartz.com/

The Wii is currently available on approximately 1% of retail store shelves across the US, whereas the PS3 and 360 are available on 94% and 77% of retail store shelves across the US, respectively. Source: http://www.itrackr.com/home.aspx

Buying a Wii online isn't much better, as the only options are resellers on auction sites, at a premium of $100-150. Source: http://www.wiitracker.com/

The only people who would refer to the Wii as childish are insecure adults. Swinging an actual bat, golf club, or tennis racket is perfectly acceptable, but mimicking those motions in the comfort of your living room is childish and gimmicky? What seems more like "play": pressing buttons and moving sticks on a controller, or performing physical actions that are directly related to the activity on screen? Is it really possible for a system that has 2 or 4 buttons and one analog stick to have a more difficult control scheme in any game when compared to systems with 8 buttons and two analog sticks?

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a hardcore gamer. I'm proud to say I started gaming when I was 5, and have been doing so for two decades. I have a varied collection of gaming consoles, and a sizable gaming library for each one. I own a Nintendo Wii. I do not own a Microsoft Xbox 360 or a Sony Playstation 3. That is not an accident. I don't have anything against Microsoft or Sony, nor do I have an affinity for Nintendo. No, I based my buying decision on the quality of play. Because that's what it's all about, isn't it? Whoever pushes more polygons, or has exclusive licenses, or owns higher profile development houses, or has a better online shopping scheme doesn't mean anything if the experience of playing the games is poor. I'm not saying I can't have fun playing the 360 or PS3, I'm saying that the Wii is more fun.

The Wii will have been out in the US for six months on April 19. But you still won't be able to buy one without waiting in a long line early on a Sunday morning, paying $100 or more over retail online, or simply getting lucky, and it might be that way for some time to come. And yet, you can walk into almost any store at any time and pick a 360 or PS3 off the shelf. Are Wii buyers childish? Are they buying into a fad? I don't think so. I think they know what's fun, and the hardcore gaming journalists are more interested in their gaming "cred."

Go Play With Your Wii

If you can find one, that is. Although that Herculean task is a bit easier with the Wii Tracker. The site lists about a dozen internet retailers and their assorted Wii offerings (some bundled, some not). Subscribe to the RSS feed for automatic updates, or just keep checking back. Plus, it's got a handy history so you can find out you just missed the Wii by 10 minutes.

P.S. If you manage to get a Wii before I do, I shall kill you. Have a nice day!