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Rayman Raving Rabbids
Rayman Raving Rabbids (French: Rayman contre les lapins crétins) is a 2006 party video game developed by Ubisoft Montpellier and published by Ubisoft for the Wii. It was also released for the PlayStation 2 and Windows in 2006 as well as the Xbox 360 in 2007 and Mac OS X in 2008. It is a spin-off for the Rayman series and the debut title for the Rabbids franchise. The game received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its frantic gameplay, humor and implementation of the Wii's features, with the other versions being less well received. GameplayRayman Raving Rabbids is a party video game in which the player controls Rayman as he unwillingly takes part in different styles of minigames located in abstract scenarios. PlotWhile Rayman is having a picnic with some of Globox's children, it is interrupted by an earthquake and the Globox's children sink into the ground, only for Rabbids to emerge. The Rabbids' commander Sergueï kidnaps Rayman and throws him in an arena with Rabbids. To survive, Rayman begrudginly partakes in their trials. After a while, Sergueï takes him to his cell and gives him a plunger. Despite initially being hostile towards Rayman, they became bored and start to root for him instead, and eventually he becomes popular among the Rabbids as they cheer him. In addition, they also make his jail cell more hospitable. Eventually, Rayman amasses a collection of plungers as rewards for completing the trials. By building a ladder of his plungers to reach the window and chasing away a bird who attempted to defecate on him, Rayman manages to escape and free himself. Once liberated, he returns to the picnic site to find sheep eating the leftovers of the picnic, only to realize he forgot Globox's children and attempts to return through one of the Rabbid holes to rescue them, only to be stuck. In a post-credits scene, Rayman is still stuck in the hole through the night while the sheep lick his face. DevelopmentIn 2005, Phoenix Interactive Entertainment, a studio who also developed King Kong for the PlayStation Portable initially began development of Rayman 4. The game was intended to capture elements from the 1995 video game Rayman and the characters are self-aware that they exist inside a video game and being controlled by players from the outside world. The game used Pixar as the main source of inspiration for the plot. During development of the game, Nintendo unveiled their new Wii console, which members of Ubisoft worried the seventh generation consoles could give negative effects to the performance of the game, and made the decision to restart development.[4][5] In October 2017, series' creator Michel Ancel posted on Instagram that he wants the game to happen.[6] ReceptionReception
Rayman Raving Rabbids received mixed reviews from critics. IGN writer Matt Casamassina complimented the game's impressive sense of humor and a heavy emphasis on fun, as well as the design of the Rabbids and the game in general. Reviewers in general found these versions to play at an inferior level to the Wii version due to the game's controls having been optimized with the Wii in mind.[12][13] GameSpot also echoed these thoughts, praising the game's creativity, implementation of the Wii's features as well as the game's soundtrack, though they admitted that the Xbox 360 version was inferior due to its controls.[14][15] References
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