The story of Rabbids 2 plays out through in humorous cinematics, and it seems the psychotic bunnies have invaded Earth to study human behaviour, eventually becoming mankind’s leaders. With the Rabbids starting to cause havoc across the globe, Rayman sets out to infiltrate their secret headquarters and put a stop to their plans.
Rabbids 2 completely ditches the colosseum setting of the original and has players take ‘trips’ around the world. The idea is that each trip represents a different country, and as such the mini-games you play will be loosely based on this theme. For example, if you travel to Japan, one mini-game sees you wash the Rabbid’s dirty laundry by a stream, while in America, there’s a mini-game where you have to pick a criminal bunny from a line up, and each time you revisit a country, the mini-games will be randomly selected.
Every time we see them, we just start laughing.
Unlike the original, the game has a high emphasis on multiplayer and supports up to four players simultaneously in every mini-game. Unfortunately, because of this, the single-player experience tends to be a little shallower than we would’ve liked. For example, in TNT, your goal is to wait until the last second to push down a lever to blow up explosives. In multiplayer, this is fun because you’re obviously competing against friends but when you’re going solo, there aren’t any CPU characters to compete with. It’s very odd and disappointing that the developers have done this, particularly when other games such as Mario Party have had similar ideas and managed to include AI. Of course, this only applies to a handful of mini-games, and others will either feature CPU characters or are just as enjoyable without them.
To the developer’s credit, they have implemented an online ranking system that players can now access through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service. It’s pretty easy to use; once you complete a mini-game, all you have to do is press the Wi-Fi button and the game automatically compares your score to other players across the globe. Ubisoft also resets the system every hour, which may be a smart move considering the number of people who would be able to get perfect scores.
Like most party games, there are a few mini-games in Raving Rabbids 2’s collection which simply don’t work. One particular mini-game we weren’t fond of was Bumper Cars, which only uses the Wii remote and has you tilt the controller in the direction you want to turn. Your main objective is to bump other cars off the roof of a building, but the controls feel awkward and sloppy which often results in you missing targets and even falling off unintentionally. Dizzy Race and Burgeritos also fall victim to the sloppy mechanics, and even feel as if they were made to share the same controls in order to cut development costs. Fortunately, most of the mini-games retain the same charm from the original, although there are notably less of them, with a total of 51 as apposed to 70.
Will you take me to Funky Town?
The on-rails shooting mini-games make a return and have undergone a number of changes. The first major change is that they now feature real world locations which have been filmed specifically for the game including a Japanese restaurant, the streets of Manhattan and even a hotel in Paris. It’s really entertaining to watch the Rabbids run around and interact with these environments, especially when they’re chasing or hitting people. One of things that is particularly appealing about each setting is that the Rabbids are dressed up in outfits which correspond to the location’s theme, such as the Ninja Turtle and Elvis bunnies running amok in Manhattan, or the crazy French chef who takes over a bakery. At times, we even found ourselves marvelling at the scenery rather than firing plungers, which is really saying something about the game’s appeal.
This said, the developers have foolishly altered the control scheme. Instead of satisfyingly swishing the Nunchuck to reload your plunger launcher, you now have to press the ‘A’ button. In fact, the Nunchuck attachment isn’t required to play the shooting games which also means you can no longer grab bunnies to use as shields or projectiles. Ubisoft have also removed the health meter, which takes away the challenge of surviving the onslaught of bunnies, and when you reload there’s a slight delay before you can shoot again. While these are not game-breaking changes, returning veterans will be a little disappointed as the gameplay feels toned down.
The music mini-games have also been treated to a makeover, this time, the Rabbids form a rock band and each player takes control of a different musical instrument, and shakes the Nunchuck and Wii Remote according to on screen prompts. A few of the songs you’ll be playing include Celebration, Satisfaction and our personal favourite, Funky Town. As an added twist, each time you miss a note or have bad timing, your instrument will play off key. While the concept isn’t original, it’s still a lot of fun and is easily one of the best mini-games in the collection.
Someone's been watching too much Indiana Jones.
Beating the high scores in the mini-games rewards you with a range of costumes for Rayman and the Rabbids, including Super Bunny, Indiana Bunny and even James Bunny, as well as other countless parodies of popular culture. Unfortunately, there aren't any unlockable viral marketing videos this time.
Visually, Raving Rabbids 2 is a very mixed bag. The opening cutscene and shooting mini-games look fantastic, but the rest of the game looks a little rough and doesn’t really put the Wii’s hardware to great use. Admittedly, it looks about on par with the previous game, but we expect a little more given it has been a year after the Wii’s launch, espescially with games like Metroid and Mario really showing what the Wii is capable of visually these days. The same sound effects and even a few music samples are taken directly from the first game and while there’s nothing wrong them, they may seem stale for returning fans.
Although the single-player experience isn’t as engaging as it was last year, Raving Rabbids 2 improves in a number of areas. All mini-games are designed to incorporate multiplayer, there’s a new online ranking system and the shooting mini-games have backgrounds taken from real locations. If you intend to play this with friends and family, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 will last you a long time, otherwise don’t go expecting too much from this sequel.
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