The fourth installment of Ubisoft’s Rayman series is certainly different from the previous ones. The platformer genre has been left behind for a collection of minigames. While there are many good things about Rayman: Raving 
Rabbids, there are some not so great things as well.
Gameplay
The game consists of a single player “story” mode where you play Rayman, who has been kidnapped by a bunch of crazy rabbits (Rabbids). They have imprisioned Rayman and put him through these tests (minigames) every day.
There are about 70 different minigames in the game, with some being harder or different version of the same basic minigame. Each game uses the Wii Remote in a different fashion. All the controls feel pretty intuitive and natural, so the concept works pretty well. It’s pretty funny too, as the Rabbids are pretty NUTS IN THE FACE.
Graphics
The art in the game is great; the Rabbids are well modeled and definitely look crazy. There is a definite cartoony kind of feel to the style — think Earthworm Jim (there’s even cow launching!).
Sound
The sounds the bunnies make is usually one of the funniest parts of any given game. There’s one part where the bunnies are in outhouses and don’t like to keep the doors closed. The bathroom noises they make alone get the sound category two thumbs up.
Multiplayer
This is the area that I think hurt this game the most. It could have been worlds better than it was. The multiplayer mode was basically just competing against your friends in the same minigames that you play in story mode. Most of the minigames aren’t played simultaneously, but one after the other, which causes the pace of multiplayer mode to be pretty slow. You’re just competing to beat the score of the other person.
3rd party developers did not yet have the Nintendo Wi-Fi libraries when this game was made, so there is no network connectivity, which really hurt Rayman. When you get a good score in a game, they give you a code consisting of a random string of characters, that you can enter on Ubisoft’s website to record your score on the internet and compete with anyone in the world. This type of system really takes away from the game. Who wants to write down a random number and then go enter it on some website? That’s right, nobody. Especially when you’re using a console that’s got network connectivity built in. I would’ve had them wait for the Wi-Fi libraries and then just integrate the global high scoring system in the game. That would’ve helped their replay value…which brings me to the last category.
Replay Value
I think the replay value on this game is fairly low for several reasons. First of all, the aforementioned lack of a network enabled in-game high score system. And second, the multiplayer mode just isn’t robust enough to keep it entertaining for more than a few hours at best. The single player story mode is also pretty easy and not really all that long.
Final Thoughts
I think Ubisoft has a pretty solid game for what it is. I personally would’ve liked a more robust, longer, and harder (that’s what she said!) game. The multiplayer also wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be. But all in all, it’s a very funny game that’s a lot of fun to play…but probably only once unfortunately.
Final Rating
6.5 / 10
