Ubisoft’s rabbits also land on Apple Arcade with another game with strategic ambitions, demonstrating how, in their madness, the Rabbids seem particularly inclined towards tactics.
Despite their inherent craziness, it seems that Ubisoft’s Rabbids are particularly at ease with strategy games, as we saw with the success of the unexpected formula in Mario + Rabbids and as we can also see in this Rabbids Multiverse review. A game that may seem like a sort of scrolling beat ’em up but is, in reality, a strategic deck builder centered on the wild rabbits of the French company. Almost 20 years after their debut, the Rabbids are now celebrities in the video game world, definitively freed from the shadow of Rayman and, paradoxically, still riding high despite the persistent distance of their original series from the scene, although often used for small-scale productions.
This is the case of Rabbids Multiverse, a mobile game that takes on an undoubted importance for its introduction at launch in the catalogue of Apple Arcadewhich gives some visibility to a title that isn’t exactly perfect.
The premise is obviously nonsensical: some sort of mad scientist has invented both a camera capable of cloning characters and a sort of “time washer”, and has thought it a good idea to use both to launch a poor innocent rabbid around five space-time dimensions to fight mysterious invasions of rather aggressive rabbits, exploiting the camera’s powers to build an army of faithful fighters. In this way, a dock builder-style strategy structure is justified in which we can find new cards/photos corresponding to various characters to deploy in battle.
Cards and constant battles
Regardless of the different settings we find ourselves exploring, crossing the various worlds to unlock, the gameplay it always remains rigidly tied to the same sliding mechanics.
A screenshot from Rabbids Multiverse multiplayer
The protagonist takes part in progressive “quests” in which he must essentially advance from the left side of the screen until he encounters the bosses of the section, facing various enemies that come from the right side. The young Rabbid at the center of the story is not a fighter and cannot defend himself directly from attacks, so the goal is to try to eliminate the enemies before they get too close and can attack him, and this is where the cards come into play. Each of these represents units with different characteristics, ranging from the classic tank for frontal attack to those specialized in distance such as archers and mages, in the typical style of tactical RPGs.
Based on their skills and characteristics, we must arrange the units on the battlefield in such a way as to make the most of their attack capabilities and cover any defensive gaps. In essence, it is a matter of placing the physically strongest fighters in front of the weaker ones, and this is practically the only strategic action required in the game, after an initial selection of the cards to insert into the deck. Each quest offers us various 5-card hands chosen from the starting deck and, although there is a good amount of different classes to further customize, the main variations tend to flatten out between short or long range attackers, in an automatic system that does not favor involvement. Another problem concerns the pace of the game, which always seems excessively slow, so much so that it makes you wish for an option to speed up the battles that, however, has not been included. The outline of multiplayer, which puts us against a human opponent, is nothing but a basic repetition of the standard game, which is even less stimulating.
An army of cards
The most strategic element is probably provided by the card management more than their actual use in battle, considering that in the end there are few rules to follow.
The Western World of Rabbids Multiverse
During combat, you have to measure the use of energy because the cards require different quantities to be deployed on the field, but apart from this and the attention to positioning there are not many other elements to keep under control, since the attacks happen automatically, leaving the player the possibility of triggering some special abilities once the appropriate bar is loaded. Something more profound is instead required in the selection and management of the deck’s cards, with combats that can be enhanced by investing various resources to be collected during the quests, also opening the door to a bit of grinding necessary to be able to arrive prepared at the more advanced levels. Even in this case it is a coarse-grained strategy, which essentially focuses on a linear evolution of the scores, but still leads to making choices on the units to invest in in order to build a deck as strong and balanced as possible.
Strange worlds
From an aesthetic point of view, Rabbids Multiverse fully takes up the classic style of the Ubisoft series, both in terms of the representation of the characters and the settings. The game takes us to explore five different worlds with totally different settings, ranging from the classic fairy-tale fantasy to the world of pirates, from the western setting to the city of the future, for example.
The arrival on Apple Arcade guarantees the “premium” formula
The technical realization it is good and functional to the game mechanics, with the levels that essentially scroll in the background without being able to be actively explored and a particular attention paid above all to the characters, on which the attention is concentrated for most of the time. On this front, it is worth noting the possibility of customizing the appearance of each fighter through weapons, armor and accessories all rigorously crazy, which manages to give a touch of originality to the whole thing. The fact that the game is distributed within Apple Arcade also avoids the possible drifts on micro-transactions that, given the setting, would probably have taken over with a free-to-play setting.
Conclusions
Tested version iPad
1.2.0
Digital Delivery
App Store
The idea behind Rabbids Multiverse is interesting and the charisma of Ubisoft’s neurotic rabbits has remained unchanged, managing to give a certain identity to the game, but the gameplay is a bit uncertain and extremely monotonous. The action is totally automated and rather slow, which negatively affects the general rhythm and increases the feeling of monotony that comes after a few hours, also because the strategic elements are reduced to the bare minimum. The classes are essentially reduced to short-range or distance fighters, leading to obvious choices on positioning on the field, in fact the only action required of the player during the quests. Something deeper can be found in the management and evolution of the deck, as well as in the customization of the rabbits, but it is a bit too little to make Rabbids Multiverse stand out in a field that already has several other valid exponents.
PRO
- Nice and original characterization
- Deck management and customization with some interesting elements
AGAINST
- Definitely repetitive
- Lack of strategic depth
- Pace too slow