The Rub Rabbits! – Review

The Rub Rabbits is the follow-up to the popular and quirky DS title ‘Project Rub’ (or ‘Feel the Magic’ if you’re not in the UK), which was released in late 2004. This newest incarnation features much the same premise: a lot of manic and odd mini-games to help you get the girl—you can hear me groaning already, can’t you?

When you first turn on the game you’ll know you’re in for something a little different. You’ll be asked to sign your name on the touchscreen in a given area, and then whether you’re left or right handed. After that comes a comedic warning screen, which states “continuous stroking, blowing, and poking could lead to unwanted attention in public places”. Yes, I’d imagine it would. The menu system is simple enough to navigate and features bubbles containing your various gameplay choices, including Story, Options and Baby Making…wait…Baby Making? Ah, okay, to make a baby, two people need to play together—now this is starting to make sense. Making babies is a game of teamwork where two players work together on a single DS. This sort of tongue-in-cheek approach fits the game perfectly. There are also loads of other gaming choices, but they’re all fairly generic, so I won’t waste time explaining them in any detail since Story mode is where you’ll likely spend most of your time.

Gameplay in The Rub Rabbits can be fun, but also a little frustrating. Some of the games are geared in such a way so that they’re not exactly difficult, but definitely frustrating, which is a shame. Given the consumer choice of The Rub Rabbits or its predecessor, Project Rub, I’d go for the old one; it’s cheaper and, in the later stages, far less annoying. That’s not to say that The Rub Rabbits is all bad, however, and there are some very nice touches here and there; there’s certainly a lot more in this incarnation than the previous one, so it’s really dependent on whether you want bursts of short, simple, pick-up-and-play gaming or a more fleshed out and frustrating version of the same thing. The game makes use of everything the DS has to offer, including the touchscreen and mic, and also the act of turning the DS in various directions to complete goals.

Most of the mini-games are completely insane and seem to have been crafted by some strange creative eccentrics. The sound in the game is, as unusual, as you would imagine it to be given the last title. For those who haven’t had the aural pleasure, it’s all very odd and the music and sound effects definitely match the overall weirdness of the graphical style and gameplay. Deaf gamers will have a few problems with some of the games, but the majority of the title’s content is playable with the sound down, although this does mean missing the atmospheric insanity.

“Man what a fox, I’ve got to get her to notice me!” That’s what the start of Story mode states as a bunch of guys on an escalator get all woozy and faint as a bikini-clad girl goes by in the other direction. It’s all a little lame really and this sort of ridiculous storyline does nothing to help the position of the female gamer within the market (or the image of women in general, other than as attainable possessions—Ed). There’s no chance to play as a girl trying to woo a guy, or a girl wooing another girl, or in fact anyone or anything other than the standard-issue guys. All the included games are aimed at the staple ‘male hero wooing the girl’, which has really become so boring I can almost feel a yawn coming on. It has to be said that if the majority of men on the planet went to the trouble this silhouetted hero does to get and keep a girl, the divorce rate wouldn’t be hovering at 50%.

If you’re looking for something completely removed from the original title, you’re in for a huge disappointment here. The Rub Rabbits is essentially the same game, even though it’s been highly fleshed out. It still works along the same theme and the gameplay hasn’t been varied overly. The multiplayer touches are a lot of fun—with the right person—and it’s all perhaps far weirder that the original Project Rub. As I mentioned, it’s not all easy going in terms of gameplay, and events may lead some to frustration in the game’s later levels, which is a shame. However, there’s never going to be any middle ground here as some gamers like non-frustrating fun whilst others prefer things to be extremely difficult.

There is plenty of fun to be had, though, and you will no doubt play The Rub Rabbits for a long time, or at least until you realize you’re having more fun with Animal Crossing or Tamagotchi Corner Shop. At that point, you’re likely to put The Rub Rabbits away and rarely pick it up afterward. Ultimately, it is a good game, but it’s just not great. You can’t please everyone and perhaps that’s what Sonic Team have tried to do, I’m still unsure as to whether they’ve succeeded.

Review by Tracy

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