Vexx (GameCube) review "If you are a fan of Super Mario 64, Jak and Daxter, and Banjo Kazooie, you will no doubt about it love this one."

Ah, platformers. They have been around for awhile. They have always been and still are a popular genre of video games. Acclaim brings out another platforming hero who they named Vexx. If you are a fan of Super Mario 64, Jak and Daxter, and Banjo Kazooie, you will no doubt about it love this one. It was intended to be a franchise platformer but they never made an installment past its first launch title.

But that does not matter. If you love platformers or those titles listed above, then you will love this one. Let's start with the story. The shadowwraiths and their leader Dark Yabu take over the realm of a planet called Astara and capture and enslave Vexx, his grandfather, and all the villagers in mines, and Vexx will do anything to get revenge on him and save his grandfather. I know it sounds familiar. It's simple and nothing too exciting or engaging. It follows on the idea of stories of other platformers. You are trying to collect a certain number of objects to defeat an evil creature who is trying to take over a certain town or kingdom, usually involving saving some kind of people.

It's short, sweet, and to the point. I don't like it when stories are complicated and there is a lot happening because then it gets hard to understand and it interferes with gameplay, which Vexx does not do. If the story was not this, then Vexx would not have been a true platformer. However, this may be a disappointment to other gamers. But I was very happy and satisfied with the story. However, the only major disappointment I had with the story was that Vexx never talks. He just roars and yells. But other than that, it was great and there were really no scenes that interrupted gameplay. I liked that a lot and I thank Acclaim for doing that because I personally do not like to watch cutscenes in video games, especially platformers because I do not really care much about the story in video games. I just want to play them. As long as it's some kind of story and not no story at all, then I'm fine with that.

Gameplay is truly awesome. You basically have to travel through nine different worlds and complete a variety of missions to collect shadowraith hearts. They are like 64's stars, Sunshine's sprites, Jak and Daxter's power cells, and Banjo Kazooie's jiggie pieces, but instead these are real human hearts, and you can actually hear them beat when you approach them. How cool is that? Vexx features all the expected moves of platforming: jumping gaps and platforms, climbing poles, swimming underwater, and more. Most of the missions are platforming segments that are insanely difficult and really test your skill, patience, and diligence. Platforms are cleverly placed and will move, rotate, or turn in positions that require accurate timing, precise jumps, and trial and error to beat. These platforming segments are frustrating and agitate you to the point where you want to yell and scream and throw your controller against the wall because if you die, you have to replay the same part over and over again until you get it right. It feels unbearable. You could be thinking to yourself, I could have already been passed this part a long time ago, but it is taking forever because it is so hard. It kind of takes away the enjoyment and pleasure of the game and might even discourage some players from continuing on, but they are still probably likely to keep playing because the platforming gameplay is just so fun and addictive, and it is also rewarding to obtain a wraitheart after completing a mission and to beat the entire game.

The difficulty may be devilishly evil and brutal sometimes but it's certainly not a reason not to buy and play this game. Now, if you look up Vexx in the dictionary without the second x at the end, its definition is to frustrate or annoy. What an ironic coincidence. That may be so, but even though these platforming segments are unbearably frustrating, they are also extremely nostalgic, memorable, fun, entertaining, enjoyable, and addictive. There is just something about them that gives you a warm feeling of pleasure that it's hard to describe. Once you grab that wraitheart, you will feel nothing but satisfaction. They are just so fun, yet frustrating at the same time.

You will often realize what your mistake was when jumping and will realize sooner or later that when you die, it was not the controller's fault, but it was simply your fault. It will take you a long while to realize this, but hey, that's what platformers are all about. When you start a platforming segment, you don't want to put it down. It glues your eyes to the screen and hands to the controller. They are just a blast to play and are worth the frustration. They are time consuming and will keep you busy for a long time.

