Crystal Dynamics have followed accepted videogames wisdom by making Gex's central character an animal. Slightly less conventional is the fact that they've chosen as their eponymous hero a hyperactive gecko lizard with a twisted sense of humour and the voice of Dana Gould, presenter of a tacky American TV show.
According to the plot, Gex has been sucked into the Media Dimension, a place dominated by kitsch culture - '50s B-movies, lunchtime game shows, etc. His object is to destroy all the television sets in this lurid limbo and then defect arch-enemy Rez Zul.
All Gex's movements - consisting of over 450 frames of animation - were created on SGI gear using a process similar to that employed by Rare for Donkey Kong Country. What distinguishes Gex from most other platform characters, though, is that he doesn't suffer from gravitational limitations: his sucker feet enable him to shin up walls and cling to ceilings, which means he can circument obstacles that Sonic or Mario would find impassable.
Gex has other lizard resources; when confronted by an enemy he can use his thrashing tail as a weapon or lash out with his darting tongue. Power-ups are also available; bluebottles and dragonflies take the place of the more usual rings and coins and allow Gex to fly or throw fireballs.
18 months after launch, the 3DO has a representative from almost every videogame genre, with the most obvious absense being a killer platformer. Although Gex, with its unorthodox main character and obscure cultural references, isn't exactly standard platform fare, it could prove to be the format's equivalent of Mario.
michel.buffa@essi.fr