At last! A game that can really get your heart rate up without having to supplement it with some creative thinking! Rayman Raving Rabbids is a quirky, amusing game that has you pumping the Wiimote furiously in a huge variety of games, and its a load of fun with friends.
Fitness: 
Rayman scores the highest fitness rating so far (without tweaking the experience like we did with Mario Strikers) with a 3 on the fitness scale out of a total of 5 points. Rayman’s workout series of mini games will get your heart rate pumping after very short bursts of effort, and it’ll make you wake up the next day with sore arms guaranteed! Unfortunately, while we’re pumping our arms furiously, the rest of the upper body misses out. I’m not sure why Rayman’s creators didn’t incorporate some variation in their workout games. Our biceps may well be pumped, but the biceps are very small muscles in the scheme of things.
Wii Sports is lucky enough to incorporate a large range of sporting movements throughout many different games. There’s torso twisting in baseball, backhand and forearm swinging in tennis, and punching movements galore in boxing. Why didn’t Rayman attempt something similar? I don’t know. They should have… I’d gladly add another tick or two if Ray gave us some variety and a similar workout to the arm pumping exercises.
There is a but to the above. That is, if you’re willing to put your heart and soul into pumping those two Wiimotes up and down like it meant you were going to save the world, the rest of your body supports that effort. Anyone who’s familiar with how the body is interlinked will understand this, but simply put: to support such a furious pumping motion, your shoulder muscles are stabilizing your arms, your lattisimus dorsi or back muscles stop your shoulders flinging off your torso, and your abdominals and back muscles do a range of stabilization as you likely bend forward and place a foot outstretched to balance yourself.
With the above in mind, make a 2 player or greater game, choose any of the arm pumping mini games and get 10 minutes of what closely mimicks High Intensity Interval Training! Repeat these games at high speed and bring a towel for your sweat.
While not all of Rayman’s games involve pumping the Wiimote’s furiously, if you want to play the normal story line of this game you’ll feel satisfied after a few hours of playing that you’ve got a decent workout. Only the mini games amongst the workout section are any good for working out, leaving the other sections to shooter and puzzle games, which, while extremely entertaining, don’t do anything for your heart rate.
Fun:
Rayman Raving Rabbids is a good wholesome fun game… if you count shooting bunnies in the face with plungers and smashing them over the head with hammers wholesome. And I guess I do! This game really does ooze class; it has a vivid graphical feel and personality, great sound, and a massive amount of mini games which are almost all entertaining. My favorites are the music games where you use the remotes like mini drumsticks- like a mini DDR for your arms, the cow flinging, and skipping (which is hilarious when the Rabbids try and get in your way).
The game goes up another level, I guess like most games on the Wii do, when you have friends around to play with; everyone is having fun and laughing themselves silly in no time. I’m happy to give Rayman Raving Rabbids five ticks when your mates are around.
Motivation:
While I find Rayman great in small doses, unless I have friends over I don’t find myself wanting to play it so much. I think this is because the mini games are meant for a bit of a giggle and some mindless short lived fun, so I miss out on what I personally like, which is the depth games like Mario Strikers have. You can get a lot better at Mario after playing for a week, but with Rayman you just keep accruing points to upgrade your appearance or unlock stuff. Unlocks have never interested me at all, and the volume of play time you have to go through to get to them is just too much for me. Four ticks if you’re into unlocks, high scores and playing it frequently with friends. Three if you’re doing it solo and don’t like working towards unlocks and codes.
Rayman could have been the best, what with its heart racing arm pumping workout games. It’s certainly the best game as is for working out in our Wii Workout Week, but it could have been so, so much better with a few Wii Sports style movements.
But I guess the game wasn’t developed for that! Rats. I mean… Rabbids!
Support my raving and I guess rabbid site and buy Rayman Raving Rabbids
I find a good idea when playing the music games is to get your whole body into rythm by hopping in time to the music. It makes the game itself easier and defiantely would give a better workout, seeing as these games are some of the longer lasting ones.
I found myself doing it unconsciously, and couldn’t tell why I was breathing so fiercly afterwards!
Cool, thanks Rhys!