The big thing in the 90s was that every console needed a mascot. Nintendo had Mario, Sega had Sonic, and to a lesser extent Crash Bandicoot was associated with the Sony brand. Even failed consoles needed to have a fictional figurehead to advertise the brand. That’s where Gex comes in to play. Panasonic didn’t have a headlining platformer for their system but Crystal Dynamics jumped at the chance and they introduced the world to their reptile with attitude Gex. This was the first high profile platformer released for the system, and I remember it had a decent amount of press. This was one of those titles I played for a few minutes at a kiosk as a kid. I didn’t quite realize it was on a next generation system (I was still all about the Super Nintendo) but I recall all of the voice work made me crack up. My brother and I talked about this ‘Gex’ for a few years after we experienced it, and then later played the 3D franchise iterations. I just recently returned to the original and I must say; Panasonic could have done much worse.
Gex as you can probably guess is a humanoid gecko. He lives the life of a slacker spending most of his time watching TV and apparently performing nude funkercize. This routine comes crashing down when one day he eats a fly, but this is no ordinary insect. It’s actually a transmitter, and it allows the wicked overlord of the Media Dimension (the world inside Gex’s television) to pull our green friend into his TV. The lizardly protagonist must now fight his way through four different worlds based on popular television genres (horror, cartoons, adventure, and martial arts) facing off against Rez’s henchmen along the way ending with a showdown against the big man himself. The theme had a lot of potential but it’s largely unexciting. This was an era where developers were trying to create mascots with a ton of attitude. Crystal Dynamics settled on a lizard for this outing, threw sunglasses on him for the cover and title screen, and gave Gex a ton of one liners. The game definitely shows its age because of this, and while it was a novelty to hear voice samples in games at the time they went a little overboard here. The guy never seems to shut his mouth, and most of the jokes and wise cracks are aimed at a juvenile userbase. They’re just not all that funny to be honest.
Despite being on a console that was largely pushed as a 3D machine Gex is strictly a two dimensional side scrolling platform game in the same vein as Mario and Sonic. While some may have scoffed at the thought of buying a title that plays like (and doesn’t look much better then) platformers from the previous generation Gex has aged better than most titles in the 3DO library. You move Gex from one end of a stage to the next battling foes with a variety of different attacks. You can do a tail jump on their heads or whip them with your tail. Additionally Gex can also use his tongue to grab beneficial items. These include golden bugs (which function like Mario’s coins or Sonic’s rings), and there are even three different powerups found in many of the stages. One of these allows Gex to shoot fire projectiles at his enemies, another is a burst of ice that freezes foes, and the final item grants him temporary invincibility. You can also find health restoring items which is handy as Gex can only take three hits before he loses a life and the game is fairly challenging.
Where Gex excels is in the various abilities the developers gave him to make it past obstacles. Aside from the standard jump our reptilian protagonist can also stick to as well as walk on walls and even the ceiling. There are even some sections where you can climb on the background which makes for some interesting gameplay dynamics. I especially liked one section in particular where you have to climb upwards and dodge falling obstacles. The developers were able to keep gameplay fresh for the most part due to the level design. The environments are fun to traverse, but there are some instances where the difficulty is unbalanced. In some stages I found myself dying at the same points over and over again only to breeze through the next with absolutely no problems. Dodging spikes and enemies while climbing walls can be very difficult, and I don’t think the creative minds behind Gex planned some of these sections out very well. Additionally while Gex can swim it’s incredibly awkward. Normally I look forward to aquatic stages in games such as this, but in each section with water I found myself groaning aloud because it’s just not fun.
This game makes use of the pre-rendered graphic style that was so popular following the release of Donkey Kong Country. While the tech is sound (for the most part) this release looks like something that could have been pulled off on the Super Nintendo. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I expected a little more from a 3DO game. Gex himself looks quite good with many frames of animation. The only problem I have in regards to the character’s visuals is that there’s slowdown whenever you perform Gex’s spring jump. It’s like the game stutters or something while loading the animation, and it can make things a bit awkward. Still, there are some moments where Gex really excels graphically. The parallax scrolling is quite impressive in some areas with several layers featuring individual animations. While it’s not the best looking title on the 3DO the graphics here are adequate. The music is pretty decent too, but there are a few issues. The various worlds and some of the stages feature their own themes which are enjoyable and memorable. The big problem, as I mentioned earlier, is that Gex never shuts his mouth. On the plus side the developers put in some effort by hiring comedian Dana Gould to play him but the wisecracks get old quick.
My feelings about Gex are kind of mixed. On one hand this game is better than most of the platformers other developers were shoveling on to the market at the time, and there are aspects of this title that shows the creative minds behind it were at least fairly inspired. The level design and various abilities at your disposal allow for a fresh experience from start to finish. Gex just isn’t a must-have title. For a game that headlined the platform it’s a little boring to be honest. It’s no Keith Courage, but at the same time Gex is a far cry from Mario. It’s still absolutely worth checking out, and can thankfully be found on other platforms.