The backgrounds and platforming segments in this game are so unpredictable and you just want to see what the next area is going to look like and what you are going to do next. Also, as you progress through each mission in a world, you will find that you will be coming back to the exact same place as you went in the very first mission of that world, but then following a different direction that leads to some other place. This pattern felt needed and made you get the hang of the game. And you know what? When you replay the game, it actually ends up being extremely easy because you will be more familiar with the look and feel of how all the sections and segments work and you end up thinking to yourself....man, how was this even difficult the first time around? Then you can have a good laugh about it and enjoy it even more the second, third, etc. time around as it will be more laid back and not something you want to throw at the wall.

Other missions include mini games where you must grab more rings or break more floor tiles than your opponents in three rounds. These are also extremely fun, but relaxing, not frustrating, and they offer a nice change in variety from the platforming segments. There are also a few puzzles in the game. That's right. Not all platformers do without a little bit of thinking, although most of them do. I hate puzzles. So thank god there were very little puzzles in this game. There were actually so few that there are almost none, and when there ARE puzzles, they are rather boring and frustrating because you have to think and use your brain to solve them.

But don't worry about that, because as I just said there are very few and almost none. If there were many more puzzles, well then I would have hated this game. I found Vexx myself to be pretty straightforward, and that's why I like platformers. However one of the puzzles in the fifth world underwater involving statues is actually really easy and so much fun to play, so that was a big plus of one of the puzzles in the game. Environments of worlds include a desert, forest, volcano, icy snow mountain, castle, underwater ocean, a house and more. They are all so beautifully crafted and well layed out, and they are all so eye-catching. There is so much to see and discover in each world because they are so big and wide open.

There are nine worlds in Vexx. Each world requires you to collect a certain number of wraithearts in order to unlock it. You access each world and select each mission from the rift hub. Once you complete one mission, you will go back and use the wraitheart to return power to the center of the rift hub, and then you will go back to the world and select another mission. For each mission, there are riddles that give you a clue on how to obtain the heart, and each and every single one of them rhyme. But there was really no need for them, because the great part about this game is that Acclaim has put red signpost arrows pointing you in the exact direction that you need to go to obtain the heart. Now that was smart. If there were no arrows, then I would not have bought this game because I would have to decipher the riddles and figure out where to go. That would have been annoying, and if they did that, it would not have been a platformer. Heck, it would not have even been a game. It would have been a chore. So the riddles were useless because I never used them since I just followed the arrows.

The reason why I think Acclaim included riddles for each mission is because they are there just to read for fun. They are not there to help guide you to the wraitheart. They are there for you to decipher how they relate to what you do in the mission to obtain the wraitheart and figure out what they mean just for fun. The rhymes were so catchy and creative. They are really clever and awesome riddles, and they associated them well with the missions. They make you wonder how Acclaim has the skill and talent to write that good and cleverly. The rhymes really did make sense and go well with the missions. You don't really even have to decipher most of them, because once you complete a mission, you will immediately understand what most of the riddles meant when you read them. Not all of them are like that though.

This is a non-linear game with non-linear worlds. There are two reasons for that. One would be because you do not have to obtain the wraithearts in a specific order. If you do not like one mission or think it is too hard to complete, you can move on to the next. Or if you have enough wraithearts, you can move on to the next world or any other world you want and then come back to the hard ones later. If you have enough wraithearts to unlock the next world though, you do not have to go back if you don't want to. You do not have to collect all the wraithearts. You can proceed in any order you wish and select any mission you want.

But the thing is that if you keep moving on too quickly, you might have to go back to a previous world and get some more wraithearts first before you can move on to the next world. Since I knew from the very beginning that this would be a waste of time, I did all the missions in the order they go and tried my best to complete them all, with the exception of skipping a mission when I don't like it or think it is too hard.

