Gex 64: Enter the Gecko

"If I hear Dana Carvey’s voice utter ‘Groovy, baby!’ again then I’ll - Damn! There it is again! And again! And 1000 times more!"

OPENING STATEMENT
Gex 64: Enter the Gecko is one of those bandwagon games that you know is going to have issues, but yet you run out to play it anyway, just because you want to see how eccentric the game is. And, trust me, if eccentricities are your thing, you will play the hell out of this game. If it were not for Gex’s over-the-top personality, this would be just another adventure game. But, Crystal Dynamics made Gex so charismatic that Gex 64: Enter the Gecko is almost impossible to ignore.

GAMEPLAY--5
The gameplay is about as traditional as it comes. Take your charismatic adventure hero through mysterious lands to collect various items, and eventually restore balance through the land. In Gex 64: Enter the Gecko’s case, that hero is Gex, the items are remote controls for your television set, and various level specific tokens. (Think of them as the coins from Mario.) Of course, what makes this Gex-venture interesting is the fact that all of the levels are parodies of something from pop-culture. In other words, it is like the adventure version of You Don’t Know Jack, except with a gecko talking instead of a bald guy.

Without these levels, Gex would be run of the mill and unbelievably boring. But in a level based off Looney Toons, with the Wal-Mart happy face being the prime villain, along with an Elmer Fudd look alike, you simply have to completely love the game. While the levels do not get as in-depth with their various themes as they do in the sequel (Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko), Crystal Dynamics still did a magnificent job sharing with they world their knowledge of obscure pop-culture, which surprisingly surpasses even mine.

GRAPHICS--8
Since all of the levels and environments are based off of other locales in the form of parodies, Crystal Dynamics had some big shoes to fill. They had to make all of those regions look like the ones that they were mocking. And, in that, they did an excellent job. I almost could not tell that the bright, cartoonish Looney Tunes environment was from the same game as the cheesy horror-movie get-up. The utter variety in these levels astounded me, even when I had been playing the game for a while, because it always found ways to surprise me.

Perhaps even more exciting than the backgrounds were the varied character designs. Almost all of them, except for Gex himself, are based off of some previous character somewhere. And all of them have been altered just ever so slightly to avoid copyright infringement, but not changed enough to you cannot tell who each of them are. The sense of humor is what truly makes the graphics great, but the fact that they were made of inherent quality helps as well.

MUSIC--8
SOUND--2
The music is once again filled to the brim with parodies. But, the common themes of things that you have come to associate with them can sadly not be played. The general rhythm and style of the songs are all still present, thankfully, so even without the actual tunes, you can still tell the level that is a parody of the Looney Toons with your eyes closed. The music in the level that is based of Hollywood’s interpretation of China has some excellent melodies in it, so keep listening for that one.

The sound effects are good. The first thousand or so times you hear them. (Actually, no, only the first five or so.) The problem with these effects is not the quality, because they are all well done. The problem with the sound effects is the fact that they are so repetitive. Dana Carvey does a wonderful job with the voice-overs for Gex, but there are only about three featured for each level. Sadly, the developers then decided to fill the silence in the levels with seemingly unlimited repeats of each of these sound bytes. If you can stand the repeats, though, then you will have no problems with these sound effects.

CONTROL--8
Crystal Dynamics did a great job with developing the control scheme for Gex. He responds immediately to your commands, and there is never any lag between the controller and the actual game. The control scheme is well set-up, and the camera angle is quite easy to change, luckily. I was not really expecting a good control engine, the game being published by Midway and all, but I was pleasantly surprised.

FUN--6
Gex 64: Enter the Gecko is fun for a while, and the parodies always keep things interesting, but some parts of the games really need to be updated for the sequel. The repetitive voice-overs are really a horrible part of this title. The level designs are all quite interesting, but they are rather repetitive as well, since the levels tend to be on the smaller side, and not really all that different throughout them. But perhaps the single worst part about Gex 64: Enter the Gecko is the password save system. Who in their right mind would do that to Nintendo 64 gamers! And, no, they are unbelievably long passwords as well! Shame on Crystal Dynamics for that.

CHALLENGE--MEDIUM
Please note that when rating the challenge here I am discounting all challenge in remembering the passwords. The levels have their difficult points, but for the most part, the enemies that you face will not hinder you that much, and all of the puzzles take only a little common sense to solve. The difficulty comes from the one or two enemies in each level who are unnaturally difficult, and completely mess up the difficulty curve. But, they are the only foes that keep you from sailing right through the game, so be thankful for them.

REPLAY VALUE--LOW
I can really not think of any reason to play through Gex 64: Enter the Gecko after completing it once, especially considering that you would have to hold on to all of those passwords in the months that you were not playing the game. And, trust me, it is really not worth holding on to confusing passwords for months. This game is entertaining enough to play through once, but not twice (and certainly not thrice).

PROS
*The best parody this side of Spaceballs.
*The music is quite well done in dozens of styles.
*The environments look just like what they are mocking.

CONS
*You will literally hear Dana Carvey say the same thing hundreds of times.
*The password system should be shot at point-blank range.
*No real reason to play through more than once.

CLOSING STATEMENT
Gex 64: Enter the Gecko is one of those above average games on a console that simply does not stand out, which is quite amazing considering how over the top the game is. The game’s flaws were luckily solved in its sequel, but that does not mean that the first Nintendo 64 incarnation of the little gecko that could is not worth checking out, especially if you love obscure pop-culture references like I do.

OVERALL--6

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/17/01, Updated 10/17/01