We know what you’re thinking; “a game about crazed rabbits can’t be good.” But in fact, it is simply part of Rayman: Raving Rabbids’ charm and as you’ll see by the end of this preview, the whole game is about crazy mini-games packed full of humour.
This looks a lot like War of the Worlds for some reason.
The story pans out like this: For centuries, rabbits have been the victims of foul play from ferocious animals. Tired of this, the rabbits disappeared and for many decades, it seemed as if they would never been seen of again. One day though, they returned in vast numbers and through technological advanced war machines, they swiftly took over the land in a vengeful invasion. The entire population of the planet, including Rayman, are now enslaved by the psycho bunnies. But not all hope is lost. Rayman soon discovers by competing in various “trials” for the rabbids amusement, he can become popular among them; even more so than their leader and as such, free the world from their paws.
You start the game in a jail cell – the game’s main hub, where you have a variety of options including sitting on a toilet to “reflect” on (replay) past trials you’ve unlocked, play music on a jukebox and customise your surroundings. Depending how well your perform in the trials, the Rabbids will reward you with clothing, music tracks and other items for your cell. To play through the story however, you must enter a giant Colosseum and select one of four doors to go through. Over a fifteen-day period, Rayman must complete four trials each day in order to secure plungers which will lead to his eventual escape. At the end of each trial, you will also be given a unique code that can then be entered onto an online ranking system.
In total, there will be over 70 trials to play which are categorized into four different groups: FPS, dancing, racing and micro. The FPS trials are a basic “on the rails” shooter using different themes such as shooting down cowboy bunnies in the Wild West, or blasting through hordes of Rabbids (all clothed in Splinter Cell inspired head-gear) on a tropical island. But what do you shoot with? For a game as wacky as this, you’d expect something big; something eye boggling that will have you returning for more. Your trusty weapon will be none other than a plunger launcher. Similar to games such as Metroid, the Wii controller will serve as your basic “aim and shoot” device while the nunchuck is shaken to reload your weapon.
This makes Tom Cruise look sane.
The dancing trials won’t exactly see you dance around the room with the Wii controller, instead, Rayman will be doing the dancing. You’re given the task of stopping the rabbits from interrupting him by pushing them off the dance floor when they enter a circle by using either the nunchuck or Wiimote, depending on which side the bunnies attack from. Expect to see Rayman dance to songs such as Dick Dale's Miserlo and our personal favourite, Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.
The racing trials will have two different control schemes depending. In certain trials, Rayman will ride animals and using the analog stick on the nunchuck, you will steer the animal while the Wiimote is used to perform motions. In one race, Rayman will ride a Rhino and you’ll have to make whipping motions with the Wiimote to speed up. Screenshots suggest similar controls will be used when Rayman rides an Eagle, trying to outrun pursuing rabbits in rabbit ear-shaped flying saucers. Other racing trials will use the Wiimote exclusively having the player perform simple movements.
Finally, the micro games are very much in a similar tune to Wario Ware’s style of gameplay - completely random, odd and relentless objectives. Notably, there are several micro games involving cows. In the trial “The Cow who was Flung Over the Moon,” Rayman will enter the arena and see a chained cow. He’ll pick up the chain and start spinning around which translates to you swinging the Wiimote around as fast as you can. By pressing the A button on the controller at the right moment, you will either launch the cow to the moon or send the poor creature into a crowd of bunnies. In another cow related game, you will have to move the nunchuck and Wiimote up and downwards mimicking the milking of the utters.
In Toilet Zone, Rabbids will be in toilets and as they open the doors after finishing their business, it is your job to slam the doors shut again. As time progresses, the trial will become faster until you eventually miss a door and a Rabbid fires a plunger at you. Thought that was a little disturbing? How about “Bunnies Don't Use Toothpaste”? In this trial, you have to pull worms out of a rabbit’s rotting teeth.
Obviously, Raving Rabbids wouldn’t be much of a party game without a multiplayer feature. Besides Story Mode, there will also be a Score Mode which allows players to play mini-games with up to four of their friends and family member. Some games will be splitscreen while others will remain on the one screen. Other than that, Ubisoft have remained tight-lipped over the multiplayer mode, however, it is known that around fifty trials will support Score Mode.
The Wild West, just like the old days.
Graphically, Raving Rabbids looks very crisp and appears to be using the Wii’s graphics capabilities to their fullest. While the game doesn’t use realistic colours, screenshots have shown environments are very bright and very detailed. The Rabbids haven’t been overlooked either. Their personalities are capture flawlessly and are clearly messed-up (but we mean that in a good way).
Oddly enough, Raving Rabbids was never intended to be a party game, instead, a traditional platformer until Michel Ancel, the game’s designer, was first introduced to the Wii’s capabilities and chose to make the game based around the Wii controller. However, the game will be ported to the PC, PS2, Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS with a 2D platformer to be released for the Gameboy Advance. Notably, Ubisoft have failed to confirm the title’s existent for the PlayStation 3, but if sales are more than impressive, it will probably make its way to it next year. Currently, only the Wii version has been shown to the press/public so it is unknown how the game will play on other consoles.
With the game being overseen Michel Ancel, the man behind Beyond Good & Evil and King Kong, Ubisoft’s twisted game can’t go wrong. Twisted gross out humour, combined with energetic controls, Rayman: Raving Rabbids is shaping up to be a surprise launch title that will be loads of fun for friends and family alike. We look forward to reviewing our limbless hero’s next adventure later this year, along with Ubisoft’s other Wii launch titles.
I was very impressed, it uses the controller in so many ways, and it's great fun. If only it was a launch title. I'm planning to get it in the future.
I know Wario Ware is on the heart of many of you, and Rayman can't replace Mario's nemisis in anyway in terms of the history and bonding he has done with yee.
Loading...
