Whiplash – XB – Review

Anyone with a
PS2 will tell you that this is the year of the platform game thanks to two very
surprisingly original and addictive sequels called Jak II and Ratchet
and Clank 2: Going Commando.  Unfortunately, these games are well beyond the
reach of your average Xbox owner and we’re forced to wait for our own platform
games for our beloved black box.  While Voodoo Vince was a pleasant
surprise, it didn’t quite make it as a truly satisfying platformer in the same
vein as the first two games I mentioned.  Now Whiplash makes its way to our
favorite console.  Is this game’s arrival reason enough to cheer or will we
still continue to wait for that platformer that will blow us away?  Let’s find
out, shall we?

Whiplash’s
premise is set in the most interesting of places – an animal testing facility
that is witness to man’s most cruelest treatment of animals all in the name of
designing and marketing new high-tech gizmos.  Yes, the Genron Corporation is
every animal rights activist’s worse nightmare until one day a wily long-tailed
weasel named Spanx (victim of electro-shock treatments) and a mouthy white
rabbit called Redmond (used to test so many cosmetic products that he’s
virtually invincible) escape the torturous Genetic Recombinator. Chained
together, Spanx and Redmond begin causing enough chaos as they get back at all
those scientist that did them harm.

The game’s
definite appeal is the humor and there’s plenty of it throughout the game’s many
areas.  You see Spanx finds plenty of creative uses for the poor and
indestructible Redmond – he’s a weapon, a crude grappling hook and swing him
fast enough and he can even serve as a helicopter of sorts.  Oddly enough, it’s
so fun to see Redmond in so many painful situations that finding new ways to
abuse him sort of becomes the highlight of this otherwise so-so platformer.  The
real payoff here, though, is the pain you’ll inflict on all those scientists and
ruin Genron CEO Franklin D. Mann financially by literally destroying the testing
facility.

Redmond and
Spanx make their way through several different passages, vents and doors while
they try to make it past the small army of radiation suited henchmen, robotic
animal catchers and search lights that set off alarms and booby traps.  Along
the way, both critters free a number of test subjects such as chimps and
rodents.  Yet the game is basically you running around hallways and experiment
rooms smashing consoles, bashing Redmond over the heads of scientists and other
thugs.   Sounds like a repetitive cycle, doesn’t it?  Well that’s because the
game doesn’t offer variety . . . not even a few mini-games that will take gamers
out of the story for awhile.

The game’s
saving grace is its humor and there’s plenty to find funny about the many uses
for Redmond.  Stuff him into a mini-freezer and the poor rabbit becomes a block
of ice that’ll knock a scientist off his feet.  Toss him into a furnace and he
becomes a ball of fire attached to a chain. Fill Redmond with helium and he
becomes a furry little balloon that you can use to float up to other locations
above.   Smash enough things and you can activate a combo that does double the
damage of normal attacks.  The controls, thankfully, are easy to get into and
thanks to the various tips you’ll know exactly what to do.

Unfortunately, Whiplash doesn’t take advantage of the graphical capabilities of
the Xbox.  In fact, the game actually looks more like a PS2 game.  While that’s
not necessarily a bad thing, much of what we see in this game would have been
far more impressive with tighter graphics.  Spanx and Redmond look great jumping
and causing much destruction, but the environments surrounding them are often
boring and sterile.  Sure you’ll come across some room with beautiful effects
(an electrically charged pond of water gives off an eerily gorgeous blue glow)
but the walls and other things in this place look drab.

Sound-wise,
the game also fails to impress through its audio features as well.  The score,
which feels like a good old-fashioned Looney Tunes cartoon, is heavy on the
bouncy Super Mario Brothers theme.  The music becomes dramatic during
animated cut scenes involving the evil humans, but other than that the music
continues its zany tune throughout the game.  Much of the game’s dialogue is
performed nicely enough by the human cast of characters but the only voice
you’ll be hearing a lot from is Redmond.  He cracks wise and makes a few jokes
that are actually pretty funny, but it becomes so repetitive that you won’t be
chuckling at much by the middle of the game.  It would have been nice to hear
different things from Redmond since what he says actually works. 

Unfortunately, while edgy and slightly humorous, Whiplash loses its fresh
platformer goodness way too early in the game.  This is too bad, really, since
there are a lot of interesting concepts and plenty of fun moments scattered
throughout the game.  The action is just too repetitive to come close to the fun
seen in most of the PS2’s most recent platform games.  Rent this one if you’re
in the mood for an uprising of the most humorous kind.

#Reviewer’s Scoring Details

Gameplay:
8.0
The controls are pretty basic and
this is a good thing for platform games.  Sure you can run, jump, slide and
smash your way through the game’s levels but finding inventive uses for Redmond
is what really stands out.  You can use him to rappel down to another platform
and you can even scurry in true weasel fashion.  And while you can level up on
the smashing, the action just becomes one continuous cycle. 

Graphics:
7.0
No Xbox-exclusive visuals to
tantalize platform gamers in the same way Voodoo Vince did, and much of
what we see is rather plain.  Aside from the well-detailed characters (most
notably Redmond and Spanx), the game is filled with plain hallways and sterile
labs that contain some pretty decent special effects.  Electrify Redmond and
you’ll see plenty of electrical charges and sparks, and setting the white rabbit
on fire make for some great flame effects.  Other than that the game looks just
like a PS2 game.

Sound: 7.2
The sound doesn’t fare any better
but extra points should go for the Looney Tunes-inspired score that, strangely
enough, doesn’t become annoying and the small number of funny comments Redmond
makes.  Since Spanx is the silent partner here, Redmond often makes a few
hilarious observations when placed in different situations but these comments
tend to repeat themselves often.  The sound effects of swinging the rabbit are
funny at first but hearing it all throughout the game can become tiresome.

Difficulty: Medium
Like most platform games, the
challenge is keeping from falling to your doom or that bubbling brew that often
means instant death or the depletion of your life meter.  Because Spanx was
tortured through shock treatments, water causes him to fry.  The enemies you’ll
face are not intelligent enough to cause much of a threat and tossing Robomice
in there direction causes them to get distracted or can clear the room of a few
cowardly scientists. 

Concept:
7.0
PETA will love the fact that animals
are rising up and destroying the work of those heartless evil scientists and
hurting them back for all the pain they’ve caused them.  Platform fans will love
the characters and the fact that you can find so many uses for our unbreakable
bunny, but there is little else that will have gamers coming back to this one
after playing it once.  While it has a wonderfully humorous edge, this isn’t
enough to really sustain the platform goodness.

Overall:
7.2
Whiplash doesn’t break any new
ground as a platformer and it’s on the repetitive side, but there are plenty of
fun moments scattered throughout the game.  The jokes are pretty funny and the
characters make up a nicely twisted cartoon with its own message: Animals feel
pain too!  A recommended rental, indeed.