Rabbids Travel in Time (Nintendo 3DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

The Rabbids began life as a 'bit players' to the leading Rayman many years ago and it was clear, even then, that they were destined for bigger and better things. Since their debut they've featured in a variety of their own games, helped Renault advertise the Scenic, won a BAFTA and it's surely only a matter of time before they strike their first movie deal. For this launch title Ubi Soft have placed these manic creatures in an arcade platformer across time and to make matters a little more interesting they've given them their very own time machine. It may look like a washing machine, to the rest of us, but trust us these Rabbids are going places.

Gameplay

Rabbids 3D is a single player experience. There's no need to co-operate with other Rabbids and you don't even have to solve a collection of mind-bending puzzles. No, this is all about running, jumping and collecting with a little bit of history thrown in for good measure. Your quest is split into four different time zones with things kicking-off in a Prehistoric World but you'll also have to visit Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, finishing off in The Middle Ages. Whilst in these areas you'll have to contend with 'chase', 'push' and standard levels, in addition to much simpler challenges where you'll have to collect as many coins as possible against a timer. As you'd expect, all of this does become more difficult, as you progress, but there's more than enough checkpoints to stop the whole thing from becoming tedious.

Not everything is open to begin with and access to later levels is only available once you have amassed enough points. You can increase your score up by collecting coins, rubber ducks and even defeating rival Rabbids although we did discover that simply by-passing these henchmen doesn't really hurt you score a great deal. Collecting coins also opens up a whole host of un-lockables and like Pilotwings Resort each section features it's own set of 3D Dioramas, which are actually very pleasing to the eye. There's also a pictures gallery which slowly becomes viewable should you decide to you replay each level against a timer. This all about speed and the faster you go, the better your award with Gold Rabbit Statues giving you speedier access to these works of art.

The highlight, in the unlockable's department, are the various costumes, which allow you to customise your Rabbids in a number of different ways. If you've played any of the Rabbids games before, you'll be wall aware at just how entertaining they are but putting one in a suit (whilst running and jumping through the jungle) is a different thing altogether.

Controls

The control system can actually be a bit tricky at first especially if you've played a fair few platformers before. This is because everything appears to have been switched around and while you'd almost always expect a 'jump' feature to be allocated to the 'B' button, here, it's 'A'. This will cause you to make a great deal of mistakes initially but the most frustrating feature is the 'double jump'. We're not talking the helpful 'get you higher to get to out of reach platforms' here but rather a jumping twice on a special type of box. This requires perfect timing and even once we'd completed the game, we still weren't completely sure of just how we'd managed to pull this impossible maneuver off. Outside of this it's all pretty straight forward but if you can work out how to do this, with relative ease, please write in a let us know how.

Graphics

Visually the game is very pleasing indeed and the first thing you'll notice is just how much time the developers have put into the initial FMV sequences with are expertly crafted and incredibly entertaining. This could be a movie in it's own right and, as we mentioned before, it's only a matter of time before the Rabbids get their own movie/TV series. The actual in-game visuals are also wonderfully designed and very colorful which will no doubt delight the target audience. This all continues though the animation which is fluid and 'dare we say it' Rabbid like.

Sound

There is some nice 'themed' music which accompanies the four different areas and the Rabbids make their usual surprised/frustrated/confused mumblings to keep the gamer on their toes.

Special features

We'd urge you to keep the 3D on for the initial animated intro and the use of slapstick and 'unstable' UbiSoft logo really does make for a great start to the game. Elsewhere the game features a very subtle, muti-planed, 3D effect, which does add an obvious extra dimension to the proceeding but, to be fair, this is no more pleasing than the same visual effect used in the recent DSiWare outing for WayForwards Shantae.

Final comments

Rabbids 3D is perfect as an entry level platformer and, what's more, you do get a fair bit of gameplay for your buck. There are over 60 levels, spanning four different worlds and, at least a nod to, re-playability with unlockable art and figures (or dioramas as they are referred to in Pilotwings Resort). The only real downside here is that the actual level design which does nothing new for the genre with the whole thing sticking to a tried and tested template. It's still all very enjoyable, it's just it could have been so much more.

Pro: Great, Entertaining Intro, Unlockable Costumes, Simple Accessible Platforming.
Con: Nothing Really Original, Can Be Repetitive.
Final score: 7.1

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