Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party

Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party

When was the last time you laughed until you cried? Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party has a habit of bringing on those tears, you have been warned.

Rabbids, in case you don’t know, are cute but demented alien rabbits invented for the sole purpose of outright buffoonery. Their slapstick antics are honestly very funny, which is mostly down to expertly executed sight gags but in a small way due to their lack of verbal skills – we are spared wisecracks delivered in squeaky voices, instead we get something that sounds like the Looney Tunes Tasmanian Devil after a mouthful of helium. They behave like five-year olds on too much sugar.

Party games are what Rabbids enjoy best, which makes them a match made in heaven for Nintendo Wii. RRRTV uses the Wii Fit Balance Board, another bonus. Of course if you don’t own a Balance Board you could feel left out, but you can still take part without one… it’s just not as much fun. But more on that shortly.

The TV theme translates into a week’s worth of idiotic broadcasts - seven days a week, with seven slots between 7am and 10pm. Each slot gives you a selection of mini-games to choose from. Of course they’re best enjoyed with as many people as possible, which can be up to eight players in teams of two (only four people can play on the Wii simultaneously).

There are more than 50 mini-games and roughly a third of these can involve the Balance Board. You’ll be dancing by stepping to the beat while waving your arms with the Wii Remote and Nunchuck. There’s also surfing through the starry sky. But by far the most enjoyable of the lot is an event known as Beestie Boarding – a downhill slalom, sliding through the snow of 'Mount Beehind' riding a squealing cow. Here you must sit down on the Balance Board and literally control the action using your butt cheeks. If your rear end isn’t aching at the end of this your stomach muscles certainly will be – partly because you’re required to lean backwards and forwards, left and right to steer, but also because you’ll have laughed so much between times.

We really liked that the game keeps everyone involved with the action by providing 'Sabotage' options for players on the sidelines while somebody else is hogging the Balance Board. For example you can throw snowballs at the rider in Beestie Boarding to knock them off course.

Not all the mini-games work perfectly - we had a spot of trouble with the Wii Remote differentiating between cleaning teeth and shaving motions (alright, alright!). However Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party is arguably the funniest and certainly the most fun mini-game compendium available for Nintendo Wii. Just bear in mind that some of the appeal is lost without the Balance Board to jump and roll around on.

4 out of 5