Genetically Modified Hamster Battles Animal Cruelty, Sort Of, In New Mobile Game

This animated hamster has a good reason to be angry.

Hamstrong is a genetically modified lab research animal. (Backstory, per his Facebook page: Hamstrong was a DJ dressed like Michael Jackson before being captured and sold to the laboratory.)

Presumably, it's the modifications to his genes that give this guy the wherewithal to flee from his lab, then help his fellow animals execute revenge upon their captors. Or to try to, anyway, in a new mobile game named after the heroic rodent.

Geoffery Anthony, president of the Canadian animation company, GFZ Group, that made Hamstrong, said in a press release that he "wanted our studio to create a game about animal cruelty that would not only entertain, but also provide educational value."

And the game is, as the marketing materials promise, intuitive and fun to play. It involves Hamstrong rolling and hopping around obstacles, collecting coins and other treasures, as he races through various laboratory scenes.

A worthwhile mission, though the connection with animal cruelty isn't entirely clear from the game itself, since the only animals that Hamstrong the hamster interacts with are extra-strong cockroaches -- which he tries to kill.

"Because this is the first version of the game, it doesn't have levels where Hamstrong interacts with other animals or people at the moment," spokesperson Ana Parfenova told HuffPost. "We are planning on optimizing the graphics and upgrading the game in the next couple of months to include more levels, scenarios and enemies."

The studio is planning to release a Hamstrong eBook and is also crowdfunding an animated series that will follow Hamstrong and his cohort as they more explicitly try to eradicate animal testing. GFZ has promised to pursue this purpose in the real world, too; on its website the company says it plans to donate "half of any generated revenues (from Hamstrong merchandise and other products)" to anti-cruelty groups.

Those things we'll have to wait for. What we have now is the game and this cruelty-free Hamstrong music video: