NBrid

With the long wait over and Rare defecting to the enemy, Star Fox has gotten a lot of press. But much of what has been said is just politics. Nintendo fans saying the game "sucks" to show Rare has lost it. Xbox fans claiming it's "amazing" to further gloat about the Rare acquisition. The truth though lies somewhere in-between.

First, let me remind you that this is NOT the StarFox we all knew and loved on Super NES and Nintendo 64. This is isn't a space shooter, but rather an adventure game similar to the Zelda's on N64.

Of course we all know this game has amazing graphics and animations. Cool sound effects and voices. And tight controls based off Zelda 64's. This is what the game does best afterall. It's not too hard of a game, but a few parts will be tricky. And it's a decent sized game coming in around 20 hours of real gameplay.

The gameplay is the heart and soul of any game. I have a love-hate relationship with this gameplay. And not just because I think StarFox should be a shooter and not this Zelda-esque game. At times it's amazing and so much fun, but at others.... ouch. It can drag and become quite tedious. The best way to explain this to to list my three negative points on the game.

First, why is this StarFox? There is no reason for it really. The flying stages are short and pointless, and only 1% of the game. If this stayed as just Dinosaur Planet they might of been a fun diversion, but here it reminds you of all the great times with StarFox 64. I also think the fact Rare had to stay faithful to (or at least tried to) the StarFox universe held the game back a bit. At times it has a sort of "Conker" vibe (without the raunchy humor of course), but it seems washed out by StarFox. If it weren't for the fact you are StarFox, you would easily forget this even was a StarFox game with all the dinosaurs running about this Zelda like universe. But I'm sure this move has helped sell the game.

The next point I already hit upon a bit. At times this game is brilliant. Rare at it's best. There are fun "mini-games" that you must complete. Some of the puzzles are nicely done and can be tricky to pull off (few are hard to actually figure out though). Many of these rival the best moments of Zelda. The problem is what happens in-between. You just finished a cave. Now you get the pleasure of dragging your ass all the way back to start. Where is a warp whistle when you need it? Way too many of the less interesting puzzles rely on you shooting a red-star tile to activate it. I mean WAY too many. Plus many of the puzzles and areas are reused. Rare has become known for "collection items" that you must find X amount of to move on. This only happens a few times in the game, but when it does, not much fun. The fighting also wears very thin. At first it is cool to see Fox give his best Kilik impersonation, but it quickly becomes tedious to button smash on A to take care of an enemy. And how come when you are in combat with one, the others just stand around and watch, nicely waiting for their turn? The real problem with all this is that the down times are far more common then then good times.

The last point I think is this game's biggest downfall: it is basically a linear game. You would think an adventure game would encourage exploration of the world. Not here. The game basically shuttles you from point to point with a very specific next objective. No real side-quests. No going off in another direction to see what you can find. Even after you beat it there is none of the fun searching for things you missed (heck, it doesn't even let you if you wanted to), but I guess there is little you could of missed. Maybe a number of Fuel Cells that you need to power your ship, but there are more then enough lying around (and you can buy even more if needed). Inside "temples" you basically have one direction to go, and the same is even true of the "overworld" parts. This basically kills any possible replay quality.

While I enjoyed playing StarFox, I can't give this a "must buy" rating. A worthy buy if you are looking for something on GC or just dying for the next Zelda, but there are much better choices. Check out Eternal Darkness for starters. I am glad I played through it though for those great moments in gaming, and some might even say they make trudging through the downtimes worth it. Certainly play to the end if you try this game. You don't want to miss that. Still, my biggest problem is how linear it is. This game is supposed to be based off Zelda, but they missed the best part of Zelda: exploration. This and way too many tedious "puzzles" keeps this game from greatness.

Gameplay: 7.5
Graphics: 9.5
Sound: 9.0
Value: 7.0

Overall: 7.5 (out of 10)

Bonus: The dinosaurs in the game speak "Dino" before you get the translator. Why not amaze your friends with your lingual skills by using this Dino-2-English translator! ...A sud'k nuak ke joo xen Dumse'j khutakaeduc vcoadw/jxeekadw JkuhVep Uhmutu uhsuto wumo kihdj eik dopk oouh!