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Post by X-pert74 on Mar 31, 2015 11:38:20 GMT -5
Are any of the Gex games good? I remember seeing advertisements for all of them in magazines as they came out, beginning with Gex: Enter The Gecko, but never played any of them.
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Post by Weasel on Mar 31, 2015 12:06:54 GMT -5
Are any of the Gex games good? I remember seeing advertisements for all of them in magazines as they came out, beginning with Gex: Enter The Gecko, but never played any of them. The first game, the 2D platformer for 3DO/Playstation/Saturn, is actually fairly alright. The platforming physics are fine, the graphics are reasonably solid, and the only real obstacles IMO are the harebrained save game system (you have to enter one specific level and find a VHS tape, then exit the level with it WITHOUT DYING) and Dana Gould's constantly repeating one-liners (which can be turned off). Gex 2 was an unfortunate attempt at mimicking Super Mario 64; the view distance is quite low, the camera is obnoxious, the controls are a bit laggy at best, and most of the collectibles in the game are "hidden" by the camera and the intense fog. Gex 3 kind of fixed the fog, and the camera, but the controls are still pretty stiff and laggy, and Dana Gould still repeats a lot of his lines, but at least the level designs are a little better and more imaginative. I guess your enjoyment of the series really depends on how willing you are to put up with 3D Platform Hell.
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Post by Bobinator on Mar 31, 2015 12:07:38 GMT -5
The first game is a pretty solid 2D platformer with an interesting mechanic where you can move across walls and cielings, which I've always really liked. It came out in that very short era in 2D platformers where they all got a lot harder for a little while, along with having a lot of hidden collectibles if you wanted the best ending. (In this case, getting a perfect onall the bonus stages.) It can get pretty tough at times, but I'd call it a solid game over all.
2 and 3? That's tougher to say. They're early 3D platformers that came out not long after Mario 64, so you can expect a lot of camera control issues. I wouldn't call them bad games, and I'm the sort of person who likes the whole genre enough that I've enjoyed them, but unless you really like 3D platformers, you probably won't miss too much.
Note that the biggest issue with the whole series is that Gex talks all the time, usually repeating the same lines again and again. You can turn the voices off, sure, but keep that in mind. The PAL versions of 2 and 3 give Gex a different, slightly softer voice actor, though, which makes him a little more bearable to listen to. If you have a way to play them, you probably want to go that way.
^ Ah, dang, Weasel beat me to it. Yeah, he pretty much has it right.
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Post by Weasel on Mar 31, 2015 12:40:10 GMT -5
Note that the biggest issue with the whole series is that Gex talks all the time, usually repeating the same lines again and again. You can turn the voices off, sure, but keep that in mind. The PAL versions of 2 and 3 give Gex a different, slightly softer voice actor, though, which makes him a little more bearable to listen to. If you have a way to play them, you probably want to go that way. Yes - Gex 2 replaces him with Leslie Phillips (Hactar from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series), and Gex 3 swaps him for Danny John-Jules (The Cat, from Red Dwarf).
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rtmtype
New Member
I am a human that enjoys retro games and collecting said retro games. You are now my friend
Posts: 4
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Post by rtmtype on Mar 31, 2015 16:43:34 GMT -5
I just bought a 3DO with 29 games from a guy (friend of a friend), the first Gex being one of them. I didn't love the game, but it wasn't terrible. Dana Gould was the huge turn-off for me as was already mentioned, but I wasn't aware you could mute him. I'll have to give it another shot...maybe...
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Post by ReyVGM on Mar 31, 2015 17:14:45 GMT -5
No offense to anyone, but I guess Gex 1 is the type of game that people who grew up playing consoles like Amiga would like (mostly Europeans).
People that grew up playing Japanese games of the era are usually turned off by the common flaws European/Western made games of the era had, even games that are considered good have them: delicate hit detection, cheap hits, spastic jumping, blind jumps, touchy controls, and confusingly-bad labyrinthine levels (in sidescrollers and shooters).
I'm not saying Japanese games were devoid of those flaws, but it is very rare to find a critically acclaimed Japanese game of the era with those problems.
Over the decades I've played a lot of those popular Euro/Western games on the SNES, Amiga, Genesis, and I honestly can't understand what's so good about them. I usually got massacred on the first level due to the poor controls. Games such as Shadow of the Beast, Dizzy, James Pond, Turrican, Gex, Mickey Mania, Lion King, and many many others are well-regarded (or at least popular with gamers of the era), but I just can't bear to stand them because the controls are so touchy, the jumping is usually really quick you barely have time to react and land safely, there are a LOT of blind jumps, cheap hits, and the levels are huge mazes.
I really like Super Turrican by the way, but it doesn't hold a candle to Contra.
I noticed at a very early age that Japanese devs cared more about tight controls and careful level design, meanwhile European/Western devs cared more about graphics and animation.
And again, I'm mostly talking about the popular stuff. Of course there were horrible Japanese games. But in quality, the best European game of that era can barely touch a decent Japanese game of the same era.
