- Site: Rayman Raving Rabbids
- Publisher: Ubisoft
- Developer: TransGaming, Inc.
- Genre: Action
By Brad Cook
We’ve all had picnics go awry, but probably not the way Rayman’s does at the beginning of his latest adventure. Rayman decides to treat a few of his friend Globox’s 650 children to a picnic, but three vicious Rabbids appear and kidnap all of them. Rayman is thrown into the Rabbids’ coliseum, where, instead of a gladiator’s sword and sandals, he uses a plunger and sneakers to compete in more than 70 mini-games and win freedom.
Each day, Rayman finds himself yanked from his cell by the oversized, metal mask-wearing Sergueï, who tosses him into the center of the coliseum. Rayman must complete three of four mini-games, such as jumping rope (a chain, in this case) or competing in a dance contest, before unlocking the main gate and entering the final competition. If he’s successful, he’s tossed back in his cell, but the Rabbids gain a little more respect for him and he earns another of the plungers that will eventually secure his freedom. We’ll let you discover how he manages to do that.
More Than One Way to Play
Complete all four mini-games each day to unlock a song from a dancing game — such as Dick Dale’s surf guitar classic “Misirlou” — or a new costume that transforms Rayman’s look into anything from disco-themed to granny-inspired. While in his cell, Rayman can also sit on the toilet and think about the events from any previous day, so he can retry the ones he failed. Remember, the more success our hero enjoys, the more sympathy he’ll gain from the Rabbids who fill the coliseum.
When you’re done, enter Score mode to replay many of the mini-games solo or with up to three other players, or access Family mode to play cooperatively with someone else. In the former, you’ll aspire toward the grand total of 183,000 points, with special multi-mini-game challenges becoming unlocked once you reach certain scoring thresholds. In the latter, you’ll share the controls with a co-player; for example, one aims and the other shoots during the Bunny Hunt mini-games.
In the Bunny Hunts, which show up with varying degrees of complexity in all modes of the game, you look through Rayman’s eyes as he moves through an environment, such as a Wild West town or an island resort. Fire your plunger gun at the Rabbids before they shoot their plungers at you, and fling your grappling hand at the ones who get too close. Make sure you hit the ones carrying bombs so they eliminate others nearby.
Rabbids come in all types, from those who dress like Superman to ones that look like they were rejected during tryouts for a Splinter Cell game, but they share one thing: a crazed desire to see Rayman suffer. Our hero doesn’t have much to say in this game, compared to previous outings, but if he did, he might quip: “Rabbids fire plungers at us all. All a Rayman can do is fire back.”
Game Hardware
Check out our systems for your best gaming experience.
This Race is a Blast. Deliver the bomb present before time runs out.
Give Them Their Fill. Keep the Rabbids’ masks full of carrot juice to win this trial.
Rayman Raving Rabbids Videos
Visit GameTree Online’s Rayman Site to watch exclusive videos of the diabolical rodents.
If you liked this game, check out:
- LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
- Ratatouille: The Video Game
- Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc
- Sid Meier’s Pirates!
- Stubbs the Zombie
- WALL•E: The Video Game
- Worms 3D
System Requirements:
- Mac OS X version 10.4.11 or 10.5.5
- Intel Core Duo processor
- 1GB of RAM
- ATI X1600, Nvidia 7300 GT, or Intel X3100 or better graphics chipset (Intel GMA950 chipset not supported)
- 1.4GB hard disk space
Tips and Tricks
- During the Bunny Hunts, shoot any boom boxes you see — they will start playing music and the Rabbids will dance for a few seconds, allowing you to easily pick them off.
- During the Bunny Hunts, you can knock the Rabbids’ plungers out of the air by firing a plunger or your hand grappling hook at them.
- During the Bunny Hunts, you can shoot crates to score power-ups, such as rapid fire, but watch out for the ones with red logos: they’ll break your plunger gun so it doesn’t shoot very far. Luckily, that downgrade only lasts a few seconds.
- During Bunnies Are Addicted to Carrot Juice, in which you must spray carrot juice into their diving masks and keep them immobilized for a certain period of time, try spraying a little carrot juice into each mask when there are a lot of them on the screen. That will slow them down, giving you enough time to go back to the first one and completely fill its mask.
- During the dancing games, wait until the Rabbids complete their twirls before pressing the button, which will display a white spotlight and net you the most points. If your timing isn’t perfect, you’ll see a yellow spotlight, which won’t earn you as many points. A red spotlight means you failed completely.
- During the whack-a-Rabbid (the goal is the same as traditional whack-a-mole) games, place the shovel right over a bunny’s head before clicking, or you could strike the ground instead and lose five points.
- During the racing games, you’ll notice places where you can cut corners and gain ground on the competitors who are ahead of you. The Rabbids typically won’t use those shortcuts.
A Unique Ray of Inspiration
Rayman was created by Ubisoft game designer Michel Ancel. The character made his eponymous debut in 1995 as he defeated Mr. Dark and rescued The Great Protoon, so that his world was saved from eternal darkness. More adventures followed, with Rayman pitted against Razor Beard and his robot pirates (Rayman 2: The Great Escape) and the black Lum known as Andre (Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc).
His latest outing introduces the Rabbids, crazed bunnies who somehow manage to come across as cute even when hopping mad. They’ve become celebrities in their own right, and Ubisoft has even posted a web site full of videos starring the frenetic creatures and parodying everything from soccer to the opening of James Bond movies. Ancel has been quoted as saying of them: “The Rabbids are hundreds and they are vicious, but at the same time they are totally stupid.” He also says that “for centuries, [they] have prepared an invasion. Now it’s time for them to rule the world.”
Meanwhile, the armless and legless Rayman continues to serve as Ubisoft’s official mascot. More of his adventures are in the works, and we’re sure we have not seen the last of the Rabbids.