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Saturday 26 January, 2008
Game Log 2
Game Play
Upon returning to Rayman for the next session I was again unsure of what to expect. I was and am not a stranger to mini games, after years of being pelted with them in the various games I have played, and beat upside the head with them in the Mario Party games to the point in which I believe I’ve suffered several months worth of concussions dealt by an Italian plumber who shoots fire balls, but due to the drastically different natures of the previous mini games I was still wary.
Upon starting the first mini game I became aware of the fact that as per the commercials Rabbids do indeed like to dance as the mini game that I played in the previous session popped by again with increased difficulty, though still as enjoyable as before.
As could only have been expected, all the mini games had increased in difficulty levels and I found myself replaying mini games multiple times in order to fufill the requirements listed. This was frustrating as the reason I tended to restart was due to the lack of response from the wiimote and the sensor respectively, at the most opportune moments to be thought of.
Design
Rayman the Raving Rabbids makes good on its namesake in that there are no lack of the rabbids. Being rather hysterically amusing creatures, they set the tone for the entire game; the tone being that of utter complete brilliant nonsense.
Players of the previous Rayman games may become disappointed in that our lovable hero gets completely overshadowed by the limelight loving Rabbids in every way. Despite the fact that the player is in control of Rayman, every game is designed to feature the Rabbids as the stars, sometimes omitting the actual visible presence Rayman has at all. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it may make one wonder why this game is a Rayman game at all, and not a part of its own series if not for the fact that the rabbids have appeared (much less dominantly) in other Rayman titles.
The games themselves are all very much designed for the wiimote’s controls, each game utilizing them in interesting ways. However, due to the motion sensor aspect of the wiimote, depending on the relationship between your wiimote and the sensor, game play may quickly become frustrating when your controller decides to put itself on not speaking terms with its spouse, giving you no other alternative but to restart the session and hope that the two of them patch things up before you are once again knocked out unceremoniously by a load of carrot juice toting scuba rabbits.
To facilitate the mini games for the player, options had been included to allow for quick restarts, and the option to skip cut scenes. Also, in a form of moral support the “try again” screen is not accompanied by the expected annoyingly dreary (and simply annoying) music and depressing font that one usually expects in such a screen, but of a rather upbeat screen that makes one much more willing to resume play and minimizes frustration. Which is, as said previously very helpful as the difficulty level of the games increase.
While single player mode is enjoyable, this game is able to shine the brightest when utilizing the multiplayer mode allowing for true party play to rival that of the Mario party games with its simple controls and the fast paced game play it provides.
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