Review: Rayman Raving Rabbids 2
Saturday, December 1st, 2007 at 9:03am by David
The first Rayman Raving Rabbids was a Wii launch title and, while it was very creative, suffered from Ubisoft’s lacking full grasp of a new control system. Now, barely a year later, they’ve released a sequel that fixes some issues, but creates new ones.
Some of the new minigames are extremely inventive. The ‘cellphone in a movie theater’ game is simple, but hilarious. Gameplay is second to humor throughout this title, and it’s very welcome. If anything they consistently got right, it’s the comedy aspect.
Focus for this new title is on multiplayer and it’s a winner. Playing this at a party of six people, four people were almost always able to play together. The two left out were still entertained by the craziness of the characters in the game as well as the Wiimote swinging antics of the players.
Speaking of controls for Rabbids 2, the greatest flaw was its reliance on ’shake it as fast as you can’ for many of the games. Considering the creativity of almost every aspect of the title, it’s a shame they seemed to default to flailing when no other controls seemed appropriate.
Another big improvement for this release are the rail shooter levels. Instead of drawn backgrounds, they are using full motion videos shot (apparently) around New York and Paris. They insert an onslaught of Rabbids overtaking a city and the effect is quite convincing. The only mistake they made this time was not including the grappling hook from the first game.
Having as much fun with the original as I did, I had very high expectations for this sequel. A few let downs may have kept it from getting higher marks, but it is one of the greatest party games for Wii out there right now. If you could combine a few of the minigames from the first Rabbids title with the interface and multiplayer setup of its sequel, it would nearly be perfect.
December 1st, 2007 at 9:26 am
I don’t see the score, but I agree with the review.
December 1st, 2007 at 10:16 am
Who needs a score?
December 1st, 2007 at 10:20 am
I agree, the mobile phone in the cinema level is so fun with 3 or 4 people.
But I liked the “rail shooter levels” of the first part better.
The not-perfect compositing of the video sequences and the seemingly low and at times slightly stuttery framerate do spoil the fun of shooting and hinder precise aiming.
Mixed reviews are no surprise for such an “extreme” title, but the lack of a single player mode is no big issue for me. It’s even more of a party game than RRR1, with most of the games playable with 4 people at the same time, and that’s how it’s supposed to be IMO.
I mean who plays such a game alone???
December 1st, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Great game. Recommended as a must buy if you constantly have people over.
December 1st, 2007 at 3:46 pm
The first game was terrific. Flawed, but terrific nonetheless. I’m surprised given that, and the fact that it sold 1,000,000 copies worldwide, Ubisoft didn’t do a better job with this sequel.
Not sure what’s going on with them lately. Assassin’s Creed and RRR2 should have both been spectacular on their respective systems. Both were just average…disappointing.
December 1st, 2007 at 4:05 pm
I personally give it a 3 out of 4 stars. Sometimes the resolution drops down quite noticeably (like in the Spider-Rabbid level), and the loading times are frequent enough to be annoying (could have been solved with some creative transitioning).
The comedy keeps everybody I know entertained, and is well worth the asking price.
I skipped the first RRR, so part of my enthusiasm is due to first-time-playing syndrome.