Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party review

TV Party is Rabbids do the Balance Board. About two thirds of the minigames require one, from surfing through space on an iron board to dodging potholes on a haywire Harley Davidson. The games can be played with remote tilting, but where’s the fun in trying to urinate on plants if you’re not leaning to direct your virtual wee-maker?

If you haven’t worked it out yet, TV Party is very silly. This makes it the perfect match for the Balance Board: no other peripheral makes you look like such an arse. Crouching to make your surfing Rabbid erupt with a bottom burp may be a bit crude, but it isn’t half funny to see grandma doing it. Unless she actually drops one. In which case it’s gross. And just as Ubisoft find a perfect tool in the board, they properly find their game design feet with the most dud-free Rabbids yet. There’s a racing game programmed by the devil himself, but that and a reasonable amount of game recycling aside (both the Rock Band spoof and new dancing game are used eight times apiece) TV Party is a decent effort.

A few tweaks disappoint. Microgames now interrupt the minigames as ad breaks, but the simple flick and flail tasks lack the WarioWare magic. Likewise, a new online mode sees you dressing up a Rabbid to be judged by the online community, but again, it seems a little limited compared to the Mii Contest channel. TV Party is the best minigame compilation on Wii, but it isn’t for those who like their games in more than 20 second chunks. If, however, you enjoy a good fart joke and are not averse to the Rabbids, TV Party is worth tuning in for.

Nov 18, 2008