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"Do a barrel roll!"
Star Fox Assault
Developer: Namco
Platform: Gamecube
Genre: Shooter
When the original Star Fox debuted over a decade ago on the SNES, I had no interest in the title, to be quite honest. To this day, I cannot stand Super FX Chip graphics. Granted, the FX Chip was among the first of resources to allow 3D graphics on a home console, but it doesn't change the fact that the original Star Fox was a mess of polygons and headache-inducing effects. All of my friends loved the game, and I honestly couldn't understand why.
Several years later, Star Fox 64 taught me why. Armed with a substantially more solid graphical presentation than it's predecessor, I found that the on-rails space shooter franchise actually boasted extremely intuitive and well-crafted gameplay. I loved the game, although I never committed to actually purchasing it until recently, due mostly in part to how short the adventure was.
About two years ago, Nintendo released the third game in the series, the oft-contended Star Fox Adventures. I loved the game, however there's a legion of rabid Nintendo fanboys who would string me up by my gizzards upon hearing so. Granted, it was more of a Zelda clone than a real Star Fox game, but I found it pretty damned entertaining.
So, fast forward to February of 2005. Nintendo has recently released the fourth game in the series, the long-awaited Star Fox Assault. The game was announced no more than six months after the release of Adventures, and the fanbase went nuts over the idea of a true Star Fox game being released so soon after their disappointment with the Rare-developed Adventures. Now that it's arrived on store shelves, is it the Star Fox game that everybody has been clamoring over? Yes and no. Read on.
Story
Only a few short years after the events of Star Fox Adventures, team Star Fox is contacted once again by the trusty General Pepper, leader of the Cornerian military and longtime friend of the mercenary group. The group, consisting of leader Fox McCloud, ace pilot Falco Lombardi, data-specialist Slippy Toad, newcomer Krystal (from Star Fox Adventures), mentor and father figure Peppy Hare (now retired, replaced in active duty by Krystal) and robotic servant Rob, are contracted by the Cornerian army to lend combat assistance to a squad of Cornerian ships locked in battle against a vengeful foe. Andrew Oikonny, newphew of the insidious Andross (the villain from the previous three games), has amassed the defeated remains of Andross' army and has waged war on the rest of the Lylat system. The Cornerian forces are having trouble putting Oikonny's minions down and have asked Fox and his team to step in against the aggressors and restore peace to the Lylat system.
Accepting the job, Fox and crew jump into their trusty Arwing space fighters and blast into the reaches of the galaxy to help the Conerian forces overcome their opponents. Oikonny is defeated, and for a brief moment team Star Fox rejoices. However, abruptly their celebration is cut off when a new foe enters the ring. A massive, flying, insectile creature descends from the sky and attacks the team, forcing them to retaliate and destroy the creature. Scanning its remains, it is discovered that the being is of a race of creatures called the Aparoids, a destructive swarm of vicious aliens that nearly wiped out the Lylat system in decades past. Realizing that the entire star system might face an even greater threat than Oikonny's legions, team Star Fox prepares for all-out stellar war against impending invasion.
One of Star Fox Assault's best aspects is the increased focus on story this time around. Granted, the plot is nothing new. Alien, buglike race infests the galaxy, team of rogues steps into their hero shoes and takes down the threat single-handedly. However, in comparison with the previous games in the series, the story to be found here is pretty damned good. There's a lot of good characterization, the character interaction is decent, the plot twists are nice (though, you won't be caught off guard by almost any of them). On top of that, I genuinely appreciate the fact that the developers really re-worked Fox's character. In Star Fox 64, he was just sort of the fearless leader. Not too much development. In Star Fox Adventures, he became more headstrong and smart-lipped, but at the same time, Rare made him a bit too damned whiny, and gave him far too many corny one-liners. In Star Fox Assault, he's been basically reverted to his SF64 persona, only much more developed. He's the fearless leader, he's confident and he's brash, but he's also got vulnerability and weaknesses. He's not a labyrinth of unique complexity, but he's got a lot more substance than Mario.
It's just nice to see a Nintendo-branded game with some real focus on the plot. It's not award-winning plot, but it's leagues better than fighting off Andross yet again.
Gameplay
There are ten moderately well-sized levels that comprise Star Fox Assault. These levels are basically divided up into two gameplay modes: on-rails and all-range. The on-rails sections are the traditional Star Fox fare. Three of the ten stages are of the old-school, Star Fox on-rails space shooter variety. Granted, this number seems pretty paltry, and a lot of people make this their main bone of contention with the game. Personally, I would have preferred at least one, maybe two more on-rails Arwing levels. However, as it is, the setup is fine with me. I loved these three levels, and for most people they will be the most enjoyable segments of the game.
