Similar to Duke Nukem during his leap from the PC and consoles to the Game Boy Color, Gex began in the 2nd dimension, but has made his way into the wild world of 3D. On his way to Nintendo's portable wonder, he has to spring jump back into 2D. Unlike Duke Nukem, however, Gex has not made the transition back to his original roots as well as the gun toting action hero.
Following the same plot as the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation versions, Gex has allied forces with the beautiful Agent Xtra (who is played by Marliece Andrada of Baywatch, but her character is horribly pixelated when shown during the game, it's hard to tell). At one point when Gex arrives home he finds that his beloved Agent Xtra has been kidnapped by the evil Rex, and it is up to Gex to travel into the media dimension once again to save her. Completing the game requires Gex to complete certain objectives in each level that will earn him remotes. The more remotes he has, the more levels he can access.
After checking out games like Dragon Warrior Monster and Turok: Rage Wars that use the GBC's color prowess extensively, the slightly lackluster appearance of Deep Pocket Gecko is a bit disappointing. It's definitely not the worst the machine has seen, but the environments nor the enemies are especially detailed, and the only character that seems to have a good amount of animation is Gex himself. I will admit, though, that there were a few quasi 3D elements implemented in the game that surprised me when I saw them. To be specific, in the stage where Gex dresses up as a detective there are series of staircases that lead up the mansion, and the staircases are pointed in a diagonal perspective. Subtle, yes, but a cool touch.
The most significant complaint I have with Deep Pocket Gecko is that many of the levels seemed to be designed far too large. I was finding myself lost every so often, and completing objectives where finding certain items (like four statues) was quite difficult. The fact that many of the stages consist of jumping from platform to platform doesn't help, as missing one can drop you down to the beginning of the stage once again.
One other problem that was frustrating was that when Gex dies you have to begin the objective all over again at the start of the level. Some objectives this isn't a problem for, but the certain ones where items have to be located across the sprawling stages is where this comes into play most of the time.
There are far too many platformers on the tiny Game Boy Color, and in order for a game to stand out from what else is out there it either has to have some big-budget license or some features that no other game currently has. In Deep Pocket Gecko's case, there are few features that separate it from other games on the market, and what it does have different is relatively insignificant. Regardless, Deep Cover Gecko is a half decent game that, while it does little to make itself unique, is still better than some of the crap that fills the GBC's library.
-- Patrick Klepek
