Star Fox 64 is a gorgeous game. Star Fox 64 is to gaming as an engine is to a car.
User Rating: 9.4 | Star Fox 64 N64
Like my analogy? The point is, Star Fox is just plain essential. You must buy this game if you own a Nintendo 64. All around it does a great job of offering a challenge to anyone who picks it up, whether they have never played before or they are a battle-scarred veteran. Your mission is to save the Lylat system from the evil Andross, who kept your father (Fox's father) captive and perhaps even killed him. Peppy, an old friend of Fox's dad will be at your side, as well as the technical Slippy and ambitious Falco. Graphics and sound: The least major of the criteria. Nevertheless, they are certainly not detrimental. The game looks wonderful, especially considering its release date. Fox looks just as good in this title as he does much later in Super Smash Bros. The game has a hugely varied atmosphere, from deep space carnage to arid desert to underwater. The game is smooth and appears jaggy free, at least from the surface. The game's music is not necessarily memorable, but it certainly adds to the feel of the game. It adds suspense and mystery when necessary, as any good tune should. The true star of the audio performance, however, is the game's stunningly frequent voice acting. Each character has his own voice and quite often will come in on your transmitter to alternately help or insult you. The hugely varied voice acting greatly auguments the feel of the game as Slippy tells you boss weaknesses, Falco hurls insults in jest, and Andross taunts you. It is a fantastic aspect of the game. Gameplay is also a plus. Most of the game plays out in the Arwing, a plane meant for interstellar travel. You'll take damage with hits by enemy or by crashing and level ups, health rings, and bombs are scattered throughout the level. Your standard weapon is your laser, which will updrade from single green to twin green to "hyper" blue fire. If you take out a wing by accident, your laser will go back down to the standard fire. B sends out a Smart bomb, which does more damage and can disrupt or eliminate great groups of enemies at once. The game has no lock on system but it controls well enough that that is by no stretch necessary. In fact, to add targeting would be to dumb it down and indirectly insult the intelligence and capability of gamers. Your partners (Slippy, Peppy, Falco, and on occasion a few others, friends of your partners or of your father's) will fly around near you and can sometimes be hit or even downe by friendly fire. Sometimes you'll need to get an enemy off his tail (or her's; I can't tell if Slippy's a guy or a girl...) or risk him being out of action for the remainder of that level and the whole next one. This is not preferable as you will not be able to get a medal for the level no matter how many enemies you kill if a partner goes down. The tilt is great. You'll go on a certain path depending on number of enemies downed and in some cases, path taken on the level. For instance, in Corneria if you save Falco from the guys on his tail, he'll lead you down a new path. Each level will give an explanation of the basic objective (though it's usually to kill everything you see and then shoot the yellow thingy on the boss). On occasion you will take control of a new device, perhaps a tank or in one level, a submersible. The enemies are all different and some levels are very, very difficult. You will have time levels in some and if you don't beat the team you're against (or whatever) you'll face them off later. So there is strategic planning; it might end up being even harder to beat them in a later level. There's an alternate boss battle, too, if you are able to follow the hard path through the whole game. It will take you many play-throughs to not only beat each level but also to earn medals in each. Probably the only detriment is that you cannot save mid-game; however your progress (enemies killed and medal earned) will make it to the top 10 leader board if you're lucky. Since each play-through is so quick, maybe 30-60 minutes at a time, this won't really matter unless you're really overscheduled. Replay value is a huge attraction and the game holds up every time. There's also a multiplayer with time trial and battle royal and such, but it isn't a main feature and was probably added simply because multiplayer is expected of Nintendo. Not good, not bad; sort of like it was in Metroid Prime 2. It's fun enough but not absolutely gorgeous. Star Fox 64 is a fantastic game consisting of only the best in every field. Any N64 owner truly must buy this virtually flawless title. 
