Reviews / previews
Dammit! If I have to
listen to comedian Dana
Gould's Gex voice one
more time, I'llI'llturn
the voice off. And keep
playing.
After all, there's no
reason to let annoying,
overly repeated dialogue
("I'm trapped in Boy
George's pants"; "Slip of
the tongue,
baby"-sheesh) spoil this
enjoyable update to
1995's awesome Gex.
No more 2D
sidescrolling: This
platformer's third-person
3D, la Croc and the
upcoming Tonic Trouble.
Once again, you're
stuck in the bizarre
Media Dimension, trying
to stop bad-guy Rez
from wrecking the
world's TV. While
looking for him, you'll
run around one of seven
twisted "channels"
(game worlds)-Scream
TV, Rocket Channel,
Circuit Central-grabbing
power-ups and fighting
zombies, ninjas, giant
flowers, and other
nasties. This means whipping your tail, doing a flying karate-kick, or eating
power-ups that let you freeze or flame your opponents.
The 3Dfx-only game has some good-looking levels, though Tomb Raider-ish
clipping problems abound and Gex tends to look much better than his blocky
enemies. Camera control is well done, giving you three ways (fixed camera,
tracking camera, and a combination) to view the action. It's a helpful option,
useful for tackling tricky jumps or just getting a good sense of where you're at
in larger worlds.
Don't spend too much time looking, though. Worlds like Kung-Fu Theater and
Toon TV sport creative design and nifty sights, but Gecko's quick
controls-great with a gamepad-make fast action the way to play.
I wish Crystal Dynamics had ditched Gould
for the sequel: his quips have little tie to
gameplay and seem a weak way of trying to
make this a sly, Duke-ish, "adult" game.
Forget frills: I'd rather run, jump, smack, and
kick. Fortunately, there's enough of that here
to go around.-- Corey Cohen / GamePro
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