This game is great in many ways, too bad you can see all of it in under 3 hours.

User Rating: 8.3 | Star Fox 64 N64
By PBz0r | Review Date:
Of all the games produced in the years before the gaming industry really took flight, my favourite is probably Space Invaders. Gameplay is simple (shoot the enemies in advanced aircrafts), but it never gets old. Some of this prehistoric games made it into the third dimension, others didn't. The 3D Pacmans (or: Pacmen) are the worst games I've ever been playing, 3D Snakes are mostly flash games because the concept is far from interesting enough for professional developers, and Tetris never really went 3D, even though Tetris DS was really fun. Tennis for Two became Pong, and Pong became Virtua Tennis/Mario Tennis. The Space Invaders concept worked pretty well in three dimensions, and was perfected in one of the first (if not the first) 3D console games ever released: Star Fox for the SNES. A couple of years later you are Fox McCloud, the son of the original Star Fox protagonist, and this time your goal is to take out monkeys in airships. In a way the game is perfect: you fly through space, a place that looked exactly the same everywhere in the previous Space Invaders-y games (black, with a white dot every now and then), but this time around space looks like an incredibly interesting place. While playing this game, you'll be dodging meteorites, flying over the surface of some planet or even driving a tank to take out your enemies. If that's not enough, some planets have special conditions like immense heat, draining your life during the entire level, and at the end of every level there's an interesting boss battle, with bosses that are actually talking to you, adding to the sensation. Perhaps this game is best known for the memorable "DO A BARREL ROLL!", which is said any time you could use a barrel roll to avoid collision with lasers, bricks or other aircrafts. There's not much of a story, but that's not at all what this game is about. This game is about shooting enemies out of the air (yeah I know there's no air in space). Another interesting feature is the option to choose you own path: which levels/planets do you prefer, what will be your way to the final stage? Also this game features multiplayer, allowing up to 4 friends to compete in their Arwings.

Looking back at this game I start to wonder why I didn't like this game all that much. A 8.3 isn't bad, but I bless most N64 games with a "Superb" score. The game has a few flaws I'd like to discuss. I'll start with a few minor ones. The game is simple and fun, so you don't have to learn a whole lot before you understand the game, but maybe it's a little too simplistic. Miyamoto and friends could've put in a few more weapons, or maybe an upgrading system like in RPG's, but they didn't and the gameplay is the same from start to finish. However this is really a minor flaw, because the same thing can be said about Super Mario 64, and that's one of the best game ever made. Also it's fun your teammates can talk to you, but the text could've been more daring. Maybe this game was just poorly translated from Japanese, but then again, conversations are so dramatic. What I expect from a fox flying an airship is humor. Last minor point of discussion is the multiplayer mode, which doesn't add all too much to the game: there are about 200 N64 games out there with a better multiplayer. What would've been fun is a co-op mode, beating the monkeys to pulp with help from your friends.
The major flaw which makes this game substantially worse, is the value. Give me one hour and I'll beat the game for you. Give me another hour and I'll show you all the planets you can explore. That's it. You could watch your little brother who tries to beat your "superior" score, but then after 3 hours, you can return this game to your local retailer. The second playthrough might be fun, but at the third try you'll get bored. With 2 hours of playtime this game loses all its credit. Because the game is so short you can't even save your game. I'll admit that this game is more fun than Minesweeper, but at least you don't have to pay for that game and in a way it's the same game. Play for a little while, save your highscores, and get someone else to beat you. Even though this game was released back in 1997, there are so many great N64 games out there this game simply isn't a must-have. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad game, it's a pretty good game to be honest, however you'll be better off renting this game, sharing your cartridge with around 20 different friends, or giving this game to your little brother for a christmas present after playing it for 3 hours.

About the future of the Star Fox series: I think because in this day and age, people are way more demanding when it comes to games than 10 years ago, this series is gonna die. Maybe a great multiplayer can save the franchise, but even then there are several great multiplayers for the Nintendo consoles already. You just don't wanna pay $60 for 2 hours of fun.

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