Considering the news of the Gex Trilogy being ported to modern consoles, I can't help but look back to this groovy, parody-platformer, which was one of the few games I obsessively re-rented when I was young and broke.
I don't even really know why I wanted to play this game so much at first way back then. It was pretty far out of my tastes at the time for a number of reasons, but I stuck with it, grew to enjoy it more and more (despite some issues and personal gripes), and ultimately beat it. It would pretty much translate into this deep fondness that I've carried ever since. Not to the point of seeing this as a favorite game or character, but enough to smile every time I saw the title in my PS1 collection. Enough even to debate seriously on whether to start a fresh save file over playing any other game (other games win out all the time so far, but I'm certain Gex will win the draw one day).
I'll be fair, some of the jokes and references flew right over my head when I was young (not so much now), and I can totally understand why some people can't stand Gex (via humor or as a character) but I guess its unabashed, goofy, adult-juvenile tone kept me won over all these years later. It just seemed so earnest in its TV obsessed, tongue-n-cheek, self referential way that knew what it was and owned it.
If there is one other thing that really stuck with me, it had to be the artstyle/visual design of the game. Due to the dingy, sloven nature of Gex as a character, and the fact the world he's sucked into is based on bad television, quite a bit of the game has this grungy, off-putting undertone, not helped by the VERY hostile inhabitants of the Media Dimension. The few times you get a clean cut look still conveys some sort of soured or low-quality look that persists especially when you've cleaned out all of the enemies and obstacles in the stage (sometimes giving you this haunting feeling of being truly alone). Then again, that seems to be a thing the 5th Gen of games (especially on the Playstation) tended to accidentally do when the game had no immediate enemy respawns. I dunno, I just kind of LIKED this "not quite right" feel of the stages Gex would pop-off to, normally shrouded in night fog or in rare occations extremely well lit, despite the facade of the channel's glam and core style.
As for gameplay, sometimes it can be really good and fluid. Running, full tilt, going for a tail whip on an enemy, tail bounce to a higher spot, tongue grab a fly for a power-up or health, before karate kicking over a gap to nail a ledge-perching jackass hoping to get a cheap hit in. Other times, the camera's depth perception doesn't warn you of a pit while you're running full tilt, you might miss with the tail whip which may have you spam it over and over to try and hit your foe (especially if they're flighty), try to tail bounce but bonk your head on the bottom of the ledge, or misjudge you're kick trajectory just enough that you go flying right off the edge into oblivion below. It's almost as if the game's mechanics are precise to a fault with the camera being mediocre to serviceable. Not exactly the best combination, but it works.
Also, the game runs at a relatively smooth 60 FPS, which feels quite nice, but sometimes dips much lower, to the point of slowing things down quite hard. It's not too bad when it clearly hits around 30, but oh boy if it ever goes below that...
As for Gex himself... I thought, for all intents and purposes, he was a very entertaining protagonist. A slob, a jerkwad, has bad puns and references for YEARS, and entirely obsessed with the boob-tube, but is willing to at least play the part of the hero when duty calls. I mean, it's mostly so he can rescue Agent Xtra and hopefully score some James Bond points (if you know what I mean), but you can't fault the lizard for doing the right thing, even for the wrong reasons. Speaking of Agent Xtra, she's a character... I suppose. Kind of a flat, one note, and relatively uninteresting character. Not much else you can say on her. The guy that did the "what if Gex was a Saturday Morning 90s Cartoon" did her much better. Oh well, we had better (then and now), even on the flirty end of the spectrum, so it's more disappointing than aggravating. I can at least tolerate the cringy, flirty "clear channel for the first time" dialogue they have based on the channel theme. Sometimes they're funny, at least.
All in all, it's a fairly flawed gem of a bygone era of gaming, and I'm happy it existed. It's not for everyone, and clearly shows its age (in more ways than one), but is just so earnest and decently made that I can't help but keep a small soft spot for it. Like I said, I'm fond of it enough that I may very well actually start a brand new file, just for the hell of it. Besides, this is also the game that introduced me to two other great games made on a similar engine, one of which was from a series I unquestionably call beloved (the other being a hidden gem in its own right). Remember when some games actually had trailers and demos baked into the game itself? Yeah, good times.
