Rayman Raving Rabbids
10th Feb 2007 | 09:21
I must admit to not liking the limbless French platforming hero's previous games, having dismissed them as sub-Mario kids' fodder with unfathomable Gallic humour. However, having just slammed a toilet door in the face of a cartoon rabbit straining to have a dump, I find myself grinning like a lobotomised audience member of The Price Is Right.
Created by Michel Ancel, the man behind the Rayman series as well as Beyond Good & Evil, Raving Rabbids sees Rayman captured by a bunch of psychotic bunnies who throw him into a gladiatorial arena and challenge him with an eclectic collection of over 70 daft but entertaining mini-games.
Expect to be disco dancing (rhythm action by tapping the left and right mouse buttons); throwing Daisy the cow (a discus-throwing sports event played by rotating the mouse 360-degrees and pressing a button to fling the startled moo-er); and saving baby Globox (a Time Crisis-style on-rails shooter with sink plungers).
Despite the odd dud game every now and again, most are decent throwaway thrashes, but I can't help thinking that this would be far more enjoyable played on the Nintendo Wii console's remote controller - which is obviously what Raving Rabbids was designed for.
On PC, the simple thrills become depressingly desk-bound, with the clunky mouse control not quite matching the wildly exuberant art style, animation and sound effects.
Raving Rabbids has multiplayer, but it's the impractical offline variety of gathering round the monitor. Ultimately, it's decent, short-lived fun, but is this really what you bought your games PC for?
