Joystiq

The first level we played got us accustomed to the game's own distinct kind of strange. The overall goal for the Rabbids is to build a tower of junk to the moon, which they believe is their home. Players control a pair of Rabbids pushing a shopping cart at breakneck speeds through everyday locations -- libraries, supermarkets, office buildings -- gathering up everything in their path and flushing it down a toilet before heading onto the next level.

Anyway, in this level, we had to scoop up all manner of miscellany as we raced a truck carrying a cow to the end of the level. We needed the cow for whatever reason. The level took us through a residential area, past people's homes and racing Jetski-style along a waterway complete with jumps. A timer kicked in once we'd nabbed the cow and we had to hightail it to the finish ... toilet. Running into objects cost us a heart every time we did it, and we were only given three. Some areas of the "run" -- such as sand -- slowed us down, while others moved unpredictably. Thankfully, the shopping cart handled like a dream, and pressing A made it go fast.

Not as fast as it did in the next level, though. No, for this one the cart was affixed to a jet engine we'd separated from a taxiing airplane by making a hammering motion with the Wiimote. Before we knew it, we were hurtling through an airport terminal, sucking up everything -- and everyone -- in our path before some anti-Rabbid forces arrived and set up deadly obstacles. These made the mad race through the baggage chutes a little trickier, but again, the control was dreamy.

What we played was very fun -- it looks and feels like it could be a lot of fun, and it's definitely not your run-of-the-mill platformer. We're just eager to see what variations on the core concept (and locations for the madness to unfold in) get cooked up for the finished game.