Whenever a new Rabbids game comes out, I get excited against my better judgment. I know I should know better by now, because there hasn’t been a decent Rabbids since TV Party. I keep getting excited because, for all bad games, the Rabbids are hilarious to me. Sadly, while Rabbids Land changes the formula up a bit, there’s just not enough of it and what is there isn’t particularly good.
Rabbids Land uses Mario Party as its inspiration. The central part of the game is a four-player board game, complete with dice rolls, a variety of action spaces and minigames. Done correctly, this could be a great way to revitalize the Rabbids series. Rabbids Land does everything wrong, though. First, minigames only happen when you land on a minigame space. Otherwise, it’s just a small board game in which you try to collect trophies. Second, minigames can only be played by two (random) people at a time. The people not involved will just have to sit around and hope they get selected next time. How can you have a four-player game where only two people can play most of it at a time?
Third, the minigames themselves aren’t really that good overall. There’s a rhythm game that’s fun, but for some reason there’s only a few songs for it. The others range from blowing penguins at boats to fastening seatbelts for carnival riders. They aren’t too exciting, which isn’t good when that’s basically your entire game. Finally, there just aren’t very many minigames. Mario Party, along with any other successful minigame collection, succeeds by having a good variety of minigames and a compelling wrapper. Rabbids Land fails in every respect to do that.
Outside of the board game, there’s a couple of different ways you play any unlocked minigames. If there’s a game or two you really liked, this is the best way to play them without the rest of the game interfering. Doing so also lets you unlock bonus Rabbids movies, which is in my opinion the only reason to keep playing them, since the new movies are just as crazy and hilarious as they’ve always been. That’s really a horrible thing to say about a game, but it’s true. As far as production values, the graphics look great in HD and the sounds fit well with the minigames and the Rabbids themselves.
Ubisoft knows how to make a good Rabbids game, but for some reason it decided that simply putting the Rabbids in bad games is good enough. It’s not, and the Rabbids deserve better. A Mario Party-styled Rabbids game has so much potential, but all of it was wasted here. We’re hoping that next time the team gets it right.
Pros: Bonus movies are great; The rhythm minigame is pretty great; BWAAAAAAAA
Cons: Minigames aren’t that fun and two-player only, light on content
