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North America

Star Fox Adventures

by Daniel Bloodworth - September 25, 2002, 11:23 am EDT

Take a gander at this furry action!

I picked up a copy of SFA Monday night despite the fact that I have yet to even build a basement in Animal Crossing. I had to go check on my villagers from time to time, but I did get a few hours in with Star Fox Adventures.

The game started out with Krystal (no relation to the hamburger joint) riding a Pterodactyl of some kind and attacking General Scales’ ship. I’d seen this part several times before on demo versions, so it was no problem. I played through her opening stage at Krazoa Palace, an Arwing stage, and a couple of areas with Fox.

Honestly, I haven’t been very impressed. Yes, the fur, the textures, and the lighting are gorgeous (although the framerate does slow down frequently). Yes, I want a soundtrack, but so far I feel somewhat bored with the game.

I think that the main thing that’s bothering me is its overwhelming similarities to the N64 Zelda games. You have to defeat enemies or lay blocks on switches to open doors. You plant bomb-spores near cracks in the wall to open passages, and you go down certain holes in the ground to find underground caves that you leave by floating back up through the light. It all seems too familiar, but without capturing the epic feeling of Zelda.

Also, the game is really leaning towards being another Rare collect-a-thon. You have to find mushrooms to feed Tricky before he’ll dig or even stay. You have to find six of another kind of mushroom to save the Queen EarthWalker. Rather than just having a lantern as a constant light source in caves, you have to collect fireflies that only light up dark areas for about thirty seconds or so, etc. It’s not that Zelda doesn’t require you to keep stocks of bombs and arrows, but it doesn’t seem as natural in SFA. Not only that, but you have to chase down everything: bomb spores float away, mushrooms run from you, even the currency (scarabs) run when you find them.

Anyways, I don’t like to sound so negative. It’s not that it’s a bad game at all. It just hasn’t managed to capture me the way Super Mario Sunshine or Animal Crossing have – and I want it to capture me. I keep pushing farther, hoping to get to something exciting, but I haven’t gotten there yet.

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Genre Adventure
Developer Rare
Players1

Worldwide Releases

na: Star Fox Adventures
Release Sep 22, 2002
PublisherNintendo
RatingTeen
jpn: Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet
Release Sep 27, 2002
PublisherNintendo

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