E308: Buns-on with Raving Rabbids TV Party

by JC Fletcher { Jul 20th 2008 at 2:00PM }

I am happy to report that Raving Rabbids TV Party maintains the same balance of well-designed, clever motion-based minigames and puerile humor that have made the first two Rabbids games a not-so-guilty pleasure. The addition of the Balance Board just means that the team at Ubisoft has a new tool in their ongoing effort to make you look ridiculous. Which I certainly did while sitting on the floor pretending to sled in the middle of the E3 show floor.

My demo consisted, obviously, the Balance Board-based sledding minigame, in which you control a Rabbid riding an upturned wildebeest (or similar ungulate) down a mountain. You control your movement by leaning on the board, and attempt to slalom between flags. It's a lot like the skiing game in Wii Fit, actually, except on your butt. (Note to self: try Wii Fit skiing on my butt.) You can lean back to jump on ramps.

Some ramps launch you not only into the air, but into another minigame within the minigame, in which you pull off aerial tricks by performing QTE-style motions. The tricks all involve striking ridiculous poses with the wildebeest. After three to four tricks, you hit the ground again.

The other level being shown was a dancing game in which up to four players use Wiimote and Nunchuk poses to match outlines scrolling across the screen. I would have played it, but far too many people were lined up to dance along to the Austin Powers theme. People really seemed to love that demo.

Tags: e3-2008, e308, joystiqfeatures, minigames, raving-rabbids-tv-party, ubisoft

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

z3r0x @ Jul 20th 2008 2:18PM

Ubisoft is funny.

Errol @ Jul 20th 2008 2:30PM

If this game gets good reviews, then i might aswell buy it. I'd just wish that Ubisoft wouldn't include Rayman's name in the title, he's not even in the game!

Lijik @ Jul 20th 2008 3:44PM

So you've played the entire game? Awesome! Hows all the channels, is the multiplayer segment as strong as RRR2's? How is the promised storyline that is supposed to be spread across the seven days of Rabbid television? Is the motorcycle game any fun?

Oh wait, you haven't played it and just talking out of your ass despite the fact the press release confirms Rayman's existence in the game? Nevermind then.

Errol @ Jul 20th 2008 4:38PM

What the f..?!

Did you play RRR2?! Didn't you notice how Rayman was only a skin in the game, but acted exactly like the rabbids? Besides that, Rayman was not in the friggin' game at all, and the game didn't even have an ending! So, do you really think that he'll be in THIS game?!

Besides, press conference haven't confirmed his existence, so i think you just said that to be an asshole.

Lijik @ Jul 20th 2008 9:53PM

No I did not just say that to be an asshole, rabbids.com does in fact contain a bit of a press release that reads more or less as such "destroy our daily viewing and drive Rayman crazy." How the hell do you expect to drive Rayman crazy if he isn't in the game?

Also, Rayman actually has seperate animations modified from the rabbids' to account for his limblessness and size difference. There was a cheat code in the beta version to allow for four playable Raymen at once since it'd be easier to see the animations that way as opposed to paying extreme attention to one (occasionaly tiny depending on a minigame's camera view) Rayman. And you're wrong on a second count: Rayman was in the intro, and you could play... every... minigame... with... him. Its like saying "You can play in every level as Mario in Galaxy, but HE DOESN'T APPEAR IN A FEW SECONDS OF THE ENDING SO HES NOT IN THE GAME".

RRR2 not having an ending is completely irrelevant thus the only reasonable rebuttal I can come up with is "Beef Stew does not taste like corn chips".

Errol @ Jul 21st 2008 7:20AM

I might have overreacted a bit there, cause i have, in fact, not even played the game myself. From what i've heard (and i know he was in the intro, but a really bad one, i watched it on YouTube) there is no ending sequence in the game at all, so the story doesn't even have an ending. Wich is one of the main reasons i didn't buy the game.

And just because Rabbids.com says: "Help the Rabbids destory our daily viewing and drive Rayman crazy." , doesn't mean that he is going to be in the game. Until i see some actual footage of him, i won't beleive it.

I'm still very mad at Ubisoft for cancelling Rayman 4, that trailer was awesome! I've been waiting five years for a new Rayman game now, and the moment i found out that Rayman 4 was turned into a party-game called Raving Rabbids, that was one of the most dissapointing moments in my life.
If they could just split the Rabbids and Rayman apart, if they just wouldn't include Rayman in the Rabbids games, that would make me happy.

And one last ting: Rayman Raving Rabbids got boring after one day, so i don't have high hopes for this one.