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« on: September 29, 2006, 11:07:41 PM »
It has been a long time since we've seen our old pal Fox Mccloud in a new adventure, but who would've thought that he would be the star of a Zelda 64-esque hybrid? That is the case with Star Fox Adventures, which wasn't always the home of our furry friend. In fact, it started out as an N64 game, starring a new character developed from the minds of the good folks at Rareware. It was Myamoto's suggestion to use Fox in this adventure since the title looked so promising and was ported over to GameCube, due to the N64's dwindling support. This is how our foxy friend found his home on Gamecube, not to mention that it's Rare's last Gamecube game, due to the Microsoft buyout. To bad their last game is barely above average, if that, due to various gameplay issues.
The game's story line is as follows: the Star Fox team is contacted by General Pepper, who sends them on a mission to Dinosaur planet in order to stop the planet's imminent explosion, due to pieces of it separating off the central land mass for a currently unknown reason. The explosion would affect the whole Lylat system, and possibly the galaxy. When you arrive, you discover the planet in chaos, caused by the main antagonist, General Scales. This is where our adventure begins to save the rapidly deteriorating planetal structure.
During your adventure to save Dinosaur Planet, you will encounter a respectable range of bad guys, from the common General Scale soldiers, to projectile spitting lizards that burrow underground whenever you get close, like Bugs Bunny during rabbit season while being hunted by Elmer Fudd. Battles are very simple, since the auto-targeting selects one villain to focus your attack on, and from there you just smash the A button repeatedly to defeat them. It is as easy as that. Don't worry about other bad guys in the vicinity, though. They will wait in line while you cream their comrade. You see, every armored dinosaur soldier has some good inside of him; they obviously don't believe in double-teaming and making the odds in their favor. As you progress, you will find upgrades to your staff (the central weapon of choice for Fox), which you can use in battles, such as fire projectiles or a freeze ray, which can be used to defeat them in one blow after they have received the cold shoulder. The bosses are unlike your run of the mill villains. They are huge, and require skill to defeat, though they are few and far between, which is a disappointment.
The worlds you explore in Star Fox are interconnected with no virtually no load time, though the graphics do stutter while they are loading, but that is more than forgivable. Worlds range from the fiery pits of a volcano, to a snowy wonderland, to the oceanfront. Accessing new parts of these worlds is usually pretty simple, from defeating all the bad guys on the screen, to getting a key, or just activating various switches that are in a close proximity of an entrance. Puzzles, for the most part, are very juvenile; from pushing a block over a switch, or covering up vents so you don't die from the gaseous fumes coming from them. If you are ever stuck, it is usually because you cannot find an item that you need, which can happen frequently since this game revolves around a lot of fetch quests. These quests can get really repetitive, and they help this game feel like a chore to get through, which definitely is not a good thing.
As you traverse through the game, you will be accompanied by Tricky, a baby triceratops. He will provide you with ways of getting through parts of the levels, such as digging up an item from the ground or burrowing a hole into walls. Don't worry about him getting killed since he can’t, but don't expect him to fight because he cannot do that either. On various occasions you will wish that he wasn’t immortal, since his annoying voice clips will drive you mad at times, and you feel like sending him to dinosaur heaven.
To mix up the flow of the overall game, Rare has thrown in unique situations such as racing bad guys, or ones like the Arwing Levels to get from point A to point B on the world map. The Arwing Levels seem to be just thrown in, and they tend to get repetitive since you have to fly through one to get to a part of the planet. While traveling through them, you have to fly through a certain number of gold rings to get to a particular part of the world. Why flying through gold rings opens the force field for a section, only God knows. I'll admit the first time through it was pretty fun, but after the 4th and 5th time, it seemed like another chore that this game throws at you. Unlike the racing levels, which seem to fit this game and are a lot of fun, the Arwing levels should have been axed, which is unfortunate, since they seem more like an afterthought than an integral part of the game.
Star Fox Adventure's gameplay seems like a mixed up mess of platforming and adventure elements thrown together, which is this game's central problem. It is supposed to be an adventure game, but it requires a lot of platform jumping, which is done automatically, another nod to Zelda 64. In addition to this, the game has way too many fetch quests, which really waters down the adventure side of this game. Not only are there fetch quests, but there are tasks you must complete that will have you pulling out your hair, anything from bringing an explosive up a sloping, yet narrow walkway with barrels rolling down at you, or being forced to battle it out with a character by hitting A repeatedly (so you slow button smashers better find someone to do this for you, or you won't beat this game). Rare should have focused solely on the adventure aspect, and not go crazy with other elements from platforming games. As it currently stands now, to complete this game seems like a chore. But to be fair, there were some times where I had a lot of fun, though they do not outweigh the slow, tedious time. To rub even more salt into the wound, when you get a new item, you always see a 5 second cinematic of Fox’s excitement over getting it, which happens OVER and OVER in the game. I never knew that getting a new map would bring so much excitement to Fox, guess everyone has their opinions of what is exciting.
The game's camera can be a pain at times too, since it can only be adjusted by one button, which puts the camera behind Fox while he is stationary or moving. This can make the platforming elements even more tedious then they already are, since you will have to make tough jumps. They can be tough since you don't have time to move the camera behind you and get reoriented, due to one of the game's timed quests.
Not all is bad in Star Fox though; the graphics are absolutely stunning. Everything from the water effects, to the character models, to the environments, are beautifully done, and besides a few hits here and there, it also has a smooth framerate. Really, I could not find much wrong with the graphics, and not to mention that the bosses are huge with a very intimidating look about them. Honestly, you would never have guessed that this was once an N64 game, since it is probably one of the most beautiful games out there. So if all you are looking for is a graphical treat, then Star Fox is your answer.
Sound is also well done and orchestrated, with great voice acting and dialogue. Rare did an excellent job of casting, as the voices do fit the characters well, from Fox to the Scottish-speaking rock monster (don't ask). Background music is catchy and sticks with the current theme of the area you are in. The only drawback that I could find is that the sound effects during battles are very generic in nature.
When all the pieces of this game's puzzle are put together, you get an average action game that tries to put too many genres into one title, which takes away from its original concept to be an adventure title in vain of Zelda 64. Even the Star Fox license seems very forced, and out of place in the game.
Fetch quests, and repetitive, out of place tasks, keep this game from being fun a majority of the time, which is sad since I have been excited for this game ever since it was announced as Dinosaur Planet. And as much as I've enjoyed Rare's other offerings, such as the B-K series and Conker, I cannot give this game a very high recommendation, though I wish I could, really I do. To be fair though, it has times where you will find enjoyment, along with Rare's unique sense of humor, but those times are few and far between, which deconstructs my overall opinion of the game, significantly. My suggestion is to rent, since it is good enough to hold your interest as a rental, and with that rental, you may even be able to beat it, since overall it takes 15-25 hrs. to complete.. That will be about all you can handle of this game though, since it has very limited replay value. So please, buy with caution if you want to skip the rental, the game isn’t horrible, just average at best.
Graphics - 10 - Beautiful is the only way to describe them. The visuals have a fairly fluid framerate, huge bosses, and amazing water effects.
Gameplay - 5 - Repetitive fetch quests and platforming elements that just don't seem to fit, are what you'll witness. Though you will find times where you will have fun, they are definitely the minority here.
Sound - 9 - Great overall sound, with above average voice acting. Sound effects are lacking in areas such as battles.
Overall - 5.5 - Buy with extreme caution, a very average game.
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