Rabbids: Alive & Kicking

 Review

Common Sense Media says

Cartoonish party game for Kinect is crude but amusing.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

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Kids say

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What parents need to know

Parents need to know that Rabbids: Alive and Kicking is a party game that requires the Kinect sensor. It features plenty of Loony Tunes-style high jinks in which rabbit-like cartoon characters get stomped on, whacked, and blown up with bombs. However, it’s also a good social experience thanks to modes that support up to 16 people playing together in the same room. It promotes physical activity, too, via games that require players to leap about and run in place. It has a crude sense of humor -- expect snot and fart jokes -- but its general atmosphere remains light-hearted and fun throughout.  

  • This game just wants to make players have fun and laugh, though often by way of crude humor (example: One game has players moving their heads around to swing a rabid chewing on a virtual booger hanging from their nose). It also promotes social gaming for groups of players in the same room. Plus, most of the games are highly physical, making play sessions feel like little workouts.  
  • The protagonists in most of the mini-games are the players themselves, who often appear onscreen while playing. The only other characters are the rabbids, a bunch of juvenile cartoon pranksters with anger management issues.
  • Most of the games are generally very simple to learn and require only basic actions. Onscreen illustrations pop up to show players what to do if the game detects they are having trouble. However, we encountered a couple of games that we just couldn’t figure out, where no instructions appeared to help us. Also, while it’s easy to learn how to play most games, scoring well requires practice.  
  • Rabbids -- cartoonish, rabbit-like creatures -- get shocked, smacked in the face by rake handles, blown up, and stomped on by the player’s feet. One game has players trying to dodge the targeting reticule of a rifle moving around on the screen.
  • Not applicable.

What's it about?

Much like the Raving Rabbids games that have appeared on Wii over the last few years, RABBIDS: ALIVE & KICKING for Xbox 360 Kinect provides players with dozens of goofy motion-based mini-games for one or more players. Players can expect to play air guitar, squirt carrot juice into the diving masks of swimming rabbids, play whack-a-mole with rabbids popping out of holes on their living room floors, and make funny poses -- the success of which is determined by the votes of other players. Up to 16 players can compete in three different party modes, with pairs taking turns in front of the screen. An extra augmented reality mode sees players interacting with a rabbid in their living room using virtual items unlocked while playing in other modes.


Is it any good?

 

Rabbids: Alive & Kicking isn’t as good as it could have been. The games are often fun and inventive -- we particularly liked one that involved moving to different areas of our play space and calling out for a blind rabbid to walk towards us, luring him into stepping on tacks, slipping on an oil slack, and walking into a live wire -- but there are a few that are just plain confusing and left us scratching our heads.

A bigger problem is that the mini-games aren’t arranged very well. A trio of fun modes exists for groups of three or more players, making it a great game to pull out at parties. However, single players and groups of two haven’t anything similar. They can play games at random or select them individually. There isn’t any sort of driving story or overarching objective to provide a reason to keep playing. That keeps Rabbids: Alive & Kicking from providing as much value as its predecessors.


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What families can talk about

  • Families can talk about keeping active while playing games. Were you physically tired after playing this game? Which games gave you the best workout?

  • Families can also discuss social gaming. Do you like playing games in groups? If so, do you prefer competitive or cooperative experiences? If you don’t like playing with other people, why is that?


This review was written by Chad Sapieha

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This review was written by Chad Sapieha
Platforms:Xbox 360
Available online?Not available online
Genre:Party
Developer:UbiSoft
Release date:November 8, 2011
Price:$49.99
ESRB rating:E10+ for Cartoon Violence, Crude Humor

This review was written by Chad Sapieha

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About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.

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