Your standard story about dating, if you count crazy acts of random stunts romantic.
'The Rub Rabbits!' opens up with a typical romance-comedy motive: Guy sees girl, falls in love, and tries to win girls heart. What's the first thing that makes this game completely crazy? It's not just that one guy that becomes infatuated. It's 11 other guys as well! The game's storyline is far from obvious though, unless you're familiar with how the first game plays out. To newcomers, you'll fall victim to raising your eye brow when you get introduced to the minigames. Running up the down escalator with Sumo Wrestlers and gentlemen on it, having to ride a unicycle over a building to get your picture taken with your girlfriend, to even facing those other men to a DragonBall Z style showdown by playing a simple game for Rock-Paper-Scissors? Yeah, this is really part of your normal romantic story. Though this won't be a surprise to anyone that has played the original title, seeing how it was just as random.
The one thing that makes the minigames more unique in this game from the other is that it takes innovative use of the DS's features to a whole new level. Most of the games now require the use of both the touch screen and top screen by having the action set on both screens. Some of the minigames now require you to make use of both the touchscreen and microphone. Though one of the things that takes this to a whole new level is the fact that some of the minigames require you to hold the DS in different positions. How so? Some minigames require you to to hold the DS sideways. For 2006 this was big, seeing how not many(if any at the time) games had required the players to hold the DS sideways. Though they take it even further by having Minigames where you must hold the DS completely upside down! This was completely abnormal then, and it still is nowadays.
The issue with some of these minigames is that you must play through each of the 30-something minigames in order to progress. That means completing the minigame you are currently playing to progress to the next, no matter how difficult(or easy) the task is. The main issue is that while alot of the minigames do not require much effort to pass, some of the later minigames, such as Bull, are ridiculously difficult to not only newcomers, but also veteran players of the first. Some of the minigames just feel repetitive while others might seem too easy. In the latter stages, some of the minigames are just exact replications of previous minigames, with the only different of being slightly harder.
And we're half way through with the review. Hang tight and take a breather if you need to.
The music in this game is very nostalgic in style, seeing how alot of it is chorus involved. Though the constent sound of men humming(or something) to the music can sound very annoying since they do it at an ever constent rate to the music, the music is still rather catchy. Maybe you might might yourself trying to hum with it. Though the style is nothing new from the first title. Heck, players of the first will immediately recognize some of the tunes of the game, with the memory of those certain tunes being very much, or completely like in the first. The main one you'll hear quite often will probably be the first game's theme song, which is probably the catchiest tune in the game. Though expect to hear the same 8 tunes for the minigames(exception to the last 2) to be frequently used.
The graphics in the first were stunning, regardless of the black silhouettes that represented the characters. Returning from the first is the dress up your girl portion of the game, Maniac Mode, this time with more accessories and costumes. The dress up option is really questionable whether or not they wanted you to dress your character or wanted to display the shiny new graphics they have in store for you to see. Outfits will have different texture properties now, seeing how plain cloths with be plain in color as plain clothes to the subtle shine on rubber outfits such as the ninja outfit. For something so little in detail, it does bring a lot of distinction to the graphics.
Players of the first remember the great mixture is art style in the first title with the frequent change between 2D and 3D with each minigame. No longer does 2D exist in 'The Rub Rabbits!' other than in the comic style cutscenes, but sometimes it may be for the better. The detail in the 3D is amazing in this title. Whether you're rolling in a giant pile of snow as if you were one of the Monkey Ball characters or rolling around the floor while tied up, avoiding these strange cannonball hearts, everything is well detailed in 3D.
Memories anyone? Any veteran player of Feel the Magic would know what I'm talking about when I say that. Memories is back again, though in possibly one of the worst ways possible. Memories mode requires you to play through the 10 stages of a minigame(stages building up from normal to hard) with only 1 chance to do them all correctly. Failing anytime throughout the 10 stages will cause you to start over from the beginning. Players will probably crack under frustration on trying to do this tedious task, regardless that this isn't required at all, unless one wishes to unlock extra outfits to dress up their girl in Maniac mode. Though what makes this far more frustrating is that all minigames that only had one stage to complete are now beyond tedious, forcing players to complete the minigame 3 times, each time for representing the level of the latter difficulty.(Normal to Hard to Hell) Though the issue is that since the last two are similar for the most part, they will feel to be the same task most of the time, seeing how Hell mode forced players to do the difficult stage with only one life.
There are many features to this game, such as the new wireless capabilities to the compatibility test, in which you and another person enter your information and attempt to do a minigame together to try and create a baby by poorly(odds are you will) attempting to slice a cake. Multiplayer modes are fun, but weren't very expanded upon, seeing how there are only a handful of minigames to play with another player. With so much to offer, this game could have been excellent if it weren't for one thing: Originality. 'Feel the Magic' was a very fun minigame oriented game that took advantage of the DS's functions. 'The Rub Rabbits!' feels like the same exact thing, only with plenty of improvements. If anyone has played the first title, then they already know what to expect from this one. If you don't mind taking the similar adventure a second time, then you'll find yourself a bit intrigued by the latter storyline, regardless that you possibly saw it coming.
All in all, this game takes advantage of the DS once more, though without the originality that 'Feel the Magic' shined with. But even still, it is a very fun title to play, so I'd advise anyone to pick this game up. Thank you for taking the time to read my Great Wall of text review, which I am sorry for typing so much...
~SomeOddGuy