6.6 /10 1 Votes
Distributor(s) Atari Developer Crystal Dynamics Mode Single-player video game | 6.6/10 GameSpot Initial release date 18 November 2003 Publisher Eidos Interactive Platforms PlayStation 2, Xbox | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Designer(s) Amy Albertson
Jeremy Bredow
Paul Cazarez
Calvin Rien
Bryan Wiegele
Steve Yoshimura
Joe Willis Genres Platform game, Action-adventure game Similar Eidos Interactive games, Platform games | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Whiplash is a platform video game for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox where a long-tailed weasel named Spanx and a rabbit called Redmond finds themselves chained to one another and follows their adventures as the pair endeavor to find a way out of the warehouse of the product testing corporation known as Genron. The game is a 3D platformer, with Spanx being controlled by the player for the majority of the game, and Redmond used more in combat or as a means of traversing the world.
Contents
The game was featured on the cover of Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. There was also some controversy over the game with animal cruelty.
Gameplay
Although Redmond (the rabbit) and Spanx (the weasel) are two animals chained together, the gameplay is much like any other platformer. The player controls only Spanx, using Redmond as a weapon or tool as the situation requires. Spanx has most standard platforming abilities, while Redmond is completely indestructible as a result of tests conducted upon him and so can be hurled into security guards, jammed into machinery, and used as a grappling hook, among other uses. Redmond can be inserted into special outlets to be set on fire, frozen, or become radioactive.
One unique aspect of the game is that many objects through the levels are breakable and are assigned a dollar amount which is tracked by the game; by completing the game with more than $6 million in damage, special content can be unlocked.
Defeating the humans through the levels released special snacks that the team can eat to increase both animals' levels, which increases Spanx' health or Redmond's rage. The player is also rewarded for freeing other animals trapped and caged by the company.
Development
The music for Whiplash was composed by Kurt Harland of Information Society. The music features a unique interactivity scheme: It responds to player input on the controller; the more input received through the controller buttons, the more the music does. The music also expands in response to successful hits of breakable objects and enemies.
Reception
Whiplash received "average" reviews according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.
Before the game was released in the United Kingdom, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), the Research Defence Society, the chairman of the British House of Commons and the Police Federation of England and Wales were deeply shocked at the level of cartoonish cruelty in animal product testing, despite the whole premise of the game as being against this. They thought it condoned violence and made a joke of animal suffering; however, Eidos claimed that it would raise positive awareness among children with this issue.