Vexx departs from most other platformers in two areas: combat and the mini-games.  Your primary method of killing enemies is your razor sharp talon claws.  These can be used to slash enemies, but they also do a lot more.  You have a variety of attacks inspired more by fighting games than anything else.  You have a few multi-hit combos, the ability to juggle enemies in the air, and jump attacks that deal damage on the way up, on the way down, or both.  When you use combos or combinations of attacks, you charge up a special attack meter.  When this meter fills completely, you'll have some power attacks at your disposal including one which will let you shoot your enemies from a distance. 

Talons are handy for grappling.

The combo system is a nice addition to the game, but unfortunately your enemies won't give you much of a challenge.  The worlds are primarily filled with the "run up and bump into you" type of enemies that you can really rough up with your combos.  It would have been fantastic if they could fight back with combos as well, requiring you to use a bit of strategy as you must in the better fighting games out there.  Instead most of the enemies are lambs for you to slaughter.

The mini-games included in Vexx provide a change of pace from the other play.  You'll face some where you must compete with demonic versions of Vexx to win a heart, and others that transport you into tapestries to solve jumping puzzles on a 2D series of platforms made up by the objects in the picture they depict.  I found it interesting that in one of the mini-games, Vexx is encouraged to cheat by attacking his demonic opponents.  One would think that it was the demons that would be the ones prone to cheat...

Graphically the game is fairly average - things are colorful enough but everything looks a little fuzzy.  Although the different areas are large and there's plenty to explore, the draw distance is not very far off.  As you run along you will see trees and other objects pop into existence out of nothingness.

In spite of these shortcomings, Vexx can be fun to play.  You're just left wondering how much better the experience would have been with a well implemented camera system and more precise control.  Perhaps with a greater degree of originality or polish the game could still overcome this hurdle, but as it stands it will probably be lost among all the other platform games available.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 69%.  The good parts might not be enough to overcome the poor camera and game control.

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