The Rub Rabbits!

"What a new addition to the series should be"

The Rub Rabbits, which is the successor to Sega's first game, Feel the Magic: XX/XY, offers new mini games and more to do. And personally, I feel it is a HUGE improvement over the original in almost every way.

STORY
Almost the same as Feel the Magic, it features a new hero, who falls in love with a girl and wants to impress her. However, several others get the same idea, and now he has to best these new rivals for her heart. However, he encounters another girl, and this girl has something for the hero...

The ending is also a big surprise, so that's a plus in itself.

GRAPHICS
The same graphics style as Feel the Magic, which still stands out and is still very good. The shadow figure type people are kept. No change needed here, so good.

SOUND
Improved over the original as well. Whereas the first game used the same "Rub It" song about a million times, there are plenty of new songs here. The menu has its own song, the pre-game menus have their own song, and scenes have individual songs. The games have new songs, which are familiar with the "Rub It" feel mixed in, which makes for great sounds. The non-normal missions have new music, and a missions which involve (can't tell you, it's a spoiler) have their own theme which you'll get to recognize. There are some songs reused from the original, such as one of the boss musics, and the "Rub It" song, of course.

The voices sound like they have dubs in this game, whereas in Feel the Magic the voices sounded like they came directly from Japan. However, the hero from this game shares the sounds with the hero from the last game. Another big improvement.

Sonic freaks will be glad to hear some Sonic games' sound effects in certain missions as well.

GAMEPLAY
Another big upgrade from the original. Whereas Feel the Magic had only 18 scenes, this game has 37 scenes, all with their own missions. Though a few missions appear twice (only about two or three, though, luckily). Once again, the randomness of missions returns, where in this one, you'll be playing piano, dodging love bombs, slapping people and running past sumo wrestlers on stairs.

The games still use the double screen, touch screen and microphone, but in new ways, as many missions have you use both the touch screen and microphone together, adding new innovations. There are also some missions where you have to turn the actual system upside down or sideways for a different view. Tons of fresh new innovation here, making the Rub Rabbits mini games even more fun than those of Feel the Magic. The difficulty is about the same, challenging at times, easy other times, and a couple just being tedious. Another neat addition, if you get a mission you just cannot beat, there is a level skip feature, which can be used once, to skip a single level.

Memories mode returns, as does an Attack game, where you try to beat your records in certain missions.

Instead of having to get Stars from Memories mode or specific Rabbits, now when you beat a mission, you get Hearts, and getting a certain amount of Hearts unlocks new things, which makes unlocking things in Maniac mode much easier. Maniac Mode is much improved, as you can more easily get items and hairstyles to create your custom girl. Except now, you can change hair colors, poses, gloves and even make your own designs for a dress or bikini. The possibilities of Maniac mode are limitless and it's fun just making new outfits for your girl.

And one of the biggest features added: Multiplayer! Finally, there's Multiplayer. Three different ones to. First there's battle, which is the typical 2-player versus mode with certain missions. It's not great, as you need to start the whole connection over just to change games, which gets really annoying. True, it's at leas t there, but really needs work. There are two additional Multiplayer features, Baby-Making and Hullabaloo, which both use a single DS. With Baby-Making, you and a partner make a baby by answering questions and cutting a cake together, which is interesting but nothing spectacular. In Hullabaloo, it's like a relay race for several people with one DS, not too much fun though, but can be played by yourself in theory. Multiplayer adds new possibilities, and while not great, it's still good to have and a nice addition. Hopefully if there is a future title the multiplayer will be worked on a little.

EXTRAS/REPLAY VALUE
As with Feel the Magic, there is always trying to get 100% and unlock everything for Maniac mode. However, when you beat the game, you also unlock another story, which is old missions and only a few at that, but it adds a little extra story which is enjoyable. Once again, beating the game unlocks Hard Mode and a Sound Test. There are also harder modes to unlock along the way. The replay value took a good jump.

OVERALL
The Rub Rabbits is a great game and an improvement over Feel the Magic in pretty much every way (with the exception of losing some of the authentic Japanese feel, but not a lot of it). This is what a sequel (or prequel) should be. A game that should be purchased by any DS owner or anyone who enjoyed Feel the Magic, as this game is nothing short of amazing.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/05/06