Vexx

"At first, I was skeptical, but I'm loving this game now.."

Usually when I see a platformer upcoming for release, I'm jumping for joy since I'm a platformer junkie. That's exactly how I was feeling when I saw a game called Vexx coming out for the PS2. At first, I was going to wait but the anticipation of a new platformer got the better of me and I'm glad I bought it when it first came out.

****GRAPHICS****
This game looks amazing, from my eyes. The environments are richly detailed (I love the rocks floating about in the sky) and they have a large draw distance. Your character and the enemies are animated well, though I would have liked to see some more models for the enemies. One thing I absolutely loved was the way the sumo moved, his skin as well, when you went up against him in the first world.

****STORY****
The story in this game is not exactly your ordinary ''save the world/princess'' type deal. A group of ancient people opened a portal, which lead to demons being introduced into the world of Astara, led by Dark Yabu. These demons eventually take over a village named Overwood, who is guarded by Vargas, the main character's grandfather. While they were being worked in a mine of some sort, Vexx tries to fight against one of the guards, and his grandfather is eventually killed by Yabu. He sneaks out one night and comes across the Astani War Talons, which he will use to revenge his grandfather. Yes, the story is about revenge, instead of rescuing a princess.

****GAMEPLAY****
The combat in this game centers around the War Talons Vexx finds in the opening movie. Other than that, everything else is pretty much standard platforming. Instead of stars like in Mario, Vexx must collect Wraithhearts. The different thing is that you can collect any Wraithheart in a level at any time. If you see one in the open and know you can get it, then you can get it anytime you want. The objectives to get the Wraithhearts vary a lot, one has you taking on a sumo while another has you playing a simple version of Breakout. New worlds are unlocked as you collect more Wraithhearts.

The combat kind of resembles a combo-based system. You have a meter in the upper-right corner of the screen, which when full, can be activated to make your talons charged. Then you can shoot fireballs, which appear to be homing, until either the meter runs out or you decide to stop. You have a basic three-hit combo, an uppercut, a flip kick (in the air), and some other moves that help you build this meter. The longer the combo on one enemy, the faster your meter fills up. I barely used this Charged Talon meter though, since I never felt the need to use it.

****SOUND & MUSIC****
The only problem I have with the music is that it is rather low at times and it can be hard to hear. Otherwise, the music I've heard so far has been great. I feel it fits the atmosphere of each stage perfectly. The sound effects are also great and add something else to the atmosphere.

****REPLAYABILITY & DIFFICULTY****
The difficulty in this game fluctuates between easy and hard with some of the Wraithhearts. What I love is that the player is given a riddle as to the way one must obtain a Wraithheart, which is much better than just outright telling the location/objective. Like most platformers, I don't see much sense in playing this game after you've gotten everything, unless you just want to play again.

I feel this game is a must buy for platformer fans, but if you're not a fan of the genre, then stay away from this.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/17/03, Updated 02/17/03