2D screenshots of 3D-capable game: Due to technical limitations, the screenshot shown in this review is a 2D image of a game that can display its graphics in 3D. The game is fully playable in either form, but only the 2D method can be shown here.
Back in the 1990s, lots of publishers had a mascot character for platforming games (and other genres). Ubisoft is trying to keep that idea alive with the Rabbids, and their first outing on the 3DS is a side-scrolling platformer in the same vein as Mario, Sonic, Mega Man, and so on. As one of the first games in its genre for this system, Rabbids Travel in Time faces little opposition right now, and manages to establish itself as a passable if uninspired platformer.
Like most games of its kind, Rabbids Travel in Time has you guide your character in a series of 2D stages; the d-pad moves the Rabbid left and right, while the face buttons handle tasks like jumping from ledge to ledge, picking up objects, kicking enemies, and so on in your quest to reach the end of each stage. The controls are very responsive and easy to learn, with plenty of tutorials teaching you what you need to know. Combined with your Rabbid being able to take quite a lot of abuse before dying and there beng plenty of extra lives, most stages are actually quite easy so what few deaths do occur will mostly be the result of occasional ’blind jumps’ into instant-death traps. Beyond this hiccup, it’s a generally straight-forward romp from one end of the level to the other.
Stages start off very simple, and gradually introduce new concepts. Running, jumping, and kicking may be enough for the first few levels, but other platformer staples join them in time. You’ll soon find your Rabbid swimming, swinging around on suspended pendulum-like objects (vines and such), carrying items around to build a ’ladder’ to get past a high wall, and so on. This is all done in a competent fashion, but there it’s also surprisingly basic. Between the low difficulty and lack of any ’wow!’ factor to make the Rabbid stand out as a platformer hero with some kind of neat gimmick, Rabbids Travel in Time is surprisingly basic. It’s solid at what it does, but you’ve seen everything before in other games.
On the other hand, the developers paid a lot of attention to presentation. The game world is very colorful and lively, with upbeat music and sound effects that do give Rabbids Travel in Time a certain ’energy’ that may appeal to kids. Likewise, the various unlockable content such as 3D figurines you can view and new outfits for your Rabbid to wear (ranging from random nonsense to knight’s armor and cowboy’s garb) make a decent reward for completing stages. These rewards, combined with how easy Rabbids Travel in Time is, suggest this is a game centered around positive feedback; it wants the player to know and feel that they’re doing well.
This leaves Rabbids Travel in Time to serve a specific audience. Experienced platformer players will get tired quickly, as the game starts off very easy and doesn’t become much harder even as you get further in. On the other hand, it covers most of the genre’s fundamentals and has great controls so it could serve as a great introduction to platformers for younger players. If your child is old enough to read basic sentences (along the lines of "Press A to Jump") and displays passable reflexes then Rabbids Travel in Time could be a lot of fun for them.
