Somewhat Pleasant Platforming
High Anyone can pick it up and play with ease.
Low No checkpoints in any of the levels.
WTF Why does a Jack-in-the-Box shoot rockets?
When Alex starts to read a strange book, he gets swept into a mystical land. However, he’s no longer himself when he arrives — instead he’s a strange pink creature known as Whipseey and must solve the mystery of a book called the Lost Atlas in order to return home. The mystery isn’t that difficult to solve though… just jump on platforms and whip everything in sight.
Whipseey and the Lost Atlas is a platformer taking inspiration from retro games like Kirby and Mario. Players will control Whipseey and travel through all of the worlds in the Lost Atlas, each one ending with a boss fight.
Players can jump on enemies or whip them, but they must also use the whip to swing and glide over gaps and enemies. Along the way, players can collect gems and be rewarded with an extra life for every 100 they nab.
Each world plays with its own iteration of similar enemies. Basic baddies in the desert area wear sombreros, while those in the mine wear hard hats. Functionally, they’re a bit more varied — desert enemies throw fire potions while mine enemies have a short whip to attack with, and so on.
The bosses offer a similar level of simple diversity. One is a jellyfish players must swim around to avoid while it’s sparking with electricity, and one’s a boxing cactus with tough hits to be dodged, etc. Whipseey doesn’t have any secrets ot techniques to the bosses or enemies, it’s all just a retro platforming experience.
In fact, there’s not a lot to Whipseey overall, which make some of its flaws a bit more glaring than they would be otherwise.
For example, some of the areas can be cruel with the precision jumps they require. If a jump is missed, it normally means instant death from falling down a pit or onto a spike. It wouldn’t be so bad if Whipseey knew what a checkpoint was, but players must start the entire world over if they run out of lives. Worse, since enemies don’t respawn, it’s not possible to grind for lives and build up a buffer.
That aside, Whipseey And The Lost Atlas doesn’t overstay its welcome. I experienced everything it had to offer within an hour, and even that brief time could have been cut down if not for some of the more punishing jumping sections. Whipseey is cute, colorful and easy to get into, but it isn’t much more than that.
Disclosures: This game is developed by Daniel Z Ramirez and published by Blowfish Studios. It is currently available on PC, XBO, PS4 and Switch. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Switch. Approximately 1 hour of play was devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E. It’s colorful, lots of pink and blues, and everything explodes into light and gems. Nothing offensive here. It’s approved for all ages
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes .
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: All information is graphically presented and there aren’t any voices to subtitle or any audio cues necessary. This game is fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: There are no remappable controls There is no control diagram. Players use the analog stick to move, B to jump, and Y to whip.
While Sonic and Street Fighter were great places to start, his first love was Final Fantasy X when his dad bought a PS2. Ever since, that love for gaming has evolved -- there are a number of game worlds out there, and he intends to explore them all. RPG to horror, platformers to casual and everything in between -- if it’s available, he’ll play it.
While his time is short between writing reviews, tabletop gaming, and attempting to start a cheesecake business, he has caught all 806 pokemon and can speedrun Star Fox 64 in less than 40 minutes. He’s always looking for new things to try and new challenges to conquer. You can find him on Twitter -- @eugene_sax.
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