14 DAY TRIAL // 
There comes a time in a gamer's life when he must chill and relax with a couple of entertaining games, to chase away the stress acquired from playing shooters or lengthy RPG-s. For such purposes, we have games like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Jak and Daxter and obviously, Rayman. After making the 1, 2 and 3, Ubisoft decided to add a couple of furry beasts to the name of the famous character. It is pretty hard to decide who is the star of this game, Rayman or the hysteric rabbits? Platforming never got boring, especially when we're talking about a huge collection of captivating minigames.
Story Who would expect to see a platforming game with a complicated storyline? The story is there as a fun addition to the whole hilarious product called Rayman Raving Rabbids. Notice the pun made by combing the words "rabbit" and "rabid" and you'll get a hint on who's the bad guy in this game. Yes, you've got it, it's all about a couple of rabid rabbits that want to take over the world. Serguei, a huge rabbit and master of all the other crazy furry beasts kidnapped Rayman and his friends, the Globoxes.
Our favorite purple hero will be imprisoned and released from time to time in some sort of Colloseum to amuse the bunnies. Rayman will gather all the toilet plungers he can find to use them as a ladder that leads to the escape window of his cell. Things aren't so bad, as the blond critter will get to torture his enemies throughout his tasks and earn a couple of new costumes and a classier imprisonment. Also, he'll do humanitarian acts, by freeing the Globoxes from their cages.
Concept Rayman is known as the classical platforming game we all adored from the beginning and its sequels have had a huge amount of success. This is not an exception, but the style has changed. There's no unique storyline to follow, instead, we have a collection of minigames featuring the same bunnies gone nuts. Each minigame comes as an option, a choice of entrances in an arena that has 4 doors. After the 4 are completed, Rayman must finish an additional minigame, a more difficult one, that involves a lot of toilet plunger shooting.
Completing an entire arena gets you back to your cell, where you can select a new costume or a different tune by messing around with your jukebox. Sit on the toilet of your prison to replay the completed levels, take a look in the drawers to see your costumes or pick a song from the jukebox. There are lots of unlockables to party with, most of them being songs from the dancing minigame or costumes gained in the process? Check out the disco Rayman, the granny version, or the Goth spike-headed Rayman. There's clothing for every type of gamer out there. This game is very analog-based and few buttons will be used throughout the many missions. The running part is particularly challenging because it requires an extremely fast hand movement in order to get the tempo right.
Gameplay If you would ask me which is the funniest of all minigames, I would probably say it's the dancing level. Check out the rap, disco, house or rock songs and get on the dancefloor to do the psycho boogie with the psycho rabbits. The main purpose is to kick them when they try to slide down to the floor and that's done to the rhythm of the music. Usually, following the bass of the songs will help you a lot and you'll sense the patterns if you already know the songs.
Ever had something against cows? Instead of making a hamburger, you can torment a trembling cow by tossing it around, it being tied to a chain. The longer the throw is, the more points you'll get. It will be insanely fun to watch the cow's face as it flies many meters away and falls on its behind or on its head. The bovine will also suffer when you'll have a milking contest and I'll bet the poor animal will go dry once you play this in multiplayer mode.
No less than 70 minigames await you and tons of rabbits to put to sleep. Bonuses lurk everywhere so keep an eye out and a toilet plunger close by. Those are Rayman's favorite weapons and the means to his escape. The bunnies will also fire plungers and you'll be able to deflect them by using your own. Our purple hero really fancies big animals as he throws cows, milks them and rides a rhino, taking a break from time to time to transport pigs around. Quite an animal farm we've got here!
The poor rabbits won't even have time to take a leak, because the angry Rayman will slam the toilet cabinets' doors in their faces. The only good thing that our hero will do is some dentist work: he'll pull the worms out of the bunnies' teeth causing gruesome pain and desperate screams. What caused such bad teeth? It must have been that minigame, where I used the analog stick to draw sausages, bananas or other edibles in order to feed a cute bunny having his restaurant dinner.
Video This is not Oblivion, but graphics are pretty neat and you'll really enjoy the colors and environments you'll play in. Even the rain is pretty satisfying in one of the racing minigames. Everything is childish in a good way and there are crazed rabbits all over the place, each with the funniest face you'll ever see in a video game. You'll see a couple of parodies throughout Rayman. One of them involved Rabbits descending from an UFO wearing the exact same goggles featured in Splinter Cell, those green laser goggles that Sam Fisher wore. It's made by Ubisoft after all.
The game is very fluid and you won't find even a single moment of lag. The loading times will only appear when you save and they will be indicated by an icon that portrays a rabbit eating the binary code. Rabbids are everywhere! Costumes make Rayman a different.... creature and you'll combine the outfits to get the best out of the iconic critter. The disco garment is really hip, especially when it's combined with a granny wig. There's not much variation in environments and the horror and western ones are pretty well designed, having cool water and weather effects. Views can change and you'll play first person or third person, depending on the task you'll have to perform. Rayman can become a shooter at times, or a racing game, but graphics remain pretty good. Cutscenes fit the humorous style of the whole game and add the bit of story you need to feel that you're playing the good old Rayman.
Sound The soundtrack is brilliant and features disco songs and a couple of rock tunes all sang with cute thin voices that rabbits would probably have if they could speak. The main theme is the song from the opening of Pulp Fiction, the one we've been hearing recently as a remix from Black Eyed Peas. In the dancing minigames, you'll hear a couple of piano over it trying to add a bit of a disco sound to the whole thing.
The rabbits will scream all the time, especially when you're pulling out worms from their teeth or after a good beating. The cow you'll throw in the air makes a fun sound while spinning around tied to a chain, accompanying that sound with a desperate "moo" as it falls to the ground. The angry rabbits that swim towards the screen will also provide hilarious moments when their goggles get filled with carrot juice and each shot will make them gurgle.
Multiplayer Split screen is the name, mini game is the task. Plug in the controllers and start dancing or hunting "wabbits" all over the place. The multiplayer mode allows 2 to 4 players to connect and compete in this bunny adventure. After you'll have finished the levels, you can compare points and find out who's the rabbid master. You can compete side by side and race in an attempt to throw the bomb you've just received or ride some sort of rhinoceros to the finishing line. There's also the good old cow milking contest for you and your cowboy mate. Finally, you should probably select proper clothing and start the dance to find out who matches the rabbit kicking with the songs. You will only be able to play the levels you unlocked in the single-player mode, so you'll have to work a bit before having careless fun.
Conclusion Rayman Raving Rabbids is a blast after a period of no good platforming games. Its original approach, the many minigames and the whole fun idea makes it one of the best, if not the king of the famous series. Ubisoft made it again and I'll surely be the one to play the next Rayman, when it comes out. They'd better keep those rabid bunnies, because they rock hard!
