Amiga Computing - Commodore Is Awesome

miga platformers have always
been rather hit and miss when it
comes to quality in comparison
to their console counterparts. People have said good things
about games like Zool or Superfrog, but good as they were. I
found them to be pale reflections of the best Sega and Nintendo
rivals.
Now this jaded genre has a newcomer designed by Flair Software.
Featuring a rabbit remarkably similar to the one in Disney's Alice in
Wonderland. Whizz is slightly unusual in that it's an isometric adventure
- in other words, a platformer in 3D.
The story behind Whizz is simple, you'll be surprised to hear. Our
rapidly rotating rabbit is being chased by his adversary Ratty in a balloon
around the mystical world, leading to adventures set on levels like
the Green Grassed Castle or the South Sea Beaches.
Disembarking from his aerial transport. Whizz sets off on each level in
a race against time, frantically seeking a variety of collectables needed
to complete his mission. If the sands of time run out before he succeeds.
however, Ratty will catch him up and finish him off.
SOUND
Sadly this game's sound.
track is more likely to irritate
than give Whizz
appeal. It's the sort of sonic
sewage we've been listening
to on computer games
since the mid-'80s, and
frankly I'd rather play with
the sound turned off than
suffer it all over again.
If old ideas are going to
get rehashed, developers
should at least attempt to
perfect them. To me, the
humdrum nature of the
sound effects in Whizz give
it away as a half-hearted
affair.
GRAPHICS
Whirl is hardly going to turn heads as far as
its looks go, but it's not too bad. The isometric
view is an unusual touch in this type of
game, the main character is likeable enough,
and the general effect is cheerfully colourful.
Details have been added to give Whizz a
dream-like appearance. For example, the first
level appears to be set high up in the sky,
with the ocean visible miles below the action.
Then there's the Indoor World of Gamesville,
a bizarre land of puzzles featuring giant cards
that again would look perfectly at home in a
INTRODUCTION
Our rabbit spins to shatter the oce door
1
Lewis Carroll adventure. Unfortunately there
are a fair few drawbacks as well. The monsters
are at best unimpressive and at worst
ineptly designed - the bouncing tubes, for
example, shouldn't really have made it off
the drawing board.
There are various features to visually
reward the player_ Hopping onto some buttons
will launch bonus scoring rockets, doors
shatter when approached using the correct
device, and as in the Nintendo Mario series,
there are power-up mushrooms to be consumed.
Why these platform programmers are
fixated by magic mushrooms I
couldn't say.
Whiza has to race through each land
because his arch enemy is a lwa ys in puesuit
Flair Software are hack
hoping their latest game
will inject some new life
into the platform genre.
Gareth tolthouse takes
Whizz for a whirl
5
4
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OPINION
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Okay, I'm a bit tired of platformers, so the likelihood of me
being stunned into silent awe by Whizz was rather unlikely.
Nevertheless, I was hoping for some entertaining puzzles
and a few fresh twists on an old idea.
Whizz does feature the odd interesting innovation, but
unfortunately they are not successfully pulled off. Take the
isometric view, for example. This device has worked well in
a lot of games since Knightlore on the Spectrum, but try to
zip round in Whizz and things get frustrating. The problem
is that Whizz is about a race against time, and the traditional
Sonic Hedgehog view seems better suited to that sort
of challenge.
The way players are supposed to spin the rabbit into
enemies to kill them is another example of either a singular
lack of imagination or effort on the developer's part.
Added to that is the fact that it's tough from the outset
and you have to go right back to the level's beginning -
factors which won't help to win new friends for the genre.
For those who've had enough of the usual platform fare
to last a lifetime, my advice is to give Whizz a wide berth.
Then again, my advice for those who do like the genre is to
give it a miss in the hope that something half professional
might come along.