Video Game Gazette
Ever since Super Mario Bros. for the NES, platformers have been a staple of video game consoles. They were the lifeblood of systems during the 16-bit era. The SNES was launched with Super Mario World, and was kept alive with hits like Donkey Kong Country series. The Genesis had Sonic the Hedgehog and Rocket Knight Adventures, while the Turbo Grafx 16 had Bonk. In fact, the lack of an exclusive platformer spelled doom for a system. The console makers were quick to acquire exclusive rights to platformers for their next generation systems. The Playstation got Crash Bandicoot, and for a short time the Atari Jaguar had Rayman. One lesser-known title is Gex, the then exclusive platformer for the 3DO. It was later released for the Playstation.
Gex is an excellent platformer. It has a great character, which was later emulated by GEICO. It has some of the best graphics seen in a 2d platformer, and most importantly it plays flawlessly.
As a character Gex has everything you want in a mascot. He looks cool, has neat powers like spitting fireballs and clinging to walls, and has a quick wit. Humor has always been a part of platformers, but Gex takes it to the next level. The voice of Gex was done by HBO superstar Dana Gould.
For fans of shows like Family Guy, there are also tons of pop culture references. In fact the game takes place in the TV world Media Dimension. There is a kung fu world, cartoon world, and a graveyard world to name just a few. As one would expect the game has an original story, no rescuing the princess here. It begins with the death of Gex’s father in a bizarre rocket accident. Stricken with grief Gex finds comfort in his favorite TV shows. His Mother tries her best to pry Gex away from the tube, but has no success. She finally decides that the family needs a change of scene, and moves to California. This has little effect on Gex’s TV mania. Gex’s Mom was at her wit’s end and so she gives the TV to a group of traveling gypsies. Naturally Gex runs away. He lives on the street with a bunch of punks and spends the day skateboarding and hanging out in comic shops and cd stores. By a stroke of luck Gex’s uncle croaks, and leaves the family millions from his stint as the Izod model. Gex returns to Hawaii to buy the biggest house and the biggest TV, and spend the rest of his life in bliss. Just as he is settling in, he is snatched into the set by Rez. To escape Gex needs to locate the hidden remote controls that are scattered across the channels. As I said, it is an original story.
Being one of the last 2D platformers from the golden age Gex boasts incredible graphics. It has higher resolution, more colors, and faster animation than almost all of its peers. It is best compared with the original Rayman. The worlds are lush with color and have lots of detail. There are plenty of effects like fog, which give the game a different feel from Rayman. Gex has more than 450 frames of animation, like tail flicks, balancing, and walking on walls. All of this is rendered at close to 30 frames per second, giving the game a smooth feel. The controls are tight, and there are plenty of hidden items to search for. The only drawback to the game is that it is not as long as the large platformers like Super Mario World. This being said, it is worth picking up a copy and reliving one of the last great platformers.
