The whole world of Rayman has been ravaged by alien invaders! The Rabbids have captured Rayman and are forcing him to compete in an arena for their enjoyment! In this latest outing from Rayman, you will be forced to compete in over 70 different trials that will test you wits, skill, and endurance, as you try to outwit you captors.
Game Play (18/20):
As preciously mentioned, in Raving Rabbids, you\'ve been captured by the Rabbids and are forced to compete in a Gladiator style arena for the enjoyment of your captors. 4 mini-game trials are set before you in this arena, and 3 out of these 4 must be competed before the Final challenge will be unlocked. Upon completing this final trial, you\'re day of competition will end, and you will receive your prize for a days work, a wonderfully useful toilet plunger! This is about the extent of any plot that Rayman provides, but the heart of this game is not in the story, but in the entertaining mini-games.
The mini-games all have been designed specifically for the Wii\'s remote, and the time put into this has shown. From drumming the remote and nunchuck up and down to milk a cow, to tiling the remote in a labyrinth style mini-game, to pointing with the remote and hitting Rabbids on the head with a shovel, the mini-games are well crafted, and completely hilarious. It would be impossible to cover all the mini-game in great depth, so I\'ll just mention the ones that took the most precedence in the game. The showpiece mini-game, which was generally the final challenge, is an on-rails plunger-shooter. Using the remote to point and shoot the rabbits with plungers, and the nunchuck to reload and use a grappling-hand melee attack, you venture a world swarmed with bunnies to rescue a captured globox. This mini-game is so good that I wouldn\'t have minded if they forget the rest of the mini-games and just made the entire game an on-rail shooter. The pin-point accuracy of the remote, and the tangible feel of shaking the nunchuck to reload instead of just hitting a button is hard to beat. It would have been nice to reach forward with the nunchuck to grab a Rabbid, instead of just hitting the Z button, though, and it give you plenty to look forward to for future shooters on the wii. One of the other mini-games that is frequently played is a rhythm type mini-game. Rayman is standing in the middle of a stage, and bunnies are filing in from each side. As one reaches the circle next to Rayman, you need to “hit” downwards with the corresponding hand at the right time. This achieves an effect that makes you feel as though you\'re playing drums. This is another mini-game that could stand by itself as a full fledged game, and it makes you wish they spent even more time on it. With all the mini-games, you can see how the design team was trying out concepts. Most of these came out brilliantly, with a cow flinging mini game, and a game where you lead a Rabbid with a plunger on his head into various death traps, and so on. However, the problem with mini games is that there are always a fun in the batch that didn\'t get fully cooked. One in particular where you have to avoid “mines” by using audio clues from the remote was rather difficult to play, while some just seemed less enjoyable, such as a drawing on the lines mini-game. This being said, there are some games that are worth an entire game to themselves, that you will probably want to play over and over again.
Graphics (8/10):
Seeing as this is a launch title for the Nintendo Wii system, you would probably expect the graphics to be better then that of the current generation of games. In some ways Rayman does achieve this, but in general the graphics are somewhat of a mixed bag. There are some things (bunnies in the stands) that are just ugly looking, while there are a lot of things (like the Island you fly around in during the Ray-bird mini-game) that really look good graphically speaking. Most of the effort spent on the graphics wasn\'t really spent on making the characters look polygon-perfect (they\'re cartoon characters anyway), but instead the effort was put into making area\'s with a unique style, such as Wild West areas, a Mine Shaft area, tropical beach locations and so forth. So while it may not be being any Xbox 360 games, it still maintains a unique and good looking style to the game.
Sound (10/10):
Sound in Rayman is completely hilarious. The screams, and grunts and yells of the bunnies are unbeatable. It\'s hard not to laugh at the sound effects sometimes, and it adds a ton to the game. In addition to that, the music also give the game a great vibe. From Bunny-fide versions of songs like “La Bamba” and “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” to the background music, the music in Rayman is spot on.
Stability (5/5):
Didn\'t run into any issues with Rayman. No freezing, lost reticules, etc.. I quite glad that even though this is a launch title, there aren\'t any noticeable glitches in the game.
Controls/Interface (4.5/5):
As I mention in the game play section, since the game was built around the controls of the Wii remote, they\'re nearly perfect, and as a result are generally better then any other game you\'ve played, with the exception of one or two mini-games. Current Game Points 45.5/50
Violence 8/10 pts
There is a lot of whacking, smacking, hitting, throwing, and otherwise beating bunnies (and cows) in this game, but it\'s just cartoon type violence, like bunnies getting hit in the face with plungers. - Cartoon Type Silly, Non-Deadly Violence -2 pts Blood - No Blood -0 pts Gore - No Gore -0 pts
Language category (10/10)
Foul Language - No Foul Language -0 pts Sexual Dialogue/Innuendo - No sexual dialogue. -0 pts
Sexual Content/Nudity (10/10)
Nudity - No Nudity -0 pts Sexual Content - No Sexual Content -0 pts
Occult/Supernatural (10/10)
Occult/Supernatural in Game Setting - There is no occult or supernatural environment in the game. -0 pts Occult Supernatural used by Player - There is no occult or supernatural in the game. -0 pts
Cultural/Moral/Ethical category (8.5/10)
Authority - No authority issues involved with this game. -0 pts While the game does show Rayman attempting to escape his captors, is clearly show how they evilly conquered the peaceful world Rayman used to live in, so there is no problem with the content there. Prejudice - No prejudicial bias in the game. -0 pts Gross Humor There are a few times gross humor is used in the game. Mainly in the form of a bird pooping on Rayman. - A few instances of gross humor are in the game. -1.5 pts Traditional/Family Values/Decision Making - Good value decision making is required to progress in the game. -0 pt Rayman is a perfect game to showcase how the Wii\'s Remote can be used to make extremely entertaining games. While not every game in this collection is perfect, there are enough good ones that you will want to play over and over, as well as the possibility of playing multiplayer. I was disappointed in the games length, I beat the game in something like 15 hours, but with all good games, you\'re usally left wanting more of it.
