Rabbids Go Home Review
Cilinia Looker
Handed to Ubisoft Chengdu, their Chinese arm, Rabbids: Party Legends has a decidedly South-East Asian flavour. Having dived into a magical washing machine, the rabbids find themselves in the feudal myths of Monkey, the Trickster God. To get back home, they have to find some sacred books that have been scattered to the winds when they crash-landed into a temple. Those same books have turned the Rabbids into a colourful cast wearing hanfus, short dresses and wielding fans.
Basically, the crazed rabbids find themselves trapped inside a television and the 65+ mini-games are themed around TV show parodies. You get involved in professional wrestling, high-speed racing, and even a Jerry Springer-esque talk show. Some of these games involve the Wii Balance Board too. Is TV Party particularly innovative? No, but it does provide for some good laughs.
Animal Crossing: Wild World on the Nintendo DS did much the same, but it allowed us to go portable with our virtual lives. So, where does Animal Crossing: City Folk lead us? Back in the exact same location again. Very little has changed, aside from the ability to ride the bus into the city.
Hi, I'm Michael. By day, I'm a writer and editor. By night, I'm still a writer and editor. I'm also an engaged work-at-home dad, a voracious foodie, an avid traveler, and a thinker who thinks he might be thinking too much. Beyond the Rhetoric is a reflection of my eclectic life, fueled by caffeine and Wi-Fi.
The rabbids don't like humans. They bang them with shopping carts, throw water bottles at them, or scream to scare them at every opportunity. They do the same to dogs. Humans and animals alike will run from the rabbids often shouting things along the lines of, "Please don't hurt me!" Rampant destruction of property is also crucial to the mission of the game. All of this is depicted in a very cartoony, unrealistic way.
The rabbids can scream at men and women, or throw things at them, to make their clothing pop off (down to underwear). The de-clothed humans will make reference to their nakedness with comments like, "Aahhh! Close your eyes!" or "I'm in my birthday suit!" Some of the rabbids themselves wear sheer, lacy thongs -- apparently for their own amusement.
The term "pissed off" can be heard from agitated humans at some points. Bathroom humor, including jokes referencing enemas and constipation, comes flying at the player rather frequently in the quick, shouted dialogue of the passing humans. Visually, there is much ado about sewers (which run with brownish green liquid) and flushing objects down toilets (which are filled with yellow liquid). One extended sequence involves rabbids using a flatulent patient on a gurney to "fly."
Although it takes a few levels to see it, product placement for Capri Sun fruit drinks, suddenly becomes ubiquitous at about the fifth level. Billboards for the beverage, with the slogan, "Respect the Pouch," are seen throughout the city. And the rabbids actually find and drink a Capri Sun pouch as a special reward.
There is no smoking seen in the game, but in several office building settings, a voice can be heard over a PA system making "No Smoking" announcements that are obviously meant to poke fun at non-smoking policies. The satirical nature of those announcements is not likely to ring through for many children, though.
Parents need to know that while Rabbids Go Home is a creative and ultimately very fun action game, it contains a great deal of bawdy bathroom humor. This is bawdiness on a level that would not even merit a PG rating were this a film, but the frequency of it certainly merits mention. It's probably no coincidence that the rabbids ride around in speeding shopping carts, a trademark of the all-too-human pranksters from the Jackass TV show and movies. Like the Jackass guys, the rabbids flaunt authority, make fart jokes, and cause damage in the name of a good laugh.
The rabbids, the psychotic, rabbit-like, alien villains from the last three Rayman games, get their own starring roles in RABBIDS GO HOME. After living in an earth junkyard for the past few years, they want to go back home to the moon. Their plan: Steal enough stuff from earthlings to create a junkpile high enough to reach the moon. To achieve their goal, they attack shopping malls, office buildings, hospitals and the like, filling their carts with every loose object they can get their hands on -- and scaring humans for fun along the way.
The gameplay of Rabbids Go Home -- barrelling through crowded environments, scooping up anything smaller than you, and building it into a giant pile -- is strangely similar to that of the Katamari games. And like those games, Rabbids offers up a lot of fast-paced fun. The humor may be incredibly lowbrow, but the rabbids themselves are undeniably funny. The ability to alter their appearances -- and make the already goofy-looking creatures even more hilarious by adding tattoos, clothing, mustaches, etc. -- is a great bonus. The evil little things are just such horrible role models; it makes enjoying the game a bit of a guilty pleasure. But it is mightily enjoyable.
