Hopping mad!

Party games are not exactly rare on Wii, but - let's be honest - not many of them require you to propel a rabbit through space via the power of flatulence. No, Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party could be alone here. And if fart-assisted cosmic exploration sounds amusing to you, boy, are you going to have a ball with this game.

The idea is simple. Rayman's enemies, the naughty Rabbids, have somehow been zapped into his TV and are taking over all the channels, creating their own chaotic programmes in a bid to rule the airwaves. This paper-thin concept is just an excuse for Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party to provide over 40 boisterous and bizarre mini-games all parodying your favourite TV shows, movies and even adverts. Up to four pals can play against each other simultaneously, or you can go for the hilarious eight-player mode, where everyone takes it in turns to make a fool out of themselves in front of the television and a room of laughing, pointing friends.

Commercial fake

Variety and turbo-charged pace are the key to the game's appeal. Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party chucks around pop culture references with crazed abandon, from The X Factor-style karaoke chaos of Top Of The Flops, to mad Jackass stunts and a crazy zombie movie pastiche. Sometimes you'll be shooting stuff, other times drawing with the Wii controller, or cooking, or wrestling, or dancing like a buffoon.

TV Party advert mini-games are great fun too. A dig at those annoying iPod ads featuring the oh-so-trendy silhouetted dancers is particularly enjoyable Ð in Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party you get to whack them on the head using your Wii remote! The deodorant commercial is fun too, offering plenty of inadvisably manic can-shaking and spraying.

Board silly

Best of all, Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party offers plenty of support for the Wii Fit Balance Board. Flip to the Extreme Channel, for example, and you can try your luck at Beestie Boarding, effectively plummeting down a snowy mountain on an upturned wildebeest. How do you control it? Well, you sit on the board and wriggle around like a hyperactive five-year-old at a wedding service. When you grab big air, you'll also need the Wii remote and nunchuck to pull off some of the most ridiculous stunt moves ever committed to a game disc. Oh, and the Balance Board games can also be played with the normal Wii controls if you've yet to succumb to the Wii Fit lifestyle.

Elsewhere, Balance Board fanatics will get to enjoy motorbike riding along a US freeway and the aforementioned outer space stunt racing. Here, you control a rabid version of Evel Knievel, employing a combination of careful balancing and the odd quick posture change to emit a power-surging trump. Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party isnÕt the most cultured of experiences, but in a room full of similarly juvenile friends this stuff is comedy gold, believe us.

Hare today...

But will the laughter last? That's the difficult part. While Rayman Raving Rabbits TV Party houses a wide selection of mini-game challenges, they do become repetitive after a while, especially as most of them are different riffs on similar gameplay themes. There are also a few control issues - the combine harvester racing, for example, should be hilarious, but it's hampered by the fact that your tractors are less responsive than an ocean liner in a sea full of treacle. But the duds are few and far between, and there are certainly many more side-splitting highs than in the previous Raving Rabbids titles on Wii.

To be fair, party game collections like Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party aren't designed for intense, daily gaming sessions. Sure, the laughter will dry up if you're playing this every day for a week, but as an occasional treat, slung on the TV when you have enough willing contestants in your living room, it's a real winner.

GAME's Verdict

• Over 40 games, and most of them winners.
• Inspired use of the Balance Board.
• Perfect for Christmas parties.

• Can get repetitive.
• Controls aren't always responsive enough.
• You'll need to check in your refined comedy taste at the opening menu.

Review by: Keith 'Raving' Stuart
Version Tested: Wii
Review Published: 14.11.08