Review: Rabbids- Alive and kicking

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We were sent a copy Rabbids by its publisher Ubisoft for review just after Christmas, when we bought our Xbox 360 and Kinect.

In Rabbids Alive and Kicking:

The Rabbids are back with a plan even more raving than usual: to invade players’ everyday lives! From their ever-so-secret underground base, they are drawing up plans that will allow them to conquer the world of humans. With the help of the Mighty Mad Scientist, the Grand Master Chief Rabbid has discovered how to create a massive Rabbid army. The invasion has only just begun, and the Rabbids are spreading throughout the city faster than you can say Bwaaah! The next step? Creating havoc directly in players’ front rooms.

Rabbids is made up of a number mini games which all work towards stopping the onslaught of the Rabbid invasion. We’ve played this game a LOT and are still finding new features and mini games on it. There are features and games to accommodate upto 4 players at the same time (!) or Party games with upto 16 players (!)

As a family playing with the Littlins we most often choose the Quick play option and choose specific games from the list instead of letting the console choose for us via the Random setting.  As you would imagine some games are more complex than others, yet still over half of the games are great fun for younger kids: Little Miss and Little Man have great fun running on treadmills, headbutting the invaders, ducking from cars being thrown at them by a giant Rabbid or even squirting snot-like substance onto Rabbids attacking from the water.

The games are fast-paced so are a fab cardio workout for all and a huge giggle for both those taking part and those cheering on the side. This game is most suitable for developing reaction times, I find precise actions are not as important. The kids love it for being able to mess about and “go crazy” on a lot of the games. (Just imagine having to shake yourself vigorously to get the attacking Rabbids off you!… no way you can do it with out laughing your head off! )

Although the pegi rating is 7, we’ve not found any offensive material on it that in my view would make it unsuitable for my 3.5 and 5 year olds (and those who know me a bit know I am quite a protective parent). As mentioned, some games are a bit more difficult (like the Rabbids version of Guitar hero) and my Littlins don’t get it… we skip those.

A feature that I like when I just need to distract the kids for a while is My Raving Rabbid- where you interact with the Rabbid stuck inside your own room (the Kinect works as a camera projecting the room onto your screen as well as sensing your movements). It’s fab fun! You kick it and it goes splat on your TV screen. You can dress your Rabbid, play jokes on him and take photos together. My family just tends to abuse him. My mum, in her enthusiasm, even took a space hopper to him to whack him the other day… almost hitting Little Miss in the process. One of those real PMSL moments!

The only gripe I have with the game: controlling it with hand movements is a pig of a task. Even I get frustrated, let alone guiding a young child through it. Just stick to using the controller and you’ll save yourself a lot of anguish!

If you are after a hilarious game that will give you and your family hours of fun this is definitely one to consider! I find it suitable for young children to use, though they will need an adult to handle the controller and read the instructions.

Rabbids® Alive&Kicking has a RRP of £24.99 (although available a lot cheaper from Amazon)

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Disclosure- Although we were sent a complimentary copy of the software to review, the opinions expressed are totally my own and reflect my honest opinion. Having tried the game I would buy it myself for the fun, crazy factor alone.
I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate programme, so if you do decide to follow the link and make a purchase based on the review I will earn a small percentage, which contributes to the funding of this blog.