Who would have thought that smacking and bonking rabbit-like creatures would be soo much fun!
In Story Mode, Rayman, the main character, is captured by these bunny-like creatures called Rabbids. He is thrown in the middle of a coliseum, where before him are 5 doorways with the middle doorway locked. The objective is to complete the "trials" in the open doorways and unlock the locked, middle doorway in order to receive a plunger and finish day 1. You only have to complete 3 of the 4 open trails in order to unlock the middle gate, but completing all 4 will unlock either a costume or song. Once you've received a plunger, you are hauled away to your holding cell until you are ready to head back out to the coliseum. While you are in your cell, you can change into different costumes you've unlocked, play music you've unlocked, review your day of trials, or see how close you are to escaping (once you have collected your fourth plunger).
In Score Mode, you can try to break your high score in a mini-game or you can play along with 3 friends (4 players total). If you have not played and won the mini-game in Story Mode, you will not be able to play it in Score Mode, so tackling Story Mode first would be the best thing to do.
The mini-games in Rayman Raving Rabbids are fun and will keep you laughing. There were a few times that I couldn't beat the mini-game because I was laughing too much. The mini-games range from drawing food for a hungry rabbid to slapping the insubordinates in a choir. There were plenty of original mini-games. However, towards the end of the game, there were some repeats of the same mini-games with added features/obstacles. There are a lot of mini-games to complete before you beat the game. This got tiresome after continuous play and I had to take a break every once in a while. Having to take a break from a game because it becomes tedious... This shouldn't happen.
The controls are very well laid out. They are responsive and never leave you complaining that you responded fast enough. The only mini-game where the controls just didn't seem accurate enough was skydiving through rings with Rayman. Other than that one mini-game, the controls were nice.
The graphics are definitely not the selling point to this game. They are comparable to Mario Party 8 in that there really isn't much to say about them. Though the graphics aren't amazing, they are good enough to show necessary details. The frame rate never gets choppy and the low graphics help in this department.
Overall, the Story Mode gives you a pretty basic story line. You're captured, and have to complete trials to win plungers that will aid you in your escape efforts. Simple enough, right? This game would definitely be a good purchase for those that like multiplayer mayhem!