A fox of a different color.
Taking place eight years after Starfox 64, things have been pretty dull for the Starfox Team. Falco has grown bored and set off to find his own adventures, Peppy's getting older, the Great Fox has fallen into disrepair and work has been scarce. Meanwhile on a world called Dinosaur Planet (later renamed Sauria) a young girl named Krystal searches for clues to the destruction of her homeworld but after hearing a distress signal heads to Dinosaur Planet to help. The prolouge level of the game has you play as Krystal as she tries to find out what happened to this world, you soon meet the main antagonist General Scales, and learn that you have to find mystical Krazoa spirits, but no sooner does Krystal get started when something mysterious attacks her and encases her in a crystal suspended over the Krazoa Palace.
This is the point where our hero, Fox takes over. General Pepper calls them and explains what has to be done. This time fox goes it alone and for the most part, on foot. For a lot of Starfox fans, they will be dissapointed that flying takes a secondary position in this game. While Dinosaur planet has been split into pieces which Fox will have to fly back and forth to, the majority of the adventure will take place on the planet's surface.
While on the planet surface, Fox will find Krystal's mysterious staff which fell in her travels and this will become his primary weapon. For the most part, Fox will swing the staff to knock things from trees, activate switches or open boxes. Later on the staff will gain more powers such as shooting fireballs, making earthquakes and opening special doors. Even more impressive is when Fox encounters more threatening enemies, he moves into an attack mode where if you play around with the controls you can do some cool moves.
Shortly into the game, Fox will be joined by a companion named Tricky. Tricky is a little triceratops who is the prince of his dino tribe. While he can be annoying at times, he's very helpful. He will stand on switches, dig in holes or attack with his fire breath.
The world of Dinosaur Planet is alive and colorful. The dinosaurs have a lot of personality and there is a great storyline with a wicked plot twist at the end. Rare did a good job graphically. It's full of detail in the grass, leaves and Fox's fur. The music has a wonderful exotic feel to it and for the most part, the controls and menus are easy to navigate and there are no load times to speak of.
My only real complaint with this game was it was very linear. While the gameplay felt very Zelda-esqe. There was a complete lack of sidequests or free time to just explore this beautiful world.
A lot of Starfox fans won't like this because of the fact that it's such a departure for the series, but if you like fantasy, adventure and talking dinosaurs, than give it a try.