The original Gex was a 2D side scroller that put players in the shoes of a wise-cracking gecko. You hopped around from platform to platform, making bad sitcom references along the way. The sequel drops Gex into a Mario 64 clone. While the game is technically proficient, the unbelievably lame speech and camera problems make Gex: Enter the Gecko a frustrating title at best.The game starts by clueing you in to what Gex has been up to since defeating Rez - mostly sitting around and watching lots of TV. But like any good video game villain, Rez isn't done quite yet. The government tosses Gex a pile of cash, he makes a quick fart joke, and the stage is set for Gex's new challenge.The graphics and frame rate in Gex 2 are quite good. It's about as close to Mario 64 as you'll ever get on a PlayStation. The worlds are big and fairly nonlinear, which leads to more than a little confusion as you wander the halls of haunted mansions, jump down rabbit holes, and bounce around the circuitry of a computer. A fair amount of pop-up is masked by fog and darkness. The sound effects are pretty good, but the speech simply drags the entire game down. Dana Gould, a genuinely funny stand-up comedian, deserves better. Instead, he's been reduced to making lame comments, several of them via a truly horrible Austin Powers impression. Once you've heard Gex shout: "It's tail time" in about a hundred different intonations, you'll want to start shoving safety pins into your ears until you've permanently damaged your hearing. I eventually wanted to beat my television with a bat. You can turn the commentary down or off, but considering that the game's entire selling point is based around these pathetic one-liners, you kind of feel obligated to leave them on.The game also plays quite a bit like Mario 64. Each level has a number of remotes (read: stars) hidden in them. You pick a clue (just like Mario 64) and set out to find the remote described in the clue. There are also hidden remotes as well as a remote that is won by getting enough coin-like items in each world. Certain worlds require you to have a certain number of remotes before you can enter, just like - surprise - Mario 64.Gex: Enter the Gecko should have been a much better game. They certainly jacked enough concepts from Mario 64 to warrant a good game, but the atmosphere surrounding the gameplay really brings it down. I'm hesitant to call it a good game, but one thing's for sure - it's better than Croc. --Jeff Gerstmann--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction  in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.--GameSpot Review