Platforming games used to be a dime a dozen, but as the years pass by, we tend to see less and less of them, often for good reasons. Platformers are notorious for copying the techniques and play mechanics of the Super Mario Bros. series, and often offer little to no engaging storyline. Developers could get away with that several years ago, but with today's modern budgets for game projects, the often overbearing cost of being a gamer with three major consoles on the market, and the demand for quality rather than quantity, this is simply no longer the case. While people may gripe about the lack of games coming from within, say, Nintendo's internal development teams, the grumbling and whining comes to a standstill when they finally release those heralded few gems each year.

Thus, the platforming genre has sort of fallen to the wayside to make room for new and innovative types of games, or at least a reworking of old formulas. But, how does one reinvent the platforming genre to keep gamers forking over their cash? Nintendo tried to do this by giving Mario a water jet pack. Sony is trying to develop new and fresh franchises like Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank, the latter of which shifted the focus from random item collection to a more weapon-based approach. To keep this genre alive, developers continually have to rebuild the wheel.

Now, I'm going to say this up front: I do not think that Acclaim is a company that is concerned with innovation and reinventing the wheel. This is not an defamatory remark; the company, by the games it releases, is more concerned with releasing games in established genres that will appeal to the mass market. That is their niche. That is both good and bad for the company; it can prove to be financially successful (some of the time), but it does not push the industry forward. Unfortunately, although I had hopes that Vexx would be somewhat different, it is not. It tries really, really hard, but certain elements of the game are simply so unpolished that it is impossible to overlook them.

What does Vexx do right? Well, for starters, it establishes a recognizable character. The name "Vexx," itself, has a nice ring to it, and the character's design is unique enough that most anyone could pick him out of a lineup. The spikey hair and the giant spiked gloves are a dead giveaway. Vexx himself has a unique enough appearance to separate him from the bland characters out there (e.g., Ty the Tasmanian Tiger or Kao the Kangaroo), and enough personality to remove him from the sorry ranks of characters like the all-but-dead Bubsy and the generic, been-there-done-that air of Gex the Gecko.

To compliment our interesting character, we have an interesting world in which to interact. The world of Vexx is split into nine fairly distinct areas, all of them large in size and presented in different atmospheres. Most of these levels are intricately designed, although sometimes the level design gets a bit cumbersome, and traversing through them feels like more of a chore than of exploration. This is certainly not always the case, but some of the challenges presented are ridiculously out of the way.

This brings us to the core of the gameplay: obtaining the "wraith hearts" (the equivalent of Super Mario 64's stars or Mario Sunshine's shines). Each level has a slew of them to obtain, and in general, the design team did a good job of setting this system up. You can chose which one you wish to obtain at the start of the level, or at any point during the level, which is a real plus. Some of the tasks that you need to complete to get a heart are really interesting, and sometimes difficult, but the game helps you out (whether you like it or not) with a riddle to help get you thinking, and signs to point
you in exactly the right direction. Granted, nothing is spelled out for you, but at times you'll be thankful for the help, and other times you'll wish you weren't being babied. Sometimes that is a fine line.

Also, while the music is sometimes minimally played in the background, I really loved it. I thought most of the pieces were incredibly catchy and appropriately moody. This is much better than the repetitive, overly happy music employed by the Mario games, and the overly minimalist and theme-lacking approach used in games like Jak and Daxter.

Unfortunately, like far too many Acclaim games lately, the game still fails in far too many areas. Despite what the game has going for it (mostly decent graphics, interesting environments, great music, and a solid, dark theme), the places that needed the most work seem to have received none. My biggest complaint is the camera: it makes the game virtually unplayable. It is so very, very awful, and it really upset me, because I wanted to get into this game so much more than the camera allowed me. It would get stuck behind walls, caught in the ceiling, obscure my view on long and perilous jumps, refuse to rotate to give me an optimal angle when I really needed it, and that is just for starters. The default behind-the-character view never seems to be exactly right, and with levels where the character is always changing position (be that vertically or horizontally), the camera never seems to find a comfortable spot, and I'm always having to adjust it, even then to unsatisfactory results. I think this really kills the game in the grand scheme of things.

There are other nuances that caused me headaches. The framerate, while at times solid, just as often seems to stutter for no apparent reason. I'm not talking about major hiccups or pauses in the gameplay; rather, for no immediately apparent reason, the framerate seems to dip from sixty frames per second, down to thirty, back up to sixty, down to twenty, back up to sixty, and so on and so forth. This serves to completely disconnect the player from the experience. I would have gladly accepted a solid thirty frames per-second over a game that tries for sixty but cannot keep up.

Other graphical problems are the games inconsistent texturing and rough polygonal edges. One minute your jaw will be dropping at the beauty of some of the environments, while in the next you will be grimacing at the low resolution textures and blockiness of it all. It is apparent that the design time had high aspirations for the look of the game, and for that I commend them. However, I have seen better looking games with a better camera and solid framerate that have been released before this game. Plus, considering the game's history of delays, I see no excuse for it. If it wasn't done, it shouldn't have been released. If it is done, I question the integrity of the quality assurance team. The game certainly does not feel done.

To top things off, far too many of the same enemies keep appearing in different levels, and many of them are just boring or bothersome (as well as strangely difficult to kill). Thankfully, you are supplied with a hearty helping of interesting and fun moves to perform, all of which look extremely powerful, but often don't seem to pack the punch that the graphics on screen portray (though I have to admit that this game has some of the best controls used for swimming that I have seen in a long time). Additionally, like far too many of its predecessors, Vexx's story simply does not make much sense. There is a convoluted story of exacting your revenge on the wizard, Yabu, but the gameplay seems to in no way reflect that. The story and the game itself feel utterly disconnected, and kills any element of congruency.

Let me restate: Vexx had a lot of potential, and the art and design team were clearly ambitious and imaginative. Unfortunately, the finished product feels exactly the opposite: unfinished. Despite offering a wonderfully unique world and some interesting ideas, it does nothing to push the genre into the future, and its layered problems hinder the game from being something special and memorable. If you are aching for a new platformer, go ahead and give this one a rent, but unless you can overlook the game's deep-rooted technical problems, I don't think I can recommend a purchase. Perhaps we can hope for fixes to these problems in a sequel.