Don’t let the boxart fool you. The Rabbids made their debut in Michel Ancel’s reinventing (and albeit, the rescuing) of the party game genre, Rayman’s Raving Rabbids, but Rabbids Go Home skews away from the Rabbids usual genre, and puts these devilish baddies in 3D platformer.

Michel Ansel, swell Fellow

I’m pleased to say that Rabbids Go Home is unlike other platformers on the Wii. The Rabbids, as the title so aptly puts, want to go home. But where is “home?” Well, in the Rabbids case, it’s the moon. How do they aim to get to the moon? Easy. Gather a bunch of crap, put it in a pile, and climb the pile to reach the moon. Simple enough right?

When one hears the objective “gather tons of crap to perform an arbitrary task” Katamari Damacy comes to mind. Though some have written off that the game is a shameless rip-off, I will refuse to attest to the theory. Rabbids stands apart from Katamari in numerous ways.

The gameplay is simple. Two Rabbids take charge of gathering crap from about the world around them, in what seems to be a magical bottomless shopping cart. Rabbids can charge to attack predators, like attack dogs and Verminators. However, you’ll find much more delight in attacking plain old innocent bystanders. Their clothes and belongings fly off, and they run away nearly nude. How this game managed to garner an E rating is way beyond me.

Like this, and yet...not like this.

The game starts out very slow. It’s way too easy, way too simple, way too mundane. What keeps you going are the hilarious cut scenes in between levels. Rabbids Go Home is indeed a “Comedy Adventure” as it’s title so proudly advertises. Not just the usual slapstick between the Rabbids, but what happens in the worlds many environments. The humans, and their super clean, super safe, super mundane lives is clearly a tongue-in-cheek attack on modern society. When inside a Mall level, you can hear “Buy all the stuff you’ll never need!” over the speakerphones; a jab at rampant materialism. When inside an airport, the speakerphone lady is back this time blurting out “Due to security reasons, all vacations are now canceled,” a clear jab at the silliness of airport security.

As previously mentioned, you come for the gameplay, stay for the cut scenes. Well, in the beginning anyway. After a few levels, the game becomes harder, and other elements, other items, are harnessed by the Rabbids to complete their task, and to spice up what on the surface, seemed like pretty mundane gameplay.

The visuals are ripped out of some kind of white, clean, utopia imagined by someone in the 1960’s. Everything is advanced, and yet each and every human is behind the times, both visually and mentally. When attacking, folks are usually more concerned for their things, than their well being, yelling “No, my stuffs!”

They're the normal ones.

Seeing the game play out, I can only wish that the Rabbids invade other forms of media, such as movies and T.V. If the game only gave me Rabbids being Rabbids for the twelve hours I spent with the game, I would have been more than pleased.

The Awesome

-Innovative 3D platformer that survives without the ever so crucial jump button

-Funniest game on the Wii

-Quirky story, best cutscenes on Wii, better than half the crap Disney and Dreamworks shovel out. On par with Pixar

-Tongue in cheek parody of modern society

The Not So Awesome

-Starts slow

-Camera issues, small, but in some areas can make things very tiresome

The Verdict

Rabbids Go Home is the funniest game on Wii, and will entertain any warm blooded platform fan looking to get their fix. It may look like a silly, shallow excuse of a game on the surface, but Michel Ansel is able to turn creatures called “Rabbids” into the most normal minds, in a boring an mediocre world. Whether the social statement is intended is still up in the air.

Score: 9/10

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