The Star Fox series started out on the Super Nintendo in 1993 and was one of the best shooters of its time. The game’s protagonist Fox McCloud flew his Arwing, a spaceship, through numerous loops avoiding hazards and blowing up enemies until victory. The series continued on the Nintendo 64 with some success, leaving the core gameplay in place while applying a graphical update. Note to developers: Be careful when you radically change gameplay styles of established franchises. Nintendo has now handed over the duties to Rare to create a Star Fox game within a platforming world. Well, Rare decided to place Fox in a game they had been working on called Dinosaur Planet. The transition actually works out pretty smoothly in terms of story, but how about in gameplay? Read on… The game places Fox on Dinosaur Planet to check out distress signals being released from someone on the planet. Shortly after arrival, Fox finds out that General Scales has stolen the four SpellStones that happen hold the planet together. On top of this, Fox must also track down six Krazoa Spririts that the Earthwalkers, a dinosaur tribe, have hidden from General Scales and return them to Krazoa Palace. Easy enough, right? Along the way to collecting these important objects, Fox encounters several of General Scales’ goons, which are typically several variations of walking lizards. The game uses the lock on battle system made famous by The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, which automatically locks Fox onto the nearest enemy. But after Fox is locked on, battles are nothing more than mashing down one button until the enemy is dead. Since almost all enemies are killed this way, fighting is more of a chore than it is fun. You don’t even have to look at the screen to defeat enemies after awhile. In order to explore the thirteen areas in the game, Fox must use a combination of magic and help from his dinosaur pal Tricky. The magical spells in the game serve mostly to solve puzzles, but can occasionally be used in combat. Using fire to hit switches and propelling yourself high in to the air with a lifting spell are the most common spells used in the games puzzles. Tricky is used to uncover hidden items and areas in the game by usually digging into the earth or melting ice walls in the way. But, Tricky seems to be there only to keep a nice connection between Fox and the dinosaurs, as these abilities could have easily been given to Fox. And when you have to keep Tricky fed to get him to help, the hassle becomes even more evident. While Rare has always been known for item collecting adventure games, Star Fox Adventures makes collecting numerous items extremely tedious. You really can’t get past point A without collecting X number of item A. When you do get past point A, you’ll find you have to just collect item B to get to the next area. This becomes dry since modern platforming or adventure games have added more variety to the formula. If there was more to do than just collecting and playing mini games, then the game would have felt a lot less tedious. Speaking of mini games, Fox will come across several mini games throughout his travels. The games range in difficulty and in entertainment. The racing levels are actually quite fun to try to beat or catch Scales’ henchmen, and I found myself wishing the game had more. