Whizz

*Originally Written: 6/1/2000, Rewritten: 3/21/2002

I'm willing to bet that many of you are reading this review because you are curious as to what type of game Whizz can be. Well, sorry to shatter your hopes, but this is not a bathroom sim. No, Whizz is your run of the mill isometric platformer with some puzzle elements and an emphasis on speediness. Whizz was also released on the SNES some time back. While I have never played the SNES version, judging by the length of this game, I'd say the only thing added to the Saturn rev were a couple FMV sequences. So, if by chance, you've had your fill with the SNES version, there is no need to search out this game.

The point of this game is to work your way through a stage and reach the "finish line" in the allotted time. Obviously, there are obstacles and puzzles standing between you and the finish line. Nothing too intense though. The game can get tricky, but it never enters the realm of impossibility. Though, due to the length, I wish it did so I could squeeze some more gameplay out of the sucker. This game can take some time to get used to, due to the control. Since it is an isometric platformer, it's got that funky isometric control. You know, where the directions are "tilted" diagonally. If you have experience with isometric games, however, you'll be right at home. If not you'll often times run into an enemy mistakenly until you get the hang of it. Very rarely, I've had Whizz get stuck on walls after walking along the edge of them. Thankfully this problem is not frequent, but since it can hamper the gameplay I thought it deserved mention.

Standing in your way of world domination..errr..I mean, standing in your way of the finish line are various enemies. Don't despair, you can take them out with your trusty spin attack. Be careful though, because the sticky walls can be your doom. If you get stuck the enemy has no qualms about hitting you constantly until you either get unstuck or die. Don't worry about that too much as it is pretty easy to get unstuck, it can just cause a cheap death here and there because you take a couple hits instead of one or none. Besides, as I said above, the problem is infrequent, it just always seems to show up at the worst time. While most of these enemies are a pushover, there are a few out there set on making your trip a nightmare. One such enemy is the beach ball that rolls back and forth. If you have the misfortune of touching one of these suckers, say bye bye to a lot of health. They drain your health really quick compared to your standard enemies. Not to mention, they are impervious to your spin attack. Your only option is to avoid them and jump over them. However, once you get their patterns and timing down, they aren't a problem. The puzzles hardly deserve to be called puzzles. Apart from the occasional maze, you've got the "get the item and use it" variety of "puzzles" to deal with. The so-called puzzles seem to be an afterthought designed to make reaching the exit more challenging.

Speaking of items, along the way you will collect quite a few. Some are good, some are bad and then there are those needed to complete the puzzles. Some standard items include health power ups, time power ups, keys and health drainers. In addition to these standard items you've also got poison and special power ups. The special power ups are needed to pass the games puzzles. Throughout the stages there will be barriers, to pass through these, you must have the corresponding power up. In other words, to pass through an ice barrier you need the ice cube power up, for a wooden barrier, you'd need the wooden block power up. There are others, but I am sure you get the point. Now, the poison item is something you definitely want to avoid if possible. It will continuously drain your health until you pick up an antidote or die, whichever comes first. Unfortunately, there are times where you have to collect the poison item to reach the finish line, so make sure you are at full health before snagging it.

Riddled throughout the stages are some interactive elements. Nothing fancy, I just figured it was worth a mention. You can play a slot machine, ride a surf board or even become a human, or is that rabbit, pinball. Unfortunately, none of these are truly interactive, you have no control over them. Take the surf board for example, as soon as you set foot on it the board will take you to a predetermined spot. All other vehicle interactions are the same way. The slot machine is slightly more interactive, you can use coins that you found in the level. I know, these are just little things that most would shrug off, but I thought they added to the games atmosphere.

The control can take a bit of time to get accustomed to if you aren't used to isometric games. As you know, in an isometric game the control is pretty much "slanted to the right". What I mean is, since the screen is displayed at an angle, the controls are adjusted to make it easier. For example, pressing up on the D-pad makes Whizz move towards the upper right hand corner of the screen. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be fine. As for buttons, you have a jump button and an attack button, nothing too complex. The controls are decent once you get the hang of them, only problem being getting stuck on walls, but that can be blamed on the game, more than the controls and rarely happens anyway.

Since this is a SNES port, the graphics are SNES quality. They have a nice cartoon style feel to them, and look quite good in my opinion. Just don't expect Saturn quality 2D. The game is very bright and moves along at a brisk pace. Very Smooth scrolling. It is possibly they upgrading the graphics a tad from the SNES version, but they still do not take full advantage of Saturn's 2d capabilities. The added FMVs are pretty low quality. I've seen 3D games on Saturn that look better in real time than these FMVs. Overall, I enjoyed the bright cartoony graphics. Could've done without the lame FMVs though.

The sound is average. Standard platforming beeps and blips take care of the sound FX portion of the game. The music is your typical upbeat circus style music. Nothing special, though I admit, I did catch myself humming some of the tunes every now and then. To give an idea of the music, the first level features a tune that sounds like a remix of "London Bridge is Falling Down".

Am I really playing a Japanese game? The whole game is English, not one trace of Japanese present in the whole game. Of course, the manual is in Japanese, but it's not like you need it anyway. Nothing to worry about language wise.

This game got the short end of the stick in terms of replay value. Not only is it easy, but it is also extremely short! You can easily play through the entire game in one sitting. For the gamer who has a busy schedule, the game offers passwords at the start of every new level. Anyway, once you beat it, chances are, you won't want to play again. The game offers nothing new for repeated playthroughs. There is nothing to unlock. I'd really advise taking the short length into consideration when thinking of getting this game. Sure, it's fun the first time, but there is nothing to keep you coming back.

Overall, while fun, I'd say Whizz is strictly a rental. Unfortunately, no one rents old, obscure Japanese Saturn games anymore, so your only chance to play this game is by purchasing it. I can't really recommend the game, it's just too easy and short. Maybe, if you can find it for $20 or under and are dying for an isometric platformer it'd be worthwhile, just keep it's short length in mind. Though, I'm sure, some of you are going to buy the game no matter what I say. After all, how often can you say you own a game called "Whizz". One word of warning though, there may be potential compatibility problems when attempting to play this game on a Blue Skeleton Saturn. When I tried to play it on mine, none of the FMVs showed up. You could hear the music, just couldn't see anything. The game still played fine, it just wouldn't show any FMVs. Since I have only one Skeleton Saturn, I have no way off testing Whizz on another system. However, considering that this is the only game to give me this problem and the fact that Skeleton Saturns have been known to have compatibility problems with other games, I'm willing to bet it'll happen on all skeleton Saturns. Just figured I'd give a heads up. You aren't missing much without the FMVs, but I'm sure a lot of you would like to know anyway.

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©2002 Ed Finnegan

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