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Whiplash

I’ve said before (and I’ll not hesitate to say it again) that I’m not a fan of the “platform” genre. Sure, nowadays publishers try and dress it up and refer to a platformer as an “adventure” game or whatever, but if the basic core gameplay involve running around and jumping from place to place collecting things, then it’s a platformer.

There are variances, there are evolutionary steps, but for the most part, the genre holds no interest for me, as I get bored quickly. Something new needs to be brought into the mix in order for my attention to be held.

Enter Whiplash.

One of the most under-rated Xbox launch titles was Mad Dash, a flawed kart style racing game, where the characters were animals, and there were no karts (they ran). One of the standout characters in that game was Spanx, a hopped up and burned out weasel that made Pauley Shore look sane.

The story of Spanx was alluded to in Mad Dash, but now players can get the full story on how the character made it out of the testing labs of GenRon – the same company that brought you the Hamster Cannon. GenRon doesn’t test their products on animals, the animals are the products.

Destined for the recombinator (why have two animals when you could mash them together into one?) Spanx and Redmond (a rabbit that has apparently been at the labs a bit too long) bust out with the aid of… well, you’re not sure at first. Nor is GenRon. As a matter of fact, who really cares. Spanx and Redmond now have the opportunity to inflict a bit of damage onto the company before busting out.

Busting out indeed.

Redmond, it turns out, is damn near indestructible. This aids greatly in getting things done. Instead of collecting a bunch of pointless items, Whiplash has players causing as much damage to GenRon as possible while freeing the other animals on the way out the door. Having an indestructible bunny is the perfect tool in order to, as The Damned once sang, smash it up.

This is where Whiplash sets itself apart from other platformers. It’s nice to see a developer not feel trapped by the traditions of the genre. Players try to cause as much damage to GenRon and force it into bankruptcy. That’s a hell of a lot better than trying to collect 100 floating icons per level.

Yes, there are collectables, but they aren’t always necessary for progression through the game. It’s also not like you have to go around collecting a bunch of crap in order for the door to open every time either.

Another way that Whiplash sets itself apart is with humor. There are some absolutely hilarious events, as well as the products that GenRon is working on. The game has several genuine laugh out loud funny moments.

There are security guards and lab technicians that will try and stop the chained together duo, but with Spanx in charge, Redmond doesn’t have much choice but to become the tool by which Spanx dispatches the human element as well. Various attacks are awarded at certain points in the game, but that’s only part of the equation.

Sprinkled throughout GenRon are various hazardous material barrels that are used by lab workers using… er… hazardous materials. Spanx can shove Redmond into one, and the bunny will begrudgingly take on the element for a shot time. Need a radioactive rabbit? Shove the bunny in. Need a rabbitsicle? Shove Redmond in the container.

The gameplay in Whiplash is what counts, and Crystal Dynamics have delivered in this area. However, it can be hard to discern what to do or where to go next because the mapping in the game sucks. The game is fairly linear, but there are times when backtracking is necessary. This provides for the most frustrating moments in the game, when the player may not know which way they have already gone since many areas look similar and doors are not always clearly marked.

The map itself is a pain to navigate through. Not only is it unclear which area you are highlighting, it does not show which areas the player has already been to. Be prepared to backtrack in circles.

Other technical issues with the game are faulty as well. The audio falls short of its potential brilliance, by repeating the same 3 phrases over and over and over and over and over. The music is… wait, was there music?

The ambient noises in the game are good, and the various sound effects are well done. It’s a shame though that there are many places where there just isn’t much going on and the audio reflects that. It’s a rather spartan game audio wise.

And then there’s the visuals.

This is perhaps the most painful part of the game, as frankly, the visuals look like a first generation PS2 game. Not even a first generation Xbox game. There are moments when the game is a step backwards from Mad Dash.

Clipping becomes a serious issue as the game progresses. While the character animations are decent, most of the models lack definition. Environments lack a lot of depth, especially when the busted equipment disappears.

Whiplash’s humor and gameplay mechanics set it apart from the typical platformer, and it’s a much better game for it. It’s a shame that the technical aspects drag it down. It feels as if the game just wasn’t finished and rushed out to make the holiday shopping season. Maybe if Eidos had been able to hold off on releasing the game for another 6 months or so some additional work could have been done to make Whiplash a truly great game. As it is, the game will appeal mostly only to gamers with some extra cash and a twisted sense of humor. It’s not a bad game, there are just better out there.

Now that this game is done, can Crystal Dynamics work on that Mad Dash sequel for online play?

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Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Jan 8th, 2004 and is filed under Reviews, Xbox Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.

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