Gex Review

"This is for 10 years of Full House!"

When Nintendo first came out the country was swept by Mario mania. People could not get enough of him. Due to its huge popularity two sequels were made along with a whole slew of other Mario games. Taking their cue from Nintendo, Sega created Sonic The Hedge Hog, who like Mario was a huge hit. Now Crystal Dynamics is putting Sony in the race with their new crazy gecko named Gex.

Gex is distraught after the death of his father and spends all of his time watching T.V. one day his mother inherits a load of money so Gex takes his share, buys a house on Maui, buys the worlds biggest T.V., enough food for decades, and seals himself inside the house. Things seem fine until one day while watching the tube Gex eats a fly. Sounds harmless, but the fly was sent by the sinister Rez, the lord of the media dimension. Rez wants to use Gex as his new mascot. The only way Gex can escape is if he collects remote controls and find a way out of the media dimension!

Nothing new or ground breaking in this game. I actually prefer it this way, rather than come up with new styles of play, Gex runs on the simple formula of whoopin on the bad guys and gettin through the level.

Control is perfect, the game handles like any other side scroller. Gex can use his tail as a weapon, and his tongue as a third arm. The best feature is his climbing abilities. Gex has the ability to scale walls, and many times the player must explore this ability to collect certain remote controls.

The graphics are in no way unique, but are in no way sloppy. The game could have been done on a 16-bit machine and have the same quality. The enemies in the game are slow and usually follow set patterns, they are also very easy to dispose of with a quick whip of Gex's tail.

The sound is great. The soundtrack is lively with many background noises mixed in with it. Possibly the best thing about Gex are his wise cracks which have been provided by HBO comedian Dana Gould. The cracks are almost exclusively old T.V. quotes. Only seasoned couch potatoes will recognize some of the references. One of my favorites was when Gex obtained a speed up and shouted, "I am Iron Man!"

Over all Gex is a fun game for about a week. Its not a game you will show to your friends to impress them with your PlayStation, but it is a game you can come back to every now and then if you are bored. If you really miss the Mario type of games, then this one is for you!