The developers seem fond of saying, “Hitting things is fun.” It is, for a few minutes, until repetition gets in the way. The Wii knows exactly where your remote/sword is through Wii Motion Plus, but Red Steel 2 is not a sword-sim. In the first stage, it doesn’t seem to matter if you swing left, right, at an oblique diagonal, or start going at it like a piñata. An attack is an attack, and when the opponent retaliates, you parry with a button and not the sword.

I like the style and the east-meets-west fusions in Red Steel 2, but combat, the glue binding the experience together, reminds me of a button-mashing beat-‘em-ups. Perhaps that is Ubisoft Paris’ intent. But then, why bother incorporating Wii Motion Plus? The fact that I only saw the first level leaves a lot of “ifs,” “ands,” and “buts,” so for now I will say that I am tentatively hopeful, because I’m not sure if the series will get a third chance.

Not every game needs high-end graphics, a moving plot, or even a lone hero to be compelling. Sometimes, it only needs to make you laugh. Like Katamari Damacy on an overdose of caffeine pumped straight to the heart, Rabbids Go Home is all about collecting “stuff.” Tires, signs, and the pants of a hapless bystander are ripe for swiping as you help the demented Rabbids build a pile to the moon, literally.

With your two-creature team, ludicrously decked out in thongs and Jello-hats and other knick-knacks of decent society, you careen through the city in a wobbly-wheeled shopping cart. One steers and the other nabs anything not bolted down, while bumbling exterminators try to thwart you with obstacles, bombs, and attack dogs.

The finished product will have 40 missions of unhinged insanity and bizarre goals, like stealing a hospital’s bubble-bed, with the patient still inside. A favorite feature, In The Wii Remote, offers an interior view of your remote as you mash buttons and waggle it around, with a maniacal Rabbid inside. Obviously, logic is in short supply, but who cares? Rabbids Go Home is pure, arcade-style entertainment that will make you smile.