Over the Christmas holiday, I picked up a copy of Rayman Raving Rabids for the Wii, which was primarily intended to placate my family's hunger for Wii multiplayer action. Well, that, and because I was getting incredibly sick of Wii Sports. I was half expecting the game to be unremarkable, but to at least be a fun game that all of us could play together. Turns out, I was correct in the first assumption, and horribly mistaken in the latter.

As the title screen loaded for the first time, my disappointment in the game was nearly instantaneous. This, of course, was due to the fact that there was no multiplayer function from the outset, and to play any of the games with more than one person, you first had to unlock them in the single player storyline. Temporarily stymied, later the next day I sat down with my brother-in-law to attempt to plow through the single player game and unlock as many games as possible. Sadly enough, between the two of us, it only took us the greater part of an afternoon to beat the entire game.

But I'm getting ahead of myself; let's start at the beginning.

What little storyline that exists in the game begins with Rayman and his bulbous-headed frog pals at a picnic, where they are rudely interrupted by the largely unexplained Raving Rabids, who proceed to kidnap the lot of them. As the story goes, the psychotic bunnies throw our hero into a Colosseum, where he has to entertain the Rabid plebs via dozens of mini-games. At the end of each day's mini-games (represented by 3 to 4 events), Rayman is thrown back into his dungeon along with the plunger that he won in the Colosseum. Yes, a plunger. He wins a plunger. Odd, to be sure, but what is even more unusual is what he does with all of the awarded plumber tools. The hero notices an open window high above his cell, and so he slowly creates a plungeladder to escape confinement.

Yes, this is the story, and yes, it is incredibly trite. But you can't expect much from a game focused on short bursts of barely cohesive gameplay (have you ever noticed paid attention to the Mario Party stories? Yeah).

Storyline aside, the game is pretty damned fun. The basic gameplay is structured around "days," which generally involve the same thing: two or three new games, plus a song to play a la Guitar Hero or DDR. The only difference is you move the nunchuk or Wiimote up or down in concordance with the bunnies touching the platforms, kind of like drums. Also, once the main gate opens to allow Rayman to leave the Colosseum, a 5th game takes place that gives him a chance to save one of his little amphibian buddies, and is similar to the arcade shooters of old: the player points the Wiimote at the screen and presses B to fire plungers, while Rabids hop out and attempt to take you down in kind. Though all of the shooters are painfully easy, they are by far my favorite game type in Rayman, as the levels are generally well designed and offer a nice blend of humor, scenery, and fun gameplay.

Also, there are several interspersed distractions to keep the single player game interesting. If Rayman successfully completes all of the mini-games for the day, then Rayman receives new outfits and songs to sample. The songs are all from the Drum Hero (for lack of a better name) mini-games, and all can be accessed from a juke box in Rayman's cell. As for the outfits, some of the combinations can be pretty hilarious, especially when you get to see your strangely clad avatar interact in each event. Also, as another subtle interest, as you progress through the game, the Raving Rabids become less, well, ravenous. Indeed, the crowd grows to love Rayman, and they hold up signs showing their support amidst showering him with rose petals. Also, the large turnkey bunny grows much more respectful, ending the last few days of the game by conducting a red carpet flourish as you exit into the arena. Not bad treatment for kidnappers, eh?

But the real joy from this game comes from the outlandish, absurd humor of the French. For instance, one game involves cow hurling; another involves keeping bunnies locked in the shitter, while another involves speeding down a track as fast as possible to launch a Rabid clad in superman attire through the desert sky. Or how about a game of Simon, where the colors and beeps are instead represented by beaten bunny moans and drowning bunny gargles? Very random, to be sure, but when you add in some decent animation with that outrageous bunny scream, you can't help but chuckle.

Yet, sadly, it's time to bring it back to the real reason I bought this title: The multiplayer potential. After plowing through the entire game in just over four hours, and having finally unlocked all of the mini-games, I sat down with my family to play some of the events as a group. To my dismay, however, the multiplayer system is no different than what I had already been playing for the last four hours: Instead of simultaneous play, each player takes turns playing the same game, one after the other, before finally comparing scores. Now, in all fairness, this system wouldn't be so bad if it were even remotely streamlined. But, of course, it's not, as the players can't pre-skip the tutorials, the loading times are generally horrendous, and some of the mini-games are downright lengthy, all of which lead to a 20 minute session just to get through one damned mini-game. The whole ordeal was an exercise in frustration.

All things considered, this game is short, and is generally not meant for more than an additional buddy. Though certainly fun and highly amusing, mini-games are rarely fun for extended periods if you can't enjoy them with other people. So basically, if you're looking for a good single player game for the Wii, try Zelda, and if you're looking for a multiplayer title, then I'm afraid you will just have to stick with Wii Sports, as Raving Rabids misses a bit on both marks.