These sections are controlled almost exactly the same as in previous games. You have your laser cannons (which can be upgraded by acquiring pickups), homing laser, bombs and all of your traditional evasive maneuvers like the always-useful barrel roll and boost abilities. You'll be flying amidst crashing meteor swarms, swooping through networks of massive interstellar warships and fighting off monstrous boss creatures. It's classic Star Fox gameplay, and if you've liked previous games in the series, you'll love these sections. My only complaint with the on-rails missions is that there was no on-rails level dedicated to the Landmaster tank. In Star Fox 64, there were two fantastic on-rails levels in which you piloted the Landmaster the entire time. In Assault, the badass tank is limited solely to use during the all-range levels, and as such, it feels like it was tacked on and not as integral to the overall experience.
The rest of the game is made up of all-range levels. About two of those levels are strictly Arwing all-range missions, flying around orbital space stations and blowing up enemy fighters and that kind of thing. The remaining five levels are composed of on-foot and vehicle-based missions. In my opinion, the on-foot levels were pretty good. Certainly not as entertaining as the Arwing sections, but not the monstrous chore that so many people are claiming.
During these on-foot stages, you'll be invading enemy bases, blasting apart hordes of Aparoid baddies, piloting the Landmaster tank and blowing lots of stuff up. You'll recieve the standard selection of weapons, such as your handy Blaster (weak firepower, but has the advantage of infinite ammo), machine guns, rocket launchers and sniper rifles. There's plenty of ammo to go around, so you'll rarely find yourself having to flee from conflicts in order to locate more supplies. You'll also find that nifty Landmaster I mentioned before, and while the thing packs a ton of punch and a lot of armor protection, it's not entirely intuitive to pilot. The controls are sluggish and imprecise, making piloting the Landmaster into somewhat of a chore.
The on-foot controls are good, but they have a few flaws of their own. You have the option of controlling Fox using either Metroid prime-style controls, or standard dual-analog movement. The latter is the recommended choice, in my opinion. The movement is quick and precise, the aiming is fluid and accurate and switching between weapons is as easy as the press of a single button. However, a few things drag the controls down. First, while the aiming is pretty quick and fluid, getting Fox to turn around isn't as fast as it should be. Second, the jump mechanics feel a little off. It almost seems as though Fox is getting too much vertical leap and not enough horizontal distance. You're not going to be jumping around very much anyway, and there aren't any complicated Mario-style platforming elements, but it's still a drawback worth mentioning.
The on foot level design is pretty well-handled. I liked the environmental variation between all of the different locations. You'll be blasting away Aparoids in an overrun Cornerian base, blowing up shield generators in the midst of a vicious snowstorm, and crawling through the ruins of an ancient temple on planet Sauria (the world from Star Fox Adventures). The actual mission objectives rarely change from the basic "destroy all enemies" or "blow up all of these things" stuff, and it would have been nice if there had been a little more variety in that regard. However, there's enough constant action and intensity to make those worries a little less noticeable as you're tearing through hordes of Aparoid scum.
On top of all of this, the on-foot levels are not strictly confined to ground-based action. In fact, only about two of the on-foot levels remain grounded the entire time. The other three have you switching between ground-based objectives and blasting away enemies in the skies above. As you're running around on the surface of Sauria destroying Aparoid Generators, your teammates are fighting off enemy forces in the skies. At any point during your mission, you can rush back to your Arwing, hop in, and assist your friends as they fight off the insect scum. If there's one irritation to be found, it's the fact that you'll find yourself having to bail your comrades out a little too frequently. There were a few too many instances where I found myself on-foot, on the complete opposite side of the map, when suddenly that little bastard Slippy starts screaming at me over the radio that he's got a guy on his tail and he needs me to come help him out. It would have been nice if your wingmen were just a little more competent in regards to giving each other assistance instead of bitching at Fox every time they get cornered.
So, all in all, the all-range levels are a pretty good experience as well. Two of the seven levels are completely Arwing-based, three are a healthy mix of on-foot action and Arwing combat, and two are solely on-foot. The action is intense, the environmental variety is great, the level design is solid. However, a few control issues, repetitive mission objectives and issues with the complete incompetence of your teammates make these sections a little less awesome than the classic Star Fox missions.
In addition to the single-player experience, you've also got a pretty robust multiplayer mode to tackle as well. Up to four players can play splitscreen deathmatch on over a dozen large and detailed maps. You can take the fight on-foot, in the Landmaster or blasting through the skies in an Arwing. You can switch your mode of transportation at the drop of a hat, which offers up some pretty diverse multiplayer situations. In addition, there are about 30 different unlockables you can open up in the multiplayer mode, ranging from new characters, to new weapons to new modes. The one downside to the multiplayer is, like with most Nintendo software, it's neither online capable or LAN enabled. If you've got no issues with the limitations of splitscreen, then it's a blast. If you're looking for the Star Fox equivalent of Halo 2, it aint here yet.
Finally, Star Fox Assault proudly sports three unlockable "sidegames". The classic Namco-developed arcade titles Xevious, Star Luster and Battle City are all unlockable and in full form. Extras like these are always nice to have, and certainly add some more weight to the total package.