I don't like mixing things up and going in a different order. While some people may find that interesting, I don't like it and prefer to go one by one. So I am glad that Acclaim allowed you to make this game linear for yourself if you want, and I am also glad that they allowed you to skip a mission if it is too hard and frustrating. It lets you go at your own pace. Acclaim probably let players do this because of its very hard difficulty. Acclaim allowing you to skip a mission is just like Rare allowing you to use the Super Guide in Donkey Kong Country Returns. Since they are both hard games and since you might take ages just to finish one mission, they allow you ways to move on to the next mission.

The second reason why this is a non-linear game is because you can ignore the arrows in the worlds and go in any direction you want. When you complete one mission, you select another from that same world (or any world if you have enough wraithearts). The arrows that point you in the correct path do not show up again in the same direction in the next objective, of course. But you do not have to follow these arrows. You can try to figure out where the other hearts are by yourself. But like I said, this is annoying and makes the game a chore. That's why I prefer to follow the arrows. If you do not like non-linear games but love platformers, that should not stop you from buying this game because you can simply make it linear for yourself. You can do each and every one of the missions in a straightforward fashion in the order they go, and you can simply follow the arrows for guidance.

There are 81 total hearts in the game that completionists can go for, but you only need 60 to fight the final boss Dark Yabu and beat the game. One of my biggest complaints about this game is that the final boss is HARD. There are three total phases, and if you die, you have to go back to the first stage and replay it over and over again until you finally get past the third and final phase and defeat him once and for all. This just makes the final boss a lot more frustrating and harder than it needs to be. Not only that, but it also gets boring, tedious, and monotonous. Not cool at all Acclaim. However, you will replay the second phase so many times that you will eventually remember the pattern of his attacks, and from that point on, the boss fight will be nothing but cake, and it can then be fun to play through several times over again.

The last two missions in each world are the soul jars and shards. In the soul jar missions, you have to go around and collect six golden soul jars hidden and scattered throughout each world, which are like Jak and Daxter's scout flies and Banjo Kazooie's Jinjo creatures. However unlike those games, not all of them are hidden and have you just exploring and hunting around for them. Some of them have you doing some sort of creative or unique task to obtain them when they are in obvious sight such as jumping across historic tapestries, going into six sides of a Rubik's Cube, walking onto a Chandelier, and shooting and breaking six glass doors with a ship that contain the soul jars locked behind them. I liked those ones a lot better not only because they were easy, but also because they changed things up a bit, stepped things up a notch, and made the soul jar missions more interesting, exciting, and fun instead of being repetitive with them.

In the shard missions, you have to go around and collect one hundred shards that look like tiny circles like Mario 64's red coins, Jak and Daxter's precursor orbs, and Banjo Kazooie's musical notes, and when you do, they form into a wraitheart. Some are easy to find while others are placed in harder locations. The shards that are easy to find are in a long line. The shards that are hard to find are in small incremental groups of three or four in different spots and areas that you must search for to find, almost as if you are looking for soul jars.

Now on to the worst part of the game in my opinion. Each world contains a sundial with a sundial mission. The sundial allows you to change the time of day from day to night or from night to day, and enemies are harder to attack and kill at night. I really thought this was a silly pointless feature to include in the game. I hate night time because it is too dark and it is hard to see. Daytime makes it a true platformer. Sometimes when you start a mission, the game will automatically start it at night, and if you don't like night, then you have to go to the sundial first and change the time to day and then restart the mission because you might have lost the arrows. No Acclaim. This just messes everything up. If you haven't found the sundial yet, it makes it even worse because you have to waste time searching for it. Even if you know where it is, it is still a pain just going to it, and most if not all people won't even bother doing that and will just be forced to play through the mission at night.

In the sundial missions, you must go to the sundial and turn the arrow in between the two small red points, and then you must go find the secret sundial portal. Once you find it, then you must navigate through a separate area to obtain the wraitheart, each of which look the same but the backgrounds change and they get harder as you progress.

They could have already had you enter the portal right after you select the mission from the rift hub. That way, the sundial missions would still be the same, but it would have made things a lot faster, easier, and more fun to play. You would not have to first search for and find the sundial if you haven't already or not have to go to it even if you already found it before, you would not have to move the arrow in between the two red points, and you would not have to then go search for and find the actual sundial portal itself after that or again mot have to go to that even if you found it before. That would have been a lot better. The sundial would not exist because there would have been no need for it. Oh well. What can you do? After all, the title of the game IS Vexx.

Now about the fighting and combat in Vexx. His standard attacks are hitting and slashing with his claws, an uppercut which hits and slashes enemies above him, long jumping, pulse jumping, and ground pounding to smash platforms below you. If you kill enough enemies, it builds up your energy meter and you gain a special energy attack which look like blue laser beams which I think is so sick and incredible. There is also a juggling system where you can actually juggle your enemies to build up energy, but I never used it. It just isn't relevant to the game at all, a chore to even bother with, and it is really just an unnecessary nuisance that shouldn't have even been given as a move in this game. Also in many cases you can simply just bypass enemies without even having to touch them. If you can do that, then what good are the enemies? Their existence serves no purpose. If you're going to have more enemies, make them unavoidable and mandatory to kill. It makes no sense to make enemies be optional. It is either a wasted opportunity or a wasted use of combat depending on whether or not you choose to kill the enemies, but really who would even want to bother fighting the enemies if you don't have to and there is no benefit or progression to come of it? It is simply a waste of time. However there are of course many times too where if you pass them, they can attack you when you are trying to jump a platform or climb a wall, and you will fall and die. So you will have to defeat them whenever those times happen so they will not get in your way later or cause you any trouble, which is good because you need enemies to kill because without them the game would feel kind of empty. There is one mission in the 6th world where you enter a room and have to defeat a horde of enemies in a time limit which like the mini games offers more variety and a break from the platforming segments, and it does give more use of combat and enemies to kill, but there should've been more of these missions like there were more of the mini games. And since the mini games come up multiple times, I don't see why this one timed enemy killing segment didn't come up multiple times either. Of course I'm not saying they should replace other missions, but just be added as another mission in a few of the worlds.

There are two powerups in Vexx. There is the Rock Suit and there is the Air Suit. The Rock Suit makes you look like a red rock, and you use it to break through doors and domes that contain wraithearts. You can only open them with the Rock Suit. The Air Suit lets you fly like a bird to obtain a wraitheart that is far away and requires you to fly high in the sky to get there fast. One mission with the Air Suit has you flying through rings. But first before you get these powerups, you must first find them to unlock them. You can't get all 81 wraithearts if you don't find the two powerups. That was unfair and Acclaim should not have done that. They are actually pretty hard to find and I had to look up where one of them was online, so they should've just had them available to you from the start. Once you get them though, you will sometimes encounter a red or yellow switch. The red one activates the Rock Suit, and the yellow one activates the Air Suit. You only have a limited time as each, so you must use it wisely to obtain the wraitheart and think fast to know what you are supposed to do. Flying is of course really cool and fun and actually felt needed in the game to make it feel complete. But it would've been nice to have more than just two of them and make them longer and add some obstacles in the air to make it more of a challenge, which many platformers that have flying segments do. So I was very shocked that this game didn't do that. If it did, it would've been another even better addition of variety and break from the platforming segments. It still slightly is, but not significant enough to even matter like it should. Also one of the two rock suit missions is really hard because you are stuck in an ice cave and have to find your way around to the wraitheart with the rock suit which is complicated and I had to watch an LP of it on YouTube to figure it out like I've done with other games too sometimes. So I wish that one would've been easier.

One of the other problems I have with this game besides the evil, brutal difficulty is the camera. There are times where it will refuse to respond or cooperate. Although it does go in a 360 degree angle, there are times when you try to turn it in in a forward direction where your path is so you can see better, but it either will simply just not move or it moves back to its original sideways position and will not allow you to view forward. This can cause many falls and unwanted deaths. This happens in many platformers, and I don't understand why developing time can't be taken to fix the camera so it will not take away the goodness of the game.