I don't even really know why I wanted to play this game so much at first way back then. It was pretty far out of my tastes at the time for a number of reasons, but I stuck with it, grew to enjoy it more and more (despite some issues and personal gripes), and ultimately beat it. It would pretty much translate into this deep fondness that I've carried ever since. Not to the point of seeing this as a favorite game or character, but enough to smile every time I saw the title in my PS1 collection. Enough even to debate seriously on whether to start a fresh save file over playing any other game (other games win out all the time so far, but I'm certain Gex will win the draw one day).
I'll be fair, some of the jokes and references flew right over my head when I was young (not so much now), and I can totally understand why some people can't stand Gex (via humor or as a character) but I guess its unabashed, goofy, adult-juvenile tone kept me won over all these years later. It just seemed so earnest in its TV obsessed, tongue-n-cheek, self referential way that knew what it was and owned it.
If there is one other thing that really stuck with me, it had to be the artstyle/visual design of the game. Due to the dingy, sloven nature of Gex as a character, and the fact the world he's sucked into is based on bad television, quite a bit of the game has this grungy, off-putting undertone, not helped by the VERY hostile inhabitants of the Media Dimension. The few times you get a clean cut look still conveys some sort of soured or low-quality look that persists especially when you've cleaned out all of the enemies and obstacles in the stage (sometimes giving you this haunting feeling of being truly alone). Then again, that seems to be a thing the 5th Gen of games (especially on the Playstation) tended to accidentally do when the game had no immediate enemy respawns. I dunno, I just kind of LIKED this "not quite right" feel of the stages Gex would pop-off to, normally shrouded in night fog or in rare occations extremely well lit, despite the facade of the channel's glam and core style.
As for gameplay, sometimes it can be really good and fluid. Running, full tilt, going for a tail whip on an enemy, tail bounce to a higher spot, tongue grab a fly for a power-up or health, before karate kicking over a gap to nail a ledge-perching jackass hoping to get a cheap hit in. Other times, the camera's depth perception doesn't warn you of a pit while you're running full tilt, you might miss with the tail whip which may have you spam it over and over to try and hit your foe (especially if they're flighty), try to tail bounce but bonk your head on the bottom of the ledge, or misjudge you're kick trajectory just enough that you go flying right off the edge into oblivion below. It's almost as if the game's mechanics are precise to a fault with the camera being mediocre to serviceable. Not exactly the best combination, but it works.
Also, the game runs at a relatively smooth 60 FPS, which feels quite nice, but sometimes dips much lower, to the point of slowing things down quite hard. It's not too bad when it clearly hits around 30, but oh boy if it ever goes below that...
As for Gex himself... I thought, for all intents and purposes, he was a very entertaining protagonist. A slob, a jerkwad, has bad puns and references for YEARS, and entirely obsessed with the boob-tube, but is willing to at least play the part of the hero when duty calls. I mean, it's mostly so he can rescue Agent Xtra and hopefully score some James Bond points (if you know what I mean), but you can't fault the lizard for doing the right thing, even for the wrong reasons. Speaking of Agent Xtra, she's a character... I suppose. Kind of a flat, one note, and relatively uninteresting character. Not much else you can say on her. The guy that did the "what if Gex was a Saturday Morning 90s Cartoon" did her much better. Oh well, we had better (then and now), even on the flirty end of the spectrum, so it's more disappointing than aggravating. I can at least tolerate the cringy, flirty "clear channel for the first time" dialogue they have based on the channel theme. Sometimes they're funny, at least.
All in all, it's a fairly flawed gem of a bygone era of gaming, and I'm happy it existed. It's not for everyone, and clearly shows its age (in more ways than one), but is just so earnest and decently made that I can't help but keep a small soft spot for it. Like I said, I'm fond of it enough that I may very well actually start a brand new file, just for the hell of it. Besides, this is also the game that introduced me to two other great games made on a similar engine, one of which was from a series I unquestionably call beloved (the other being a hidden gem in its own right). Remember when some games actually had trailers and demos baked into the game itself? Yeah, good times.