MVI Rabbids Go Home (Wii)

This entry is about the Wii version of Rabbids Go Home. Info about the DS game may have its own section one day, assuming people like it enough to talk about it. It's also a rather different game from this, as it plays more like The Incredible Machine.

User 1's Notes
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Dejiko's Notes
I was honestly surprised by this. I wouldn't exactly call it a "great" game, but it's honestly "good" and probably better than you might think at first glance. At the very least, like a bunch of past efforts in solid tv, movie, and cartoon-based games, it's proof that you don't have to make a bad game just because of a license, character, etc. Lots of people know and hate these little bastards for being part of the casual, shovelware, partyfest death of Rayman (before he pulled a Gill and resurrected with Origins). Sure, their screams get annoying, but this game shows they can be kind of amusing for a bunch of brain-dead idiots. One thing that lends to the success of this game is the stylized world. Nothing is left unparodied and pretty much everything is shown in a rather abstract and amusingly exaggerated manner. This lends itself well to the absurdity of the game's plot. The sense of progression is also done pretty well. Since the Rabbids are trying to get to the moon by making a giant stack of stuff to climb on, you have to collect things for them to use. There's a central hub town area, but there's not nearly enough stuff in it to supply your tower of junk. Each progressive stage is unlocked by collecting a certain amount of junk. Each stage has a "giant" object, which is the goal-point of the stage. Getting it gives a nice boost to your tower. The first is easy enough to get to, naturally. Subsequent stages unlock requirements are incrementally higher. The thing is though, that you'll soon get to the point where just getting the giant object isn't enough, which makes your collections of smaller junk per stage still matter. The gameplay sort of Katamari-ish in a way, but still just unique enough to not feel like a total ripoff. Sometimes the junk you want to get must be knocked off of someone or something, thus you have your limited, but effective attacks. You can let out a yell to shock and somehow "strike" people and enemies. Most people jump right out of their clothes, letting you collect it, instead of simply scaring them or bumping into them. Some enemies must be stunned in this manner to actually hurt them as well. Additionally, you can launch a rabbid from your wii remote to precision-strike a target you aim at. It flies in and smacks whatever you aimed at. This is handy for obstacles you need to dispose of, but can't directly touch without taking damage, such as exploding balloons and such. Naturally, like the yell, it can't beat everything, but it does get rid of most things. Third, and perhaps most beneficial even outside of being an attack, is the dashing ram. You build up momentum and speed then slam into something with your shopping cart. IIRC, there's actually an upgrade to it you get, which lets you break down certain obstacles you couldn't get past before. These methods are simple, but effective and used in fairly thought-out ways. One example being an unreachable air vent. Using the "Remote-Rabbid-Launch" (or whatever it's called, I didn't read the fucking book), you can knock the grated entry down, which allows your carting rabbids to roll on into the vent and move on to another area. The gameplay is easily my favorite factor of this game. It's simple, but thought out enough, while still being ridiculous and funny, and yet still practical. It's almost reminiscent of how silly Earthworm Jim 1 and 2 were, in that you did pretty much the same things you would in other games, but presented in amusing alternate fashions. It even (sometimes) takes it a bit further (again, sometimes). One example that stands out is that you have to get a mechanized door open. The door won't open for your rabbids, so you have to get a cleaning robot to step on it. However, the robot won't have any reason to move if there's no mess. So the game has you get your feet dirty in some goop, make messy foot-tracks to the door, which causes the robot to follow you and activate it, letting you progress. However, it's not so simple as that either, since the path to the door has a bunch of water puddles about, which will neatly clean your goop off should you step in it. Thus, you have to be careful with how you move, while still being fast enough to not get attacked by the robot either (since he damages you on touch for some reason). The whole "lure the enemy to step on the switch without screwing up" bit has been done before, but it is the presentation, practicality, and silliness of the situation which makes it amusing. In addition, although your main actions are a bit limited, the game likes to mix up gameplay as well. You can't normally jump, but there's a section where you get a (IIRC) flying saucer and use it to jump and mid-air jump through an obstacle course and between buildings. There's even stealth segments, and other such things I can't remember off-hand right now. They all work well enough too. It's not a perfect game, and there's a few issues I have with it that keep me from calling it a "great" game. One being that the movement could be better. It make sense since you're controlling a shopping cart, but at the same time, it can be a bit of hassle every now and then (fighting multiple enemies at once being one example, and carefully traversing narrow passages with pits below them being another). It's not enough to keep me from liking the game though. Another issue is the somewhat limited life bar. There's unlimited lives, and stages regularly have checkpoints, but sometimes segments are actually a bit tough, and 3 hits a life can go surprisingly fast. The issue comes in when there's insta-death pits or hazards. Thankfully, these don't pop up much, but for this sort of game, they are kind of a bitch. It wouldn't be as bad if the rabbids didn't scream their asses off every time you die. This is alleviated somewhat as there are life upgrades as well, but I only managed to find one (I didn't play the whole game, so I'm guessing there might be others). Stages are sometimes a little repetitive and sometimes a bit too big for their own good as well. For the most part, there's a solid balance; but, it would have been nice though, to be able to quit and later continue a stage at any checkpoint you used before. On an ending note, I found the music pretty amusing. Goofy and fitting, without getting to the point of annoyance. You may have heard it elsewhere.