Overall, the game is a solid experience. Flaws aside, it's an intense arcade-style shooter with a lot of style and a lot of gameplay variety to immerse yourself in. The levels are all well-designed, the bosses are huge and intimidating, the action is constant and nerve-wracking, and it all comes together to form a very enjoyable, albeit short, package. In addition, the game features three separate difficulty levels, numerous in-mission side objectives which earn you various completion medals, a well-planned and entertaining multiplayer mode, a healthy selection of cool unlockables and that itching desire to always go back and try to top your high score. In total, it's a great title.
Graphics
Star Fox Assault's graphical presentation can be summed up succinctly: it gets the job done. The game looks great. Character models are crisp and clean, animations are fluid and lifelike, effects are huge and flashy, textures are clean, framerate is solid and never hiccups, etc, etc. However, if you're looking for a bump-mapped, fur-mapped, light-bloomed showpiece, this isn't it. The previous game, Star Fox Adventures, was a graphical marvel. It pushed an ungodly number of polygons, the effects were just incredible, the texture work was immaculate. It was a visual wet-dream, and at the time, it looked better than most XBox software. Star Fox Assault is not a graphical improvement over Adventures. Like I said, it gets the job done, and it genuinely looks great, but it's not a jaw-dropper like Resident Evil 4 or Doom 3.
However, to give Assault some credit, it genuinely has its impressive moments. In my opinion, the outer-space sections of Assault look worlds better than the same sections of Adventures. The space battles are huge, with monstrous enemy vessels, swarms of fighter ships and massive planets looming in the distance. The same sections in Star Fox Adventures felt like a joke to me, dumbed-down and not nearly epic enough for the Star Fox name. Assault returns these space-based sections to their former glory, providing very large stellar battles. The effects and atmosphere of these missions are definitely more than enough to impress.
So, basically, Assault has a very solid visual presentation. The space battles are genuinely impressive, and have their fair share of "ooh, ahh" moments. The on-foot sections are less flashy and less technically impressive than those in Star Fox Adventures, but they look pretty damned good on their own merits.
Sound
The music in Star Fox Assault is probably the best to be found in the entire series. The soundtrack consists of a large assortment of epic, orchestrated themes and pieces. Each one conveys the exact appropriate sense of adventure, action or drama that each segment implies. To be honest, the music is probably Assault's biggest advantage, and is flawless in this reviewer's opinion.
The effects are also very well-handled. Enemy vessels explode in roaring fireballs, ships flash by at high speed, and effects like lasers and bombs are handled appropriately as well. On foot, the aural carnage is just as frenzied, with energy blasts searing past Fox's head and enemies skittering and swarming arcoss the ground.
Star Fox Assault continues in the tradition of nearly every game in the series by including full voice dialogue. Between each mission, and even in the midst of some, you are treated to well-acted, well-scripted and well-presented cinematic sequences with which to further the plot. The voice acting is solid. Not outstanding, like something from Legacy of Kain or Eternal Darkness, but certainly far from bad. The character interaction is good and the in-battle radio banter is amusing as always. The biggest shocker comes from the fact that Slippy (usually an eternal nuisance) has actually turned down the annoy-o-meter this time around and has become a much more bearable character. You'll still want to wring his neck at times, but not nearly as frequenly as in previous games.
Overall, Assault is solid on the audio front. The music is fantastic, the sound effects are great and the voice acting is easily the best to be found in the series.
Flaws
1) Overall, the gameplay is strong, but has its problems. The game could have used one or two more on-rails missions (at least one of which being dedicated to the Landmaster), the Landmaster needed a lot more work in regards to the control, the on-foot controls needed a slight tweak in regards to turning and jumping, the mission objectives could have been a little more varied, and it's about fucking time that Falco, Slippy and Krystal learn to handle their own damned problems for once instead of crying to Fox everytime they hit trouble.
2) The game is a bit too short. Ten levels, on the easiest difficulty setting, will get you about 6 or 7 hours of gametime. I would have preferred it if the game utilized the branching-paths system that Star Fox 64 used, allowing you to have a different experience each time even after repeated play-throughs. The game needed a few more levels, and it needed less linearity in the level-sequencing.
3) The multiplayer mode should have had LAN capabilities, dammit. I'm not even that big a fan of online or LAN play, but I'd like the option anyway. I'd rather have the choice to turn it down, rather than having no choice at all.
4) This game is not a graphical showpiece. The space battles are fairly impressive, but the on-foot sections could have looked a lot more stunning, as evidenced by Star Fox Adventures. The game doesn't look bad by any means, but aside from the space battles, it's not going to knock you on your ass either.
Overall
I enjoyed the hell out of this game. It's a great arcade-style shooter with a lot of character and style. It's got the most gameplay variety of any game in the series, it's got the best plot and character development, it's got the best music of the bunch, it's got the best voice acting of the bunch and it's got a pretty damned enjoyable multiplayer mode to boot. If you're a fan of the series, or you're just looking for a fun new action game, I'd highly recommend giving this one a shot. Peppy says thank'ya.
Score: 8.4
 
Last edited by Raziel; 2005-03-09 at 06:16 AM.
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