In my opinion, of course.
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Post by cambertian on Mar 31, 2015 17:36:11 GMT -5
That's true to an extent, but if you're ever a programmer, you start to realize that having non-touchy controls and non-weird collision and well-designed graphical tricks and... etc. is almost completely unobtainable. It's not as easy as "spend 5 minutes working on controls and they'll be perfect," oh no. You'll be changing them over and over again to try and resolve conflicts with the terrain, make it look smoother, make it less CPU intensive, etc.
Unless you have unlimited funds at your company, you have to stop somewhere.
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Post by Bobinator on Mar 31, 2015 17:39:44 GMT -5
No offense to anyone, but I guess Gex 1 is the type of game that people who grew up playing consoles like Amiga would like (mostly Europeans). Thing is, Crystal Dynamics is located in California, so it's not technically European. If I had to make a guess, though, I'd bet they were inspired by Donkey Kong Country when it came to gameplay and level design, and that's a British game, so... hmm. I will agree you're generally correct on European game design, though. There's a particular term some folk on the IRC use called "Eurojank", which I'd say is a perfect description for that kind of thing. If I had to make a guess as to say it happens, I'd say it's because British/European developers were more likely following closer to other European games, like what you'd find on the Spectrum. Since those never made a splash over in the US, I'd say that stuff like Gex was following more along with stuff like Mario, Sonic, and Donkey Kong Country.
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Post by ReyVGM on Mar 31, 2015 17:42:33 GMT -5
Thing is, Crystal Dynamics is located in California, so it's not technically European. Well, I should have used the term "Western" instead of European. In my mind I'm stuck using European since in that era, most of those types of games came from Europe. I'll change it to avoid any confusion. I doubt it. DKC was pretty much released on the same date as Gex. However, both are inspired in that Euro/Western style of game yes, even if DKC is a bit more polished and at least doesn't have maze-like levels. That's true to an extent, but if you're ever a programmer, you start to realize that having non-touchy controls and non-weird collision and well-designed graphical tricks and... etc. is almost completely unobtainable. It's not as easy as "spend 5 minutes working on controls and they'll be perfect," oh no. You'll be changing them over and over again to try and resolve conflicts with the terrain, make it look smoother, make it less CPU intensive, etc. Unless you have unlimited funds at your company, you have to stop somewhere. I understand good controls don't just happen, but neither does good graphics. And if the Japanese were able to strike a balance, I don't see why couldn't Western devs of the era do the same. The simple fact is that, they strive more for realism, graphics, animation, and not how the game actually plays or if it's even fun. And not to open a can of worms, but this is the reason why I like the SNES Aladdin more than the Genesis one. In the SNES one I feel like I'm fighting the enemies, on the Genesis one I feel like I'm fighting the hit detection and controls (like most Virgin developed games).
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Post by X-pert74 on Mar 31, 2015 19:51:26 GMT -5
I have noticed that too, about most Western-developed vs. Japanese-developed platformers. I will say though that I think the Donkey Kong Country trilogy is virtually flawless, and that includes its controls and level design. It doesn't necessarily feel like a Japanese-developed game, but its controls are incredibly tight and have a nice feel to them, from my perspective. I never found myself fighting with them at all while playing through the games' stages. I guess you could argue that some of the bonus stage entrances in the original game required one to make blind jumps, but I feel like that's somewhat different, since that just relates to bonus stage design, rather than the actual main levels in the game. Rare fortunately improved on that for the sequels, which was nice.
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Post by ReyVGM on Mar 31, 2015 23:29:56 GMT -5
While DKC 1 is a wee rough for the high-profile game that it is, the sequel is flawless in my eyes.
But in the case of DKC, RARE had Nintendo's input, which you can be sure they were monitoring really closely while it was in development. So that's probably why it didn't fall into the same pitfalls as other western games of the era.
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Post by cambertian on Apr 1, 2015 17:55:05 GMT -5
I think it's a cultural thing as well. Japan accepted games as art since their inception; America and the European nations were under the impression that they were toys and tried to market them (thus the importance of graphics - you can't easily show off gameplay on a television commercial.)
That's not even factoring in Japan's love for overworking its employees.
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Post by ReyVGM on Apr 1, 2015 18:02:36 GMT -5
That's not even factoring in Japan's love for overworking its employees. Yeah! The USA loves their burgers.
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Post by alphex on Apr 3, 2015 8:21:08 GMT -5
Donkey Kong Country, Earthworm Jim, Mega Turrican. Those are the Western 2D platformers I still like a lot.
I used to dig Rayman quite a bit, but I never completed it, even back in the day.
So, would I like Gex 1?
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Post by Bobinator on Apr 3, 2015 14:05:11 GMT -5
If you like Rayman, I'd say you probably would. It's the game that compares the most to Gex, although at least Gex doesn't make you find every single collectible to open up the final world. That's definitely a plus.
Actually, Gex reminds me a lot of Micheal Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City. which is actually pretty good, as far as those types of 2D platformers go.
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