Raving Rabbids: Travel In Time (Wii) Review

I feel that the Rabbids are definitely one of the most charming and cutest characters to come out of this generation. Not only were they able to convey so many emotions without any words at all, they were quirky enough in their behaviours to always ask the player what their true intentions may have been and what thoughts may have been going through their head. The Rabbids were largely famous for their mini-game collections on the Wii, and tried things a bit differently with Rabbids Go Home, which I also enjoyed quite a bit. However, in a rather disappointing move, the team at Ubisoft have brought the Rabbids back to their party-game roots, and despite being somewhat decent, I can’t help but miss the last game.

Being a mini-game compilation, the game’s story doesn’t ever take a largely important precedence, however it is a rather clever one that provides a great backdrop for the mini-games themselves. The Rabbids have been playing around with a time machine (developed in similar vein to a washing machine), going through different time periods and interfering with several major historical events, both fictional and non-fictional. Upon returning to the future and then the present day, the Rabbids find that they have created a time paradox. And thus, the “fun” begins.

Just like previous titles in the series, the game takes place in a kooky and colourful world that is very reflective of the Rabbids’ general demeanour and behaviour. The game’s graphical presentation is, for the most part, pretty smooth, but some parts of the game are lacking detail where it’s due. This is supplemented with some superb animations for the Rabbids themselves; facial expressions are crazy enough to make you chuckle every time you see them, and the actions they carry out when you leave them idle are hilarious too. If it’s one thing that the team keep getting right with the games, it’s the personification of the Rabbids and thankfully this element of the game is not off with Travel in Time.

Following this paradox, the Rabbids find themselves in a museum that shows off various different kinds of “mechanisms” which are split into their own respective rooms; Bouncearium, Shootarium, Flyarium, Runairium and the MotionPlus-enabled Hookarium. Each room obviously has a different kind of gameplay mechanic within, and they are all pretty nice imitations of games that you’ve loved and played before. The Bouncearium is somewhat similar to New Super Mario Bros., playing like a pseudo-2D platformer in which the Rabbids must collect beans to score points. The Shootarium is probably the one most suited to the Wii Remote, and provides several different shooting experiences.

The Flyarium provides a great amount of fun when you’ve got all four players involved, assigning the control of two wings to both the Remote and Nunchuk. This definitely works best with four players, although those in a smaller lounge room should probably prepare for some kind of injury at some point. The Runarium is comprised of mainly track and field-style events, while also providing some decent co-op functionality in similar vein to three-legged races. These modes are also great fun with at least four players, mainly because whoever is the third player in a three-player game will have to work with the AI, which takes out most of the fun. Finally, the Hookarium utilises the MotionPlus accuracy to turn your Wii Remote into a fishing rod. While the MotionPlus implementation is well done, the fishing game itself is a little bit lacklustre in terms of keeping the players’ attention long enough.

The biggest problem I have with these games now is that they aren’t anywhere near as obscure and as out there as the previous games in the series. Where we would have previously run through a graveyard pelting Rabbid Zombies with plungers, we are instead just breaking down coloured bricks by flapping our arms wildly. It’s also nowhere near as straightforward for the more casual gamer, with most of the menus actually being part of the museum itself. Doing such a thing is nothing bad for those of us who know our way around a video game, but my younger family members had a lot of trouble not getting sidetracked while looking for an actual game to play. Generally speaking, however, there’s a bit of a disappointing offer in terms of proper and interesting use of the Wii Remote, with exception to the rather frantic flying games.

The main games are all pretty similar but still lack the substance that the previous games did. There are other side games that are very much similar to games such as Just Dance and Mario Kart, although these experiences are so bare bones that you’d probably (well, definitely) have a better time playing the games that these side-games are based on. They still do a good job of making a better-rounded package but ultimately the game does spread itself too thin.

Every single game also has online play, which is quite unexpected for a game of this calibre. The game is pretty limited in its functionality, however, allowing up to four players but only two consoles at any one time. We managed to find about two games in our whole play period and these all performed pretty well, although it’s very much preferable to play this game with your friends in the same room. There are also some cool little costumes to unlock for your Rabbids which are definitely cute, but these aren’t anything that will majorly extend your experience.

The game’s soundtrack sounds weirdly familiar, but that’s probably because it lifts a lot of tracks from the previous games in the series – keeping a comic and goofy kind of composition of tracks. The voicework in this game is very minimal, but you can expect the now infamous Rabbid screams and grunts to make appearances in all their glory as well, and even a button that starts the token scream (or as it’s colloquially known, “BWAAAAHHHHH!!!!”).

Raving Rabbids: Travel In Time is a competent mini-game compilation that unfortunately doesn’t do anything new to further this now exhausted genre. Being so far into the console’s life cycle, we have to wonder why Ubisoft decided to create yet another mini-game compilation that really doesn’t do anything new, which is disappointing after the rather well put together Rabbids Go Home that was released earlier this year. If you just can’t resist the Rabbids, this will definitely satisfy you. If you like a good bunch of mini-games, this will also satisfy you. If you’re looking for something new and interesting that utilises the Wii’s hardware in exciting ways, you may be disappointed.

Graphics 7.0

A very colourful and well animated world, coupled with some cute and charming animations bring the Rabbids to life once more.

Gameplay 6.5

The flying games are a very unique use of the Wii Remote, however the other games are incredibly straightforward and very tame for the series. MotionPlus support works well but the games themselves are a bit drab.

Sound 7.0

A great use of quirky and comical music combined with the Rabbids token screeches makes this games audio offerings on par with the rest of the series.

Tilt 7.0

There are quite a few games to play here and some stuff to unlock to, as well as the online functionality. However, a lot of the games are pretty dull.

Value 8.0

I admittedly had a lot of fun with Travel In Time, although I am starting to tire of mini-game compilations