Rabbids Don't Like Playing Alone
The first thing that's painfully obvious from the get-go is that the game requires a single player playthrough of a minigame before it's unlocked for multiplayer. That means that right out of the box you can't play multiplayer with your friends. Luckily, the single player "story" mode can be blown through in a weekend, but considering the fact that the game is clearly a multiplayer party game, forcing a story mode completion before being able to enjoy the multiplayer aspect is unforgiveable.
The story mode itself is mindnumbingly, well, mindless. When you play the minigames during story mode, you aren't playing against any computer controlled opponents. Instead, each minigame requires you to get a certain amount of points or beat a certain time in order for it to be completed. Even a racing minigame where computer controlled opponents exist requires you to beat a time, not the opponents (you can get last place and win or even first place and lose). Without this competitive aspect, the minigames during story mode are more of a chore than anything else.
Rabbids Don't Know How to Party
Ok, so you completed the uninspired story mode to unlock all the multiplayer games for your friends to play, but unfortunately, the multiplayer setup continues Ubisoft's apparent desire to make playing a Rabbid minigame an exercise in futility. Unlike the reigning party game king Mario Party, Rayman Raving Rabbids has no layer above the minigames to tie them all together (you know, like a game board). Instead, you're only option with Rayman is to choose the minigames you want to play individually. There is an option to play a group of them together, but they are predefined and you play them in a set sequence with nothing else special about them.
What this all means is that while playing the minigames with your friends, the only real thing tying each game together is an overall score that keeps track of wins and losses. Unfortunately, there is no end goal here. You just pick the games you want to play and stop whenever you'd like. If you want to find out who "won" overall, you'll just have to check that tally before you quit. For those that have played a Mario Party game before, the lack of a board (or any other universal system) to bring the minigames together is something that'll stick out and likely ruin most of the enjoyment that could have been had here.
Rabbids Don't Like Competition
So what about the minigames themselves? Are they a slice of party game heaven or are they little more than a speed bump on this road of boredom? Unfortunately, for the most part it's the latter. Remember how I mentioned that the minigames during story mode have you competing to beat a certain amount of points rather than against an opponent? Sadly, the minigames carry this theme into the multiplayer realm as well.
First off, many of the minigames have you playing the games one at a time. Yes, you read that right - one at a time. Having to alternate play for most of the minigames is absurd. It's a shame too because there are a few games that really would have been pretty good if you could actually play simultaneously with your friends. I'm not sure if the Ubisoft developers got made fun of a lot playing sports when they were kids, but the lack of actual competition in the games is annoying. For most minigames you're really just trying to get a good score independantly of any actions your friends may take. Nearly every minigame plays identical whether your friends are there or not, meaning the whole concept behind a party game is absolutely lost on this game. Sure, there are a couple gems that make fantastic use of the Wii remote, but 2 or 3 decent minigames do not make a good game.
Rabbids Do Not a Good Game Make
While Rayman Raving Rabbids does avoid many of the obstacles facing a typical launch title, it still finds a way to dissapoint. The game manages to succeed in untested areas such as control and graphics, with most minigames controlly surprisingly well. The Rabbids are incredibly fun characters and the graphics are above average compared to other current Wii titles. However, the game falls way short where it really counts - content and gameplay. The story mode is a challenge free, weekend snoozefest while the minigames themselves lack the competitive requirement to actually be fun with friends.
In the end, the decent graphics and adorable screaming Rabbids can only do so much before the gaping holes in gameplay make you scream yourself.