Online interaction: Players can modify and share their rabbids online. The customization process is wide enough to allow for words or pictures to be drawn on the rabbids heads or bodies. Potential exists for children to be exposed to a vulgarly decorated rabbid.
Families can talk about the nature of comedy, specifically lowbrow comedy. The rabbids are wretched creatures that anyone would despise in real life, but in the game, we enjoy their horrible behavior. Is it okay to laugh along with bad behavior? What is and isn't acceptable as comedy?
Parents can also discuss product placement with their kids. Why was Capri Sun featured so specifically in this game? Does the product's appearance in the game really say anything about the product itself?
Once you're in the levels you're more or less left to your own devices - there's no overall time limit, although some sections are against the clock - and the number of enemies you encounter grows steadily over each level, starting out as mostly harmless pooches before you face the dreaded Verminators. Every now and again you'll be boxed into a certain area with a specified number of enemies to defeat before you're allowed passage to the next portion, with bombs, booby traps and all sorts of other hazards thrown into the mix as you move on. Most of the time you just need to shake your Remote to defeat the enemies, although later bad guys require more lateral thinking, but they're not really worthy foes for the Rabbid army.
James started his career in video games as News Editor on Nintendo Life. Since leaving in 2012 to join Nintendo of Europe, James has risen through the ranks to become NoE's Senior Product PR & Corporate Communications Manager.
Neither Corbie nor I can confirm the appearance of a Nintendo Life t-shirt, despite our many hours of combined gameplay. If it was in there, it would have been an automatic 10, with every other game we've reviewed losing 5 points.
The gonintendo rabbids were made using the in game rabbid editor. It is not a true unlockable. Anyone can make them.
What I played was enjoyable but could've have been better. There signs of greatness throughout but a lot of potential seems a bit untapped for my tastes.
There are two disperate elements, the single-player and the "Rabbids Lab". It touts the ability to customize your bunnies but even with that in place the game itself is too shallow and low on replayabilty to care much about using it's rabbid editor.
86%, 8/10 for me also. The kids and I love this game. Fun for all ages. In terms of raw fun, one of the very, very best on the wii. Good environmnets and great polish as well. Not to mention a good customisation mode. Controls response is weighted perfectly as well. Essential imho.
Got the second game as a gift--played it exactly one time. No one in the room got even a semblance of joy during any of our play time--quickly became "The Worst Wii Game" that I owned according to others. That's all people called it. Good to see it's not what the second game was...I heard the first was good but man--Rabbids 2 was a real stinker.
I got the original Rabbids title at launch; it was okay bu the whole minigame aspect was kind of a turn off. My buddy from school unlocked most of the games features, and the only reason I ever pick it up is to play the hilarious FSP "Plunger" mode, where the only objective is to blast all the bunnies with toilet plungers! Seeing this is more of a proper platformer and less of a party/minigames collection, I may get it at some point
I like RRR1 and still have it today. Its one of the very best mini or micro game collections on the Wii. RRR2 was dissappointing bar a few of the mini games. TV Party was good, but like many of you I expect, the RRR mini-game concept havd run its course and the fun eventually gets leached out once you play it for long enough (that's even with friends and family). So after playing them all to death bells I sold RRR2 and RRTV Party and kept RRR1 as that was the most "charming".
it was out of this and need speed nitro! but i decide to get nitro because it had better muilt-player option and was bit more challenging than this. Ill probably get this when it goes down in price. ps. nice review.
Dont buy it.
This game is funny and its mad as heck but thats all its got.
the Platformeing gets old fast,the Bad guys are jokes( You hit theam once and they runn around like wimps) and the Rabbis get relly anoying.
I did like the Grapics and the music and i admit it was fun for a few hours but it got boring fast. Still good revew.
I bought Rabbids Go Home on boxing day as EbGames had it on sale for $25. It is a fun game but it felt a little lacking at the end, like there should have been something more after the credits rolled or some kind of bigger end challenge.
The kids love it though. My 4 year old plays it non-stop despite finding some levels a bit difficult and my 1 year old copies the Rabbid in the remote when its leaning and just laughs at it the rest of the time.
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