Another problem is that there were not enough bosses. There is a sumo wrestler that you fight twice in the game and can be a challenge if you are trying to get the feel of the pattern, and there is also a guy that rolls into a boulder and lands on spots on the ground and tries to crush you and you must avoid his crushes and rolls and then when he transforms back, you must attack him three times to take away one of his lives. He has three lives, so you must hit him a total of nine times, but he gets faster and harder as you progress. However, these would only be considered mini bosses, not real bosses. The only real boss is Dark Yabu at the end of the game. Come on Acclaim, seriously? This is a platformer. No real, big boss fights? There should be a boss fight at the end of every world. This was a serious letdown and a major disappointment. I feel like sending a complaint letter over to them.

The final problem is its long loading times. The spinning circle will freeze for about ten seconds, and then you must wait about another ten seconds after that for it to spin and fully load. It gets annoying after awhile.

The graphics are nice, but not what I would call over the top or awesome. The picture looks old, faded, and slightly dark. That's because this is an old game. They are not dark where you can't see. They are bright and clear enough where you can see where you are going. They really are not bad. They are really good, but not the best that other video games have given, and nothing extreme. That's all. They are not great or awesome, but they are good, acceptable, passable, and look nice.

Most of the music in this game are just pathetic sounds that do not even sound like a real song, and you can barely hear anything because the volume of the audio is just so low making most of the music vague and unnoticeable that it's almost like it doesn't exist. That was another major disappointment and a serious letdown, and Acclaim could have done more to make the audio and soundtrack more of a pleasure. There is no mood, enthusiasm, or expression to most of the music in this game that keeps it fresh. This was a platformer so I expected a lot out of the music, but gee, you know, what a shame. Some of the music in this game, however, is pretty epic, intense, and upbeat. The rest of the music is nothing extraordinary and is pretty standard, but it's still awesome. So not all the music is terrible, but most of it is. However, if you are a die hard platforming fan, you will get so caught up in gameplay that you will hardly ever notice or hear the music playing anyway. I was one of those people.

This truly is a gem of a platforming title for Gamecube, Playstation 2, and Xbox. It suit my video game taste. It is what I have always wanted to play, and it is the type of video game that was right for me. The platformer genre is what a lot of video games are lacking this generation. They started out in 2D but then moved to 3D and looked even better and more exciting, but we haven't really seen that many platformers nowadays because they have stopped making them since RPGs and shooters came along, took over, and dominated this current generation of video games. There are several classic underrated or unknown platforming character icons that are similar to Mario and this is one of them and I love them all, but this one is the best of them all and it could have even stood out on its own to be as popular as Mario, as well as all the others but especially this one, but they never did. People consider games like these a "ripoff" or "copycat" of Mario, but 1 who cares and 2 it actually is not.

You cannot compare other platforming heroes like Vexx to Mario, because that's like calling all other genres a ripoff of the dominant most popular game of each of those genres too which makes no sense. Each game in the genre is SUPPOSED to be similar in style of play. DUUUH! Because well...that's why they call it a GENRE. Don't people know that? But the fact that there are different looking worlds, graphics, music, and objectives are what make each platformer, or games of any other genre really, unique and stand out from the rest of the games. But you don't hear people saying that for games of any other genres now do you? So the argument that games like Vexx are a "cheap Mario ripoff" or "unoriginal Mario copycats" is invalid, senseless, and ludicrous. It is copying gameplay concept, idea, mechanics, and elements yes, because well...it is the same genre so it obviously has to do that. But it is in no way shape or form "ripping off" Mario. People who say that must just not like platformers or not know the basis of what makes up a good quality game.

