Game Review: Rayman: Raving Rabbids 2

By Chad Sapieha

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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this game is full of rude and crude rabbits engaged in a broad spectrum of socially unacceptable shenanigans. They burp loud enough to blow the windows out of buildings and lean over railings to spit into other characters' coffee cups. However, none of the behavior appears motivated by spite or anger, and their actions seem to have no lasting, negative consequences, which keeps the mood playful. Even the bonus shooting games are innocuous, thanks largely to red toilet plungers serving as ammunition, which merely knock out but not kill the targeted rabbits.

Families can talk about why the rude rabbits' antics are funny within the context of the game, but how they wouldn't be in the real world. If your family has played the original Rayman: Raving Rabbids, you can talk about the differences between the two games, particularly whether or not the shift in focus from single player to multiplayer in the second is a good or bad thing. What other high jinks do you think the rabbits could get into if a third game came out?

Common Sense Media Review
RAYMAN: RAVING RABBIDS 2 is further proof that game designers are really just older, more organized kids with better computers on which to explore their impish ideas. Like its predecessor, Rayman Raving Rabbids , this collection of mini-games flaunts a sense of humor certain to appeal to the young and mischievous (and the mischievous and young at heart); anyone who has ever giggled at a ponytail dipped in an inkwell or tacks placed on a seat is sure to laugh aloud.

The game's primary characters are a bunch of bug-eyed rabbits that look like a third grader's drawings come to life. They engage in activities befitting an eight-year-old's imagination. One game has players drinking soda on a rooftop before letting out a belch that flattens several city blocks, while another sees you chowing down on a big vat of beans before using the power of farts to fly through a long desert canyon.

These games are vulgar and immature, no question, but Raving Rabbids 2 knows not to go too far. Despite the crude subject matter and occasional cartoon violence, the atmosphere always remains playful and lighthearted -- kind of like good kids engaged in a bit of harmless monkey business.

Besides, not all of the games are about the powerful expulsion of bodily gas. Less lewd (but still wonderfully silly) challenges include one in which you balance a series of impossibly tall sandwiches while serving them, and another that requires you to pump your remote and nunchuk up and down to outrun a massive boulder. There's even one that has you disciplining a carload of misbehaving rabbits by smacking each of the bunnies' noses whenever they act up.

But while the franchise's signature juvenile wit is intact, something about this sequel doesn't feel quite right. Part of the problem is that, unlike the first game, all of the activities have been designed so that up to four players can play at the same time. While simultaneous play keeps players from twiddling their thumbs, it also seems to have limited the designers' creativity. Many enjoyable single-player challenges seen in the first game, like using the Wii remote to draw food shapes, have no equivalent in this sequel.

Another problem is presentation. Aside from a fun little opening movie, the player is provided with no context for anything that takes place. The game begins with the player in a mall selecting a vacation, which will determine which pool of mini-games will be drawn from for a six-game challenge. It makes no sense, and there is no story to provide context as the half dozen games play out. It would have been just as compelling to have been given a plain, white screen and asked simply to choose from mini-game collections labeled A, B, or C.

If you haven't played the original, we recommend it over this follow-up. For more party game fun on the Wii, try WarioWare: Smooth Moves , Mario Party 8 , or Carnival Games.