It was one of those rare moments when we took our kids to the pre-owned video game store and told them to pick out something for the Wii that was under $20 and rated E. We definitely lined up some cool parent points there.
Our only problem was getting all three of them to agree to the same game. It also had to be something that either my husband or I could play with them without getting bored to tears. One sure way to limit video game time in our household is to play with mom or dad. We have much shorter attention spans for these things than the kids do–probably as a result of the pain of having to actually put our hard earned quarters into video game machines in order to play.
We enlisted the help of our friendly neighborhood sales clerk who recommended Rayman Raving Rabbids. My four year old especially thought that the slightly psychotic looking rabbits, um I mean rabbids, looked promising. My oldest son was happy enough not to be forced to play a princess game, and our daughter figured that anything with fluffy little creatures in it had to be good.
Rayman Raving Rabbids is a party game. That is it is best played with a group of people cheering each other on. The offbeat quirky humor will entertain anyone who is waiting their turn to play. And in the beginning there is a lot of waiting. The multiplayer function isn’t available until at least one player gets through some trails and unlocks it.
The game operates on a series of minigames that furthers the story along. The games are clever and make good use of the motion sensor technology of the Wii. Some of the games are pretty challenging, especially for younger kids, or parents. When it comes to those games, did I mention bizarre? Here is a sample: Violently spinning a cow around and around to try to toss it into a field (no cows were harmed), or shaking the remote to close doors on rabbids emerging from bathroom stalls. One of our favorite mini games is a Dance Dance revolution style game with dancing bunnies that had us up and rocking away.
The premise of the story is this: Rayman is out having a pleasant little picnic with some friends. Suddenly, several tunneling rabbids crash the picnic and kidnap Rayman and his crew in a bid to take over the world. Rayman is forced to entertain the multitudes of rabbids by playing those minigames.
Graphics, wise, the images are cute and charming, although don’t expect anything that will make you say wow. There are some real problems with the images, including some scan lines that appear on screen. There is nothing amazing about the audio track, either.
Finally my last criticism is that some of the mini games can be a bit repetitive, challenging to you the same task with a slightly different skin. The character design of the rabbids makes up for all of that though, giving you a decent Wii game that will appeal.
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