reviews

Game: Gex
Platform: PS1
Year Released: 1995



For some reason, I was really in the mood for some platforming action today. Maybe it’s because the glowing blue light coming from my Wii is reminding me that I still have to finish Mario Galaxy, but as always, work comes first. On the PS1, there is a trio of odd platform heroes that never really thrived in the same way in subsequent generations. This trifecta consists of Crash Bandicoot, Rayman, and Gex. Crash Bandicoot’s current day adventures are less than stellar, to put it nicely, and Rayman has found a new niche in the party game genre. However, Gex, the wise-cracking, television-addicted gecko, has been left behind. I thought today would be the perfect time to give him another shot at stardom, but he didn’t quite deliver in the way I expected.

Gex really seemed like something special when it came out, but maybe it was just my twelve-year-old mind being overly impressed by the pop culture references and snarky voiceover rarely seen in games in that era. The player takes the role of the title gecko, who has been sucked into the television realm and must save it from the evil Rez. You play through multiple levels in differently-themed worlds, such as a creepy cemetery or a colorful cartoon world.

Giving Gex a voice works perfectly within the television realm, and the entertainment-obsessed gecko makes tons of remarks that are appropriate to each environment (such as quoting Poltergeist in the graveyard, while singing “Kung Fu Fighting” in the Kung Fu world). A lot of his comments were a bit over my head as a child, but are still hilarious twelve years later.

The different worlds given different TV and movie themes were a really good idea, but the levels within each world tend to get repetitive really fast. While the level design is impressive at first, after you’ve played through your fourth graveyard that is only marginally different than the last three, you’re more than ready to move on. It’s really a shame, because the levels could have been brilliant had a little more work gone into making them more unique. Just handing out different themes for each world is not enough to keep the gameplay from getting stagnant.

My biggest gripe is that it uses a password system instead of utilizing the PS1 memory card. I assume that this is because it was originally designed as a 16-bit 3DO game, and while the graphics reflect the PS1’s superior power over the 16-bit generation, the save system could have used a redesign as well. To make matters worse, passwords aren’t simply given at the end of each level, which would make the most sense. Instead, the player has to hunt for a specific item in certain levels to achieve a password.

Sometimes, older games are far better in your memories than they are in actuality. Gex is just one of these games, sadly. While it’s certainly an above-average platformer and definitely delivers some fun times, the repetitive levels and sometimes frustrating gameplay explains why Gex lacked the staying power of his PS1 companions. There’s just not enough going for it to rank alongside some of the better platformers we’ve seen in the last decade or so. I still believe it’s worth playing, but it makes a better bargain bin title than a spot among the lifelong favorites.

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