Are you a fan of platform games, but just can’t stomach the thought of your friends catch you playing Mario Sunshine? Acclaim’s latest platform game, Vexx, just might be for you then. It’s definitely darker than Mario and earns its Teen rating. For Xbox platform gamers who’ve had little to cheer about, Vexx may be what you need. It doesn’t star some pansy plumber or mutant talking animal. Vexx stars a young boy whose planet has been enslaved by the evil Dark Yabu. He and his people were enslaved and the life of his grandfather taken from him. Now our young hero has only one thing on his mind…revenge. He plans on dishing it out with his razor sharp war talons and a whole lot of attitude (picture a young Wolverine).

The game is easy to start playing. Like so many other platform games, your goal is to collect all of a specific type of item on each level. In this case, the items are wraithhearts. To collect these you must complete specific tasks, solve puzzles, beat boss creatures and free the 5 souls trapped on each level. Between you and your wraithhearts are an assortment of enemies and a lot jumping and climbing. One of the things you notice about each level is the vastness of it. The game really takes advantage of vertical space with many trails and ledges leading up to the top of mountains or floating islands, as well as down into the depths of lakes, rivers and underwater caverns. The diversity of environments is very cool and you can choose which hearts to go for as the levels are non-linear, giving you the freedom to explore them at will. Although the graphics are decent, they aren’t great, but occasionally you will find yourself impressed with the backdrops or the droplets of water that drip from your screen whenever you surface from under water.

I did experience one glitch that left me in a bad mood. After completing three water-based tasks, a heart materialized near a stargate looking portal. Every time I approached the heart, I was transported back to the beginning of the level. I eventually abandoned that heart and continued on with the next level. Other than that one moment, I have enjoyed playing Vexx.

The game play is solid, diverse and fun, but there just isn’t much original content in Vexx. While this prevents me from further enjoying this game, the Xbox platform gamer, considering what else is available, would find Vexx to be one of their better options. The character is likable and easy to control, the levels are rich with detail, and completing each task on each level will require a lot more skill than finishing off a level of Mario. So for the platform gamer, there is enough depth and solid game play to keep you occupied for some time. Go ahead and pick this up, but everyone else should rent first.