Reviews// Rabbids 3D

Rabbids and I have never really got on and you know something? It's not me, it's them. Ignoring the fact that they have been associated with many a sub-par game, I've never liked them as characters. They're not funny, not cute and that scream of theirs makes me want to punch their ears off. To me, Rabbids are the gaming equivalent of Crazy Frog.

So I hope my editor forgives me when I tell you that it took me a while to put this cart into my 3DS. A quick scan over the back of the box was almost enough for me to chuck it out of the window. It looked like I was faced with playing an average side-scrolling platform game. However, I remembered the age-old game reviewers saying: “never judge a game by the back of it's box. Yes, even if Rabbids are involved” and sighed as it loaded up. It hasn't been out of my 3DS since.

Rabbids 3D is -as the back of the box suggested - a 3D-rendered platform game running on a 2D plane, but what's surprising is that it's a very competent one.

Your mission is to guide the annoying critters through four time period based worlds. The settings aren't really important or even noticeable. Stages all look pretty generic and the surroundings don't differ from time period to time period, bar the odd re-skin of previously used objects.

This is Rabbids 3D's biggest downfall. The game looks dated. Characters look pixelated, animations look rushed and even unfinished at times and some of the 3D effects simply don't work. When you lose a life your Rabbid will fly towards the screen, smashing it on impact. However, the 3D effect doesn't really work and what could have been a neat touch ends up looking weird and out of place.

Backdrops are nowhere near as busy as the could have been, with the odd flying object popping in out of the screen depth being the only thing that will attract your attention to what's going on behind the platforming.

There is the odd exception, with the most enjoyable being a chase through a prehistoric setting while a T-Rex snaps at your heels. But as quickly as it mixes things up a little, it slaps you back down into the tedium of time travel. Time travel shouldn't be tedious of course, but when everything looks like the sort of stereotypical view of each selected time period, even the most curious of time travellers would tell Doc Brown where to stick his Flux Capacitor.

However, behind this ugly surface is a fantastic side-scroller screaming to come out. It shows tiny little glimpses of hope that help you to get over terrible art style and before you know it you'll be neck-deep in a surprisingly addictive and genuinely entertaining game.