They also claim to say that it came too late to the ball game and that the formula is outdated and if you read Gamestop's review they say it would've fared better during the Nintendo 64 era. You know what I say to that? HORSESHIT! Whoever thinks platformers like these are outdated must be out of their mind. A Mario style formula can work anytime of any decade no matter how much time has passed. This is quite frankly insulting to platforming fans and to the genre itself. Platformers do not deserve this kind of bias treatment. There are many people who would kill to play this kind of game even in today's gaming era. Platforming is not old or overdone and never will be. Again, you don't hear games of other genres being talked about like this do you? I thought so!

Platforming is no exception and has its place in the modern gaming world too. If everyone acknowledged these statements as facts, then Vexx and all the others could've been just as popular as Mario and Sonic and even seen sequels. But hey, point set aside, I also actually would not have liked seeing sequels to non-Mario games because in my opinion I think that having only 1 game makes it more unique as well...You know what I mean? So maybe it being underappreciated is a good thing, but as I said, it could've still been just as popular with as much demand and making just as many sales as Mario even without sequels if people understood and agreed with these points. But if a sequel is what it would take for it to be as popular as Mario, then hey why not I guess I would've been down with that.

The platforming segments in this game are pure gold from top to bottom. But the other minor problems and complaints do not make the entire game perfectly polished. However, they are still so minor that they are enough to be outweighed by the gameplay to give it a perfect 10 if it weren't for the evil, brutal difficulty. This is truly a platformer at heart just like with Mario. I am always looking for a platformer that is similar to Mario but with a different character. First I found Klonoa, and then I found Vexx. What a gift. That's why I will never trade it in. Also because it is rare and unknown. I want to keep it as a part of my collection forever. Vexx is nothing extraordinary. It's just a standard platformer as all. But I think of all platformers as just plain fun and awesome.

I have played many platformers, and this one still did not even a little give me the feeling of been there, done that. It just never gets old because although all platformers share the same objective of jumping platforms and collecting objects, the backgrounds, worlds, environments, and platforms are different in each game making them all truly great. However, this is for die hard platforming fans only. This is also for hardcore players only, not new or casual. If you are a new or casual player, this game will be way too hard for you and will take you a week or a month to beat. If you are a hardcore player, it will still be a difficult challenge and will take you about two or three days to beat. The game was not too short, which is a problem that most platformers have. That was surprising. It was a long game that took me like 20 hours to get 60 hearts. And it took me about another 5 hours to get about 17 more hearts. Only 4 more to go.

I have played through most of this game twice, and the funny thing is that if you play through it again, it seems so much easier and so much more relaxing the second time around that you will more than likely think to yourself, how on Earth was this so hard the first time I did this? It's so easy now. The answer to that question is because when you played it the first time, you did not know what to expect from all the levels. You did not know what you were going to do in the missions or how you were going to do it. You did not know what the levels were going to look like or how the obstacles would move in the objective, and whenever you encountered an obstacle, you had to figure out how to get around it. But the second time, you already know all that by heart, and the game is even more fun than it was the first time you played it.

If you are a hardcore gamer and a die hard platforming fan, buy this game. You won't regret it. To hardcore players, dying in this game will be fun and you will hardly ever get frustrated by it because that will show that it is a challenge and I believe that's what you hardcore freaks want. But if you are a new or casual player, it would be a good idea to skip it. But even though if you love platformers and want to give it a shot, nothing should stop you. But I am warning you, it is extremely hard the first time through and like all platformers, is very frustrating and tests your patience. Overall, Vexx is a masterpiece and a work of art that is so underappreciated and needs to be known and played by more people. Unfortunately because of the lack of boss battles, slightly defective camera, mostly subpar to poor music tracks, excruciatingly long loading times, the addition of a sundial and a search for it and its portal, useless boring juggling system, bypassable enemies, a lack of time length and challenge in the flying suit, one confusing rock suit mission, a lack of timed enemy killing rooms, the game falls short of a few minor expectations and gets knocked off a star and keeps it from getting a perfect score, but other than that, it's an awesome game that must be checked out and enjoyed by its target platforming fan audience.

Community review by Smiley_Face123 (July 11, 2016) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.