Rayman Raving Rabbids 2

Too "zany" by far

Humour is subjective. For example, I don't see what all the fuss is about when it comes to BBC3's The Mighty Boosh, it barely raises a smile whenever I've sat and watched it. Plonk a Black Books DVD in however and I can easily while-away hours chuckling merrily to myself. No doubt for some (strange folk) the reverse of that will be true, others will hate each of them while some will find their funny bones tickled by them both. Depending on where your own personal tastes fall in the broad spectrum of comedy you'll find the antics of the Rabbids in Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 either highly amusing or brain numbingly naff. Me? Let's just say if a Rabbid pops up in The Mighty Boosh I won't be surprised.

For a game clearly built around two core ideas, Wii mini games are fun and the Rabbids are pure comedy gold, it's a shame the latter is so subjective. It's perhaps a little unfair to be too harsh on a game of this kind for reasons of personal taste because no doubt some people will find RRR2 hysterical and I have no wish to tell them they're wrong. But this is my review and since I'm the one typing it I'll simply say that although vaguely amusing to start with the overriding whacky + crazy + zany = funny formula starts to wear more than a little thin fairly quickly. While I have to admit the Rabbids are indeed packed full of character, it's just unfortunate that it's a character I find I want to squish into a bloody pulp after a few minutes.

However, putting all thoughts of Rabbid genocide aside for the moment, it's probably best if we concentrate on the game itself from here on in. Following on from last year's effort, Ubisoft and Rayman return to present fifty new mini games to play with the Wii's wonderful motion sensing controllers. The plot, such as it is, involves Rayman disguising himself as a Rabbid and joining them aboard their flying yellow submarines (see, whacky - what fun) to try and halt their invasion of Earth. Quite how all of that boils down into mini game-based tours of the world is beyond me but then you're not really looking for a story here are you.

The mini games themselves may be numerous in number but the quality at times seems stretched a little thin. Some of them are great fun, Dial R for Rabbid where you try to spend as much time using your mobile in a cinema before the lights get switched on, the Chilli Pepper eating one where you use your flaming breath to cook chickens, Burp which sees you shaking the remote like a bottle of fizzy drink and the various balancing ones are just some that spring to mind. But a worryingly high number fall into the trap of being dull, hard to play or both (Anesthetics, Bumper Cars, Dizzy Race and the volleyball one to name a few). Strangely the fact that they're on the motion sensing Wii doesn't help them that much. As a lot of games developers are finding out, waving the controller around playing a poor game proves to be not much more fun than bashing a button on a poor game once the novelty value has worn off.

One of the genuine successes of this sequel over the original is the distinct emphasis on the multiplayer nature of the games (not before time considering the party game nature of the title). The only downside of that is that playing single player can feel a little pointless at times. In fact some games like the sandwich balancing game only really work properly in multiplayer. The addition of online leaderboards spice things for the single player but this is still very much a game to play in a group.

The musical games return from the first game and their watered down guitar hero mechanics prove to be one of RRR2's high points. Moving your Wii Remote and Nunchuk in time with the music is highly entertaining and for once the Rabbids with their high pitched singing are more endearing than annoying. Before each song you get to pick which instrument to play and while that should mean a different rhythmic experience for each instrument it's not anywhere near as big a deal as it sounds.

The light gun style shooting games also return and are something of an improvement from last time. Using real full motion video shot in the streets of New York, Paris, and Tokyo as a background these on-rails sections see you shooting the hundreds of overlaid Rabbids with plungers. It's a clever idea and works surprisingly well although they could have taken the time to stage a few more 'real' set pieces to liven things up.

In the only real nod to the game's apparent invasion plot each of Earth's five continents is assigned a series of mini games for you to work through but you can also create your own custom tours from the list of mini games available meaning you can manually weed out the dross. You're also able to dress your character up in a wide range of daft costumes that become unlocked as you play. This dressing up element may or may not float your boat but it's there if you like that kind of thing so it's hard to complain too much.

Graphically things look a little half hearted; we all know the Wii isn't going to out muscle other formats but it'd be nice to see at least some effort being made to make things look as good as they can. The Rabbids are nicely animated with plenty of amusing/annoying little routines and everything looks as bright and cartoony as you'd expect, but something about the feel of the whole package just smacks of a by the numbers sequel that's had scant care and attention lavished on it.

Ultimately, what we have here is collection of mini games that range from the dull to the sublime with unfortunately slightly more emphasis on the former. If you loved the first game then you may be slightly disappointed by the sequel however if you loved the first one then you may be just happy for some more Rabbid action. If you're like me however, and you find the mere presence of Rabbids drains the fun out of even the best games then there's simply not enough quality to be found to keep you coming back.

60%

By Paul Newcombe