People tend to over think video games. Are games art? Maybe. Can they make us feel real emotion? Perhaps. Sometimes though, what it really comes down to is fun. Remember that? Fun?

The strangely satisfying Raving Rabbids series may not be the most deep experience, nor will it incite any debates with Roger Ebert over the purpose of our medium of choice, but what the hell, it's fun. The latest game in the series though, stretches the format incredibly thin, and even the most interesting mini-games get tiresome very quickly, leaving for a rather disappointing experience, even for what the game is.

If you've never played, or heard of the Raving Rabbids series, it'd be pretty hard to explain, but here goes. You play a series of off-the-wall mini games as a race of bug eyed, spastic rabbits. Yeah. The latest game in the series, Raving Rabbids: Travel in Time places our odd protagonists in different mini games based on different periods through time. It's an interesting twist, but does almost nothing for the gameplay. If you've played any of the other games in the series then you've played this one, and yes, it's starting to show its age.

"...it seems like the creative team at Ubisoft may be running out of ideas."

As you play through Travel in Time, you may find it a bit familiar for other reasons as well - it imitates some of this year's biggest games. One of the mini games for instance requires you to match the poses of silhouettes of dancers to earn points, and while similar games have been found in previous editions of the game, it's oddly reminiscent of Just Dance. Then there's the returning (yet admittedly revamped) rhythm game that bears an obvious resemblance to pretty much the entire plastic instrument genre. The majority of the mini-games throughout the campaign are a bit more varied, but it seems like the creative team at Ubisoft may be running out of ideas.

The game's main campaign finds the Rabbids traveling to pivotal moments in time, and as you may expect - screwing them up royally. In an interesting twist, each level has two possible endings, one that rights the events of history and the other that leaves things the way the Rabbids left it. Some of the changes are a bit more epic than others, like the Titanic sinking for instance, but it's fun to play through and see the cut scenes for each possible outcome, as they're very well done.

But therein also lies the game's biggest problem. Much like throughout the entire series, not all of the mini games in Travel in Time are created equal. While some offer a good chuckle, especially when others join in the action, there's a good portion of them that are quite boring. Regardless of which game you choose, playing Rabbids for any long period of time isn't recommended as it won't take long before you're faced with playing the same sequence of mini games over and over. Lesson to Ubisoft: What's fun once isn't necessarily fun the next twenty-five times.

"...Travel in Time features a pretty decent online suite."

As stated above, Travel in Time is a much better game when played with friends. Up to four players can play at once through local or online play, but the developers made a curious choice when creating the game's online suite. Though you can play with up to three other people, only two consoles can connect to a game at once, meaning that unless each console has two players, games are rarely ever full. That being said though, it was never hard to find a game online when we tried, Travel in Time features a pretty decent online suite.

Perhaps most disappointing about the latest Rabbid adventure is that it feels like a step backwards. The most recent game, Raving Rabbids Go Home was a welcome departure from the mini game collections we've been seeing, but the developers chose for some reason to go back to the old formula rather than adding on last year's promising outing.

Raving Rabbids: Travel in Time is just what you'd expect from the series, quick mini games that are built for multiplayer sessions.  Though the game ‘s formula is clearly showing its age here, there's still a ton of fun to be had thanks to a series of fun mini games and a stellar online suite. While it won't change any of the series doubters, those who enjoy a bit of caffeinated rabid fun are sure to enjoy their latest outing.