'Vexx' is an amusing game with claws

Picture a cross between Dennis the Menace and Freddy Krueger and you'll have some idea of what you're dealing with when you sit down to play the darkly amusing "Vexx."

The star of this new Xbox title, from Acclaim, has a mischievous look in his eyes and a set of amazingly evil slasher claws like the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movie monster.

However, Vexx is a videogame do-gooder who has vowed to take out Yabu, an evil sorcerer who killed his family and enslaved his world, Astara. He must battle through nine levels to work that bit of magic, solving puzzles and smashing monsters as he goes.

"Vexx" is a classic platform game, and our hero displays all the platforming tricks needed, including an extra-high jump and the ability to cling to ledges and pull himself up. Vexx can also swim and climb selected walls, digging his lethal little claws into the face and hauling himself up.

As with most games in the genre, you have to collect items for various purposes. To move to the next level, you need to acquire a specific number of Shadowraith Hearts, which are hidden around each level.

To make that fighting easier, you can power up your talons with the energy from defeated enemies.

While the game doesn't offer any great platforming innovations, it offers a lot of fun for the buck. The creatures you face are not difficult to dispatch, although they frequently come in waves. The bosses are tougher, and appear to have had more thought put into them.

There are also some neat puzzles to deal with, including an underwater maze that will drown you a few dozen times.

Graphics get a B. There's plenty of color, and the dreamy backgrounds of floating boulders in outdoor scenes are quite unusual. The enemy creatures are usually more amusing than menacing.

Control gets a B, too. Getting Vexx to do your bidding is easy, and the fighting scheme is easy to master and full of interesting techniques. There are some camera problems.

Sound gets a C. There's not really much to it, beyond weapons effects, the bleatings and squawks of your foes and some brief musical moments after specific actions.

Give "Vexx" a B. I found it to be an entertaining effort, fun to play and sufficiently varied to keep you jabbing buttons to the end.