levels were concepts that were thought of during the development of Gex 3D, but could not be included due to issues with time constraints. Lead Designer Chris Tremmel wanted the gameplay of Gex 3 to hearken back to the series' initial roots as a 2D side-scrolling platformer. To achieve this, he included side-scrolling minigames in addition to the main platforming parts, in order to make level missions less monotonous. According to Tremmel, most people who had played Gex 3D weren't entirely invested into going out of their way to locate all of the collectibles in each stage as they were with other collectathon platformers like Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie; thus, the developers made three core collectibles that stay consistent throughout the entire game and significantly aid the player in completing it. The hub world used to access stages was also retooled from the previous game and changed from an empty environment with several doors leading to levels to being more like a level in itself with items and secrets hidden within it. With Gex 3, the developers tried to push the limits of the PlayStation's hardware further than they had with Gex 3D. For instance, they made the game's levels bigger than they were in the previous entry, having found a way to increase level sizes by one-fifth and include more enemies per stage while maintaining a high framerate. Textures also make use of environment mapping, something which Tremmel initially did not think that the PlayStation could smoothly handle; according to him, he suggested using it to the programmers as a joke, not thinking that they could legitimately pull it off with the hardware limitations of the PlayStation, but found that the programmers had already begun working on implementing it the next day. The technique was used primarily for metal surfaces, such as certain enemies and Gex's shield and metallic armor that he wears at points in the game. A particular area of focus for Crystal Dynamics was improving the game's 3D camera system, which was frequently criticized in Gex 3D for being glitchy and difficult to use at times. Rather than including a multitude of camera options, they opted simply to feature a single system which was simple and did not work against the desires of the player. Agent Xtra was played by actress Marliece Andrada, best known for starring in the TV show Baywatch. Reception The PlayStation