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leisuresuite's Rayman Raving Rabbids (Wii)
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| [February 21, 2008 03:22:29 AM]
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Gameplay:
For my second hour of gameplay I decided to keep playing through the main adventure mode in order to get more levels to play in multiplayer and more accessories for Rayman to dress up in. What I find interesting about this game is the diversity in both difficulties and games to play. By that I mean that in every set of mini-games, there is always one that is (or at least seems like it) significantly more difficult then the rest of them. I don't want to say that this is a negative aspect of the game, because on the other side of the spectrum, some of the games seem incredibly simple, so in a way it balances out. Unfortunately, it does get annoying at times because every once in a while you will run into a mini-game that seems impossibly difficult and, at the least, incredibly frustrating. luckily the game designers took this into account, I feel, because they made it possible to only beat 3 of the 4 games to move on. I've had to, on many occasions, use that to my advantage because of the difficulty of these mini-games.
difficult games aside, I still greatly enjoyed playing RRR again and enjoyed, even more, playing the multiplayer mode with my friends. The mini-games are great fun alone but some just beg you to invite some friends over and have at it. One great aspect of this game is that it has silly characters, such as the Rabbids, which make the game very entertaining just to watch. Some times, I'd prefer to watch! And as if the designers of this game had foresight, this is possible, even when playing multiplayer mode! Some games are standard multiplayer, as in two or more players compete against each other to get the highest score, but other games are designed so that each player will have to go one at a time. While some might think this to deter from the social aspect of the game, I found that it only enhances it by giving each player time to think about their strategy and gather information about what to do and what not to do from watching other players.
Design:
Like I said before, this game must have been a huge honor to make for the Wii right as it debuted. While there were other fun titles to play when the Wii first came out, Raving Rabbids seems to have outlive and win the battle of becoming an immediate classic game.
I (as well as the professor) would consider this a classic game because of its innovative controls, inter-activeness, and replay value. Obviously, any game made for the Wii will need to be made with innovative controls, because that is just the basis of the Wii. The thing that makes Raving Rabbids different is the fact that there are so many different styles of control all within one game. Take for example, the fact that you'll be wildly spinning the controller over your head in a discus-type event to make a cow fly as far as possible one minute, and then using the Wiimote to aim and the nunchuck to reload while shooting plungers at Rabbids the next minute. Everything from the use of the controls to the new spins on old style mini-games is fantastically innovative and incredibly fun. This kind of innovation instantly inspires others to come watch and/or join you in a round or two of gameplay. A game that intrigues many people instantly definitely deserves to be considered a classic in my book. And of course with all of the cow spinning, Rabbid shooting, hog racing action, who wouldn't want to play the game over and over again? This is one of those great party games that you can just put in and enjoy for hours on end.
I'd also like to comment on another part of the design of this game: SIMPLICITY. If I could use only one phrase to describe the layout of this game, it would definitely be, "Less Is More". It astounds me how simple this game looks. You have your basic "arena" set up: a bowl, four available doors and one locked door. That's it. The designers wasted no time in making complex layouts or fancy-shmancy graphics all over the place, they just focused on the mini-games and the other innovations in the game. This is genius on their part because it forces the player to focus all of their attention on the mini-games. No story, no nothing. This is very inspiring and helpful when I think about the design of our own game. "Less is more", is definitely something I will keep in mind for future designs.
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| [February 21, 2008 02:37:58 AM]
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Summary:
Rayman Raving Rabbids is an interactive game for the Nintendo Wii in which you play as Rayman. Rayman, for reasons that are not quite clearly explained in the beginning of the game, is captured by the Rabbids, a species of what appear to be strange, demonic, twisted little bunnies who put him through a series of "tests" which are the mini-games that you partake in.
Gameplay:
My first encounter with Raving Rabbids was also my first interaction with the Wii, about a year ago when my friend asked me over to play Wii with him. Right as soon as I started playing the multiplayer mode I fell in love with the Wii and with this game. I had never experienced an at-home game in which your actual, physical movements and interactions control the entire game. There are, of course, the famous DDR and the ever popular Guitar Hero franchises, but in both of these games there is only one type of physical interaction, either "dancing" on the arrows or pushing the buttons at the right time. In Raving Rabbids, there are what seems to be an endless array of interactive mini-games to satisfy your craving for something fun and entertaining.
As much as I enjoy this game and was looking forward to playing it, I found myself very disappointed when I tried to play multiplayer mode right away and found a tiny fraction of the games available to play. I know, "duh". So on i went to play through the main adventure mode. Not so surprising, the story was a bit ambiguous and hardly intriguing. I say it is not surprising because from a designer's point of view, this game would have been the dream boat of games to design for the first ever sensor-activated home console. The story is sparse because it can be. People don't play Raving Rabbids because they want to know why there are cute and freaky bunnies running around, capturing Rayman, people play because they want to see what the Wii is capable of.
As was the case for me. I have no interest in the Rayman franchise, and that's ok because the overall story of the franchise has almost nothing to do with this game. This game was almost as fun to watch as it was to play. Every set of mini-games, or "tests" was very interactive and, while maybe not so innovative, they still made you laugh and yell with excitement and joy.
Rayman Raving Rabbids is an excellent example of what happens when a game designer takes full advantage of a system as innovative as the Nintendo Wii.
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leisuresuite's Rayman Raving Rabbids (Wii)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Thursday 21 February, 2008
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