The mascot-based platformer is a genre that's been around ever since Mario went into the Mushroom Kingdom and stomped on Goombas in level 1-1. While this has slowly gotten less prevalent (due to the slow decline of platform games as a whole), it's still around here and there. But on the PlayStation, where there really never was an official mascot-like character (other than Crash Bandicoot) for the console, game publishers were churning out traditional hop & bop platform games like they were going out of style. Some were good, like Spyro the Dragon, while some were bad, like Punky Skunk (seriously, Punky Skunk was a game for the PS, and it stunk like a skunk). One of my personal favorites from the era, however, is Gex: Enter the Gecko. While outdated today, ETG was, in its time, an amusing platform game that mixed parody in level design with excellent platform elements to craft a quite underrated platform game. Unfortunately, a game like Gex was smothered by the competition, and the game never really did much despite high acclaim. No matter, Gex: Enter the Gecko is still a good platformer, and with enough depth and challenge (along with a ton of levels), well worth a buy if you're a gamer on a budget looking for good, affordable PlayStation games - if you can find it, anyway.

In Gex: Enter the Gecko, you play as Gex, a gecko (as if the title isn't an obvious giveaway). While now doing Geico insurance commercials, Gex at this time was battling something not quite as evil as insurance companies - Rez (not the virtual acid trip of a Dreamcast/PlayStation 2 game from Sega, you dolts), a huge...gecko-robot-thingy who's taken over the media dimension. Gex, at the request of some goons in suits (who had just been farted on by Gex), enters the media dimension to save it from his arch-nemesis. Within, Gex finds dozens of levels to enter, each with numerous objectives and hidden goodies to fully complete the game at 100%...yes, it's one of those kind of games.

While slightly outdated in 2004 in terms of humor targets, ETG goes after many of TV pop culture's various variables and attacks pretty relentlessly. From a batch of levels straight out of Frankenstein (complete with artwork that moves, and a quite unusual take on the Mona Lisa), or ones based in a parody of Looney Tunes cartoons, or even parodies of kung-fu B-movies and Star Wars, Gex is full of quirky looks on classic fads and classic forms of entertainment. Each level has 3 objectives - some are fetch quests, like collecting stuff, and others are just finding hidden paths or defeating something, any of those sort of things. While you do this, you collect remotes, which unlock boss levels and enable you to go on to more challenging levels. From battles with Moo-shoo Pork (a combination of a cow and a pig...you can't make this stuff up, you know), or weird dudes who supposedly live on Gilligan's Island, the game never lets up on poking fun at something.

Gex: Enter the Gecko isn't quite a traditional 3D platform game, but pretty close. Most of the levels don't have treacherous, death-defying platform elements, instead making you use Gex's natural abilities to progress. These, of course, include walking on walls to reach difficult areas, using his tongue to catch long ledges (to which you hear 'slip of the tongue, baby' every damn time he does it), to using his tail to whack stuff. There are some special moves, like eating a red fly (as opposed to green flies which keep Gex healthy) to turn your tail into a fiery tool of destruction, and he can even do a few karate kicks. Still, the main goal is to collect stuff, find hidden remotes, and whoop the boss you unlock to progress further. It's all complimented by solid controls that work well with the PlayStation controller and put you in total control...most of the time. Gex is a bit...ahem...slippery to control at times, requiring some precision in navigation, but you get used to it pretty fast.

Granted, the level design is mostly going to be judged on whether or not you dig the parodies. Each level is monstrous, but that makes sense given there's different objectives in each one. Quite often you will stumble on areas you didn't even know existed because each one is so vast and full of stuff going on. Developer Crystal Dynamics did a fine job of making each one seem fresh despite the size, and managed to make each different section of an area more unique than the last. A lot of the levels can be pretty tricky with certain things, but it's not impossible. With so many unique twists in each level (not mentioning the variety of them all, with the different parody locations), the game manages to avoid, for the most part, falling into the repetitive hole that platformers can fall into. And since this is quite a lengthy game, getting through it all will take a lot of time, especially if you want to get every possible remote, from all levels, bosses, and unlockable bonus levels that are merely mini-games, really.

Naturally, Gex: Enter the Gecko is a wee bit dated today, but for the time, was pretty sharp. There was a lot of slowdown in many places, when there's a lot of enemies on screen and the camera is a bit funky even if you have total control, which is a real drag. On the other hand, the game has nice texture work, enemy and character designs are passable, and the size of the levels is noticeable. The strong suit, though, is how well they blended in the humor aspects with the visual engine - it's worth peeking around each level to find stupid signs, silly jabs, and other dopey stuff. I can only imagine what a Gex game would be like on today's systems, with the power they hold for sneaking stuff like that in. It's just fun walking through the Frankenstein-like mansion and looking at the portraits around the place with moving eyes and other deformities.

Gex talks in his game, thanks to Dana Gould and his snappy one-liners. While most are incredibly obscure (like Dennis Miller obscure), a few are deadpan funny and fit each theme of the level, like Star Wars gags and cracks from Bruce Lee movies. Unfortunately, the downside is, despite hundreds of comments, they tend to repeat way too often and get boring after a while, and they cannot be turned off other than hitting the mute button on the television. Still, the first time through, they're mostly funny, if a bit obscure at times.

Otherwise, the music in the game fits each area, with fruity, cheesy music in the cartoon levels to faux-creepy tunes in the horror-based levels, even a really, really, really cheesy kung-fu theme that plays on those. Each one has a perfect theme for each level type, helping nail the parody perfectly. A few kinda stink (the theme for the 'inside a computer' levels is lame-o), but for the most part, are perfect fits.

The Bottom Line

Outdated? Sure. Surpassed? Yep. But still Gex: Enter the Gecko is an underrated classic and one of my favorite PlayStation games, that I still break out today. Compared to games like Jak, or Mario, or Ratchet, it's not quite as good, but the blend of parody and good level design is a winner personally. The sequel took the series for a nosedive, but before then, ETG was one of the better platform games for its era - even if nobody really ever played it. It's probably tough to find nowadays, but if you do come across it, you might be surprised to see that it's better than most PS platform games that got much more attention.

Recommended: Yes