Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party First Impressions

Those wascally wabbids are back again in another mischief-filled outing on the Nintendo Wii. However, this time around, the newly launched Wii Balance Board will be aiding and abetting their evil plans to hijack TV schedules.

Wasically Wabbids!

Check out coverage of the gameplay from Jean Claude Silly.

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We got a chance to meet the development team at Ubisoft's Paris studio and see for ourselves how much fun can be had with the balance board and your buttocks (more on that later). Whereas Wii Fit is designed to use the balance board for fitness purposes, TV Party plans to use it purely to assist in the Rabbids' crazy games, although there could be potential to improve some gluteal muscle tone along the way. The game's story mode takes place over the length of one week's TV schedule, and during the course of events you'll disrupt movies, music, fashion, dance, and sports segments, and even the ads themselves...much to Rayman's chagrin. From what we've been told, Rayman himself will play more of a cameo part in TV Party than in previous games in the series.

Although the developers are planning to include over 50 mini (and not so mini) games--as well as bite-sized Warioware-esque games in the form of playable TV ads--in the final version, we were privy to only two games. Beestie Boarding involves (unsurprisingly, if you've played a Rabbids game before) skiing an upturned wildebeest down a slalom course while sitting your posterior down on the balance board. While on your way down to the, erm, bottom, you'll score points by guiding your beast through checkpoints and, on harder difficulties, by picking up bonus points scattered along the way and by performing midair freestyle tricks off of ramps. The moves seem inspired by real-world snowboarding moves, as well as the crazy world inhabited by the game's protagonists, and even reminded us of the loony environs of Nickelodeon's Ren & Stimpy. Trick names and the ensuing moves are ludicrous and include the "rodeo heel edge," "backside cheesy pogo," "safari two-step," "nosegrind," "da Vinci air," "inverted hairy beast," "halfcow trickflip," and "fakie backwards brown nose."

Who, given the opportunity, wouldn't ride a bare-stomached gnu on its back down a ski slope?

The developers told us that at least 35 percent of the games in TV Party will include support for the balance board. Before attempting a downhill run in Beestie Boarding, you'll calibrate the board by sitting on it and lining up a reticle with the middle of the screen using pressure applied by your cheeks. During the run, you'll steer left or right by leaning in either direction on the board, and also speed up or slow down by leaning backward or forward, respectively. It looks quite forgiving in easy mode, and players can use the grips on either side of the board for support, but in higher difficulties, their hands will be occupied by the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, which are needed to perform tricks. The good news for those without the new peripheral--or a desire to control a game using their posterior--is that all minigames will be playable using the traditional Wii Remote and Nunchuk system.

Although we didn't see this feature in action, the game's developers told us that sidelined players will also be able to sabotage the current player's game. In Beestie Boarding, players will be able to wreak all manner of havoc by, among other things, hurling snowballs to try to knock the player off of the wildebeest. According to Ubisoft, 60 percent of the games will support multiplayer with up to four players simultaneously; however, only one player will be able to use the balance board at a time.

TV Party supports backside controlled Wii Balance Board action for all the family.

Another game, Dancing With Dweebs, sees the Rabbids take over a competitive dance show, and this game lets four players dance at once. Players compete in the dance-off by performing a series of moves using the remote and Nunchuk while getting their groove on. Four well-experienced volunteers from Ubisoft performed to Kool & the Gang's "Jungle Boogie" and had to sway, point, and flick their arms in various directions while stick figures scrolled across the top section of the screen from right to left to indicate the required moves.

In addition to an updated score throughout the song, each player also has a Rabbid judging them, and a quick glance at the bunny's expressions will tell you how well you're doing. The expressions we saw ranged from sleeping, to bored, mildly interested, and even clapping and dancing to your actions. At the end of your performance you'll be given an overall score, accuracy rating, and maximum combo score, as well as a note about how many perfect, good, poor, wrong, or missed moves you made.

In addition to what we saw, TV Party will support eight-player turn-based multiplayer in party mode. There isn't any online multiplayer planned, but the game will include support for online leaderboards and the ability to Pimp My Rabbid, in which you can dress up your bunny (with it being scored on the zaniness of its outfit), take its photo, and send to a friend. In addition to the Wii version, Ubisoft has announced that it is also working on a Nintendo DS version of the game, but we have nothing to report on that yet.

The game is currently in alpha, but from what we saw it didn't suffer from any bugs common to prerelease builds. Graphically, TV Party looked bright, colourful, and zany--true to the Raving Rabbids series. Some audio was missing from the early build, but what we heard matched the game's style and mood, and the licensed music was an authentic reproduction.

Rayman Raving Rabbids: TV Party--allegedly "the first game in the world you can play with your rear end"--will be coming to the Nintendo Wii for Christmas, as well as in portable, rear-end-less form on the Nintendo DS. As always, stay tuned to GameSpot as more details emerge.