A Bunny Holding a Plunger Says, "You Can Lose Weight with This!"

Rayman Raving Rabbids for Nintendo Wii is the first game I played on the Wii. It is fun, entertaining, hilarious and enjoyable for the whole family. If you are trying to figure out a game to buy for multi-players to play on the Wii, this is the game to buy.

The Premise
The rabbits, called Rabbids, in the video game are bunnies with an adorable lunatic edge bent on keeping Rayman, the hero of the story, in captive. You, dear player posing as Rayman, need to go through a sequence of mini games to lull the bunnies into submission and thus, be free!

The Good
For the players with a very short attention span, this is the game to buy because most of the sequences are no longer than two and a half minutes. By completing sets of mini-games, you will unlock more games and battle more bunnies in a different arena. As you battle the "bad" bunnies, you will undoubtedly laugh so hard at the ridiculous ways the bunnies express themselves. They are funny rabbits.

You can personalize Rayman by giving him different hairstyles, clothes and such to suit your taste.

Rayman Raving Rabbids kept Wii's innovative design in mind while it created the game. The Wii controller is used at times to aim and shoot (with cute plungers!) the crazy bunnies. At other times, the controller is shaken to the rhythm of the music (think Dance-Dance-Revolution).

A Bunny Holding a Plunger Says, "You Can Lose Weight With This!"
The absolute best part about this game is how physical one is playing it. Wii is a homerun because it makes the player move. Rather than complaining that your son or daughter has been stationary the past eighteen hours that he / she was playing on the video game, you can rest assure that with Ravman Raving Rabbids on the Wii, they are getting a good workout as well.

As the Time Magazine from 02/01/2007 article shows, therapeutic video game that promotes excise may keep childhood obesity and obesity in the general public at bay! http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1584697,00.html

Why is this important? Well, for one thing, some of my friends stated that they hate going to the gym because they think exercise is boring. With the Wii, they have been known to play HOURS (and thus spent hours of physical exertion they would otherwise have stayed stationary).

Rayman is rated E for Everyone. This game is definitely good clean fun as long as you do not mind fart jokes and such.

The Bad
When the Wii controller first debut in November 2006, I remember the news stated how the controllers can flair out of control and hit the television screen. Have no fear, the new shipments have recitified that problem. Besides, I hold my controller rather tightly so I do not have any problems with this.

One qualm I do have with the Wii and Rayman Rabbids is that with certain movements such as the action of agitating the controller up and down to keep the bunnies at bay may develop repetitive stress syndrome in people with delicate wrist conditions. So please keep this in mind.

Also, although this game is great as a multi-player game, some of the games require the players to take turns. What this means is that if you have impatient eight-year-olds (or adults who behave like eight year-olds *smiles*), it may be difficult for the players to wait for their turn. So devise a system to rotate as a preemptive strike before the quarrels begin.

Although this game touts as having over seventy mini games, the truth is that some are repeats of each other. Nonetheless, the fact that 95% of them are enjoyable and brings a smile to my face means that I love this game and the bunnies more and more.

The Ugly
Seriously, where else except on Rayman Raving Rabbids would you find demented looking bunnies with red glowing eyes? Some may think the rabbits are ugly for that reason. I do not find them to be ugly though. They are 100% cute in my book because they look like a hybrid of the Trix Rabbit, dogs, Yakko, Wakko and Dot from the Animaniacs and babies with gapping teeth. Because the Rabbids remind me of the Trix Rabbit, I am glad for their sake that they can wreck such cute havoc on Rayman!

The Addiction
Here is my disclaimer that will keep me sound asleep at night. Rayman Raving Rabbids is addictive. There is no way around this fact. You will spend hours laughing with friends and loved ones playing the game. Your children will look forward to playing the games. Rabbids will become the highlight of your day. You will look back in your memory and laugh at the times that Rayman brought a smile to you or your loved one's face.

Once the single player plays and unlocks the game for the multi-players, that is when the party begins. It is not difficult to play in the single player feature because they help the player build up skills to "fight" against the "evil" rabbits.

Some of the mini games featured in the video game are these:
- Rabbids Dancing. Think of Dance-dance-revolution where the player keeps time with the music. The object of this game is to hypnotize the bunnies into submission. Music vary to include disco, alternative rock, and even tango-salsa music!
- Jump Rope. You jump rope while the pesky rabbids try to distract you.
- Rabbids Soccer and Rabbids Bowling. The Rabbids are the balls. Note: If you have a sensitive child, he/she may not appreciate the comic violent nature of having the bunny being a ball to be kicked.
- Dentist- you pull worms out of their teeth. This might even remind the little ones of the merits in keeping their pearly whites clean!
- Cow Tossing. You spin the nunchuck in circles to increase momentum and then you toss the cow across a field. Laugh accordingly :)
- Whack-a-Rabbid- sounds more violent than it is. If you do not mind your children watching Itchy and Scratchy from The Simpsons then you will not mind them playing this game.
- Close the door for the Rabbids while they are in the restroom so that they will not shoot you with a plunger
- Memory Games
- Pump a Rabbid's Goggles with Carrot Juice before They Attack You by vigorously shaking your nunchuck up and down and simultaneously aim at the screen full of rabbids with your controller.
- Hide and Seek with Rabbids- you listen to the nunchuck's speaker to detect where the rabbids are hiding


The Commercials on YouTube
Why am I including the commercials for the Rayman Raving Rabbids with my review? Because the commercials themselves make me smile. When I am having a long day staring at the screen, I would sneak in a clip or two and I will instantly have a huge grin on my face.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8lHS8fOd4k

In Conclusion
I hope you have a pleasant experience with your Wii and Rayman Rabbids. I love this game and it is one of those games that I will play for at least a good year and a half because it feels fresh everytime I play it!