The platforming experience on the Xbox.
Gameplay: gameplay mostly consists of going to an area that you have unlocked and picking one of the 8-10 challenges they have. You complete the challenge and you obtain a Wraithheart. Wraithhearts are to Vexx what stars were to super mario. There is a slight difference, however, as in Vexx, you have all the challenges open to you from the beginning. You can get any of the 8-10 wraithhearts that are in the level at any time. This makes things a lot more interesting. The story (which is mostly non-existant after the beginning cutscene) has Vexx and grandpa mining coal as slaves, Vexx tries to escape and gets g-pa killed as a result. Not the smartest move, Vexx. However, Vexx vows revenge and escapes (why didn't he just do that the first time...) and obtains a pair of Astani War Talons which is a fancy word for really kickass claws. They bind themselves to our furry friend and he decides to kill Dark Yabu, the shadow wraith who killed his g-pa. Well, pretty soon, you're off finding wraithhearts. The story is pretty cliche but what the heck, it's a platformer. what do you expect?
Anyway, Vexx changes the genre by making it A LOT more fighting-oriented instead of random platform jumping (which there still is a lot of). This means, tons of combos and fighting moves to master, the addition of the juggling system, and the combo power up thing that basically makes you really powerful once you get enough hits on enemies. Too bad their aren't too many actual boss fights in the game to use these cool powers on. The boss fights that are there feel a lot more like mini-games than real bosses (except for Dark Yabu, the last boss.) So throughout the game, there are 80 wraithhearts to obtain but you only need 60 to finish. Getting the extra 20 wraithhearts is entirely optional but does provide a bit more replay value. The levels are very diverse and have plenty of hidden bonus's for the experienced platformer to find. For example, every level has two special wraithhearts which require you to find a certain number of items. 6 soul jars are scattered throughout every level get you a wraithheart, and trust me, these can be EXTREMELY hard to find. There are also plenty of soul shards which are the typical get 100 of them and you win! These are a lot easier to find but can be difficult to get in some levels.
The only downfall I could see in Vexx is the camera. Most of the time it works very well but sometimes, it gets fixed in one VERY bad spot. This tends to happen when you have to jump from one very small platform to another. Not a pretty sight.
Graphics: Vexx's graphics look a little cartoonish but not at all dated like Gamespot says. I played this 3 years after it came out and I liked the environments a lot. every area looked and felt very different from every other (except for 2 of the levels which were the same theme but still very different).
Sound: The sound is pretty bad in Vexx. It's not annoying but it's not impressive either. The voice-overs of most of the characters are good except for the main character. Vexx literally says nothing more than "urrghh" or "roar!!" throughout the entire game. However, Reia, Drakky, and Dark Yabu are all done pretty well considering it's a platformer. The music isn't anything special though which kinda kills the mood.
Value: Overall, Vexx won't last you an extremely long time and there isn't really any reason to go back and play it again but it is a great game for those of you that only have an Xbox and want a decent platformer. I'd say pass over Voodoo Vince and go straight for Vexx. You can get it now for about 10-15 bucks too so it's a great value. Throughout all the systems, Vexx probably isn't one of the better platformers simply because it copies Super Mario 64 a lot but it is by and far the greatest platformer on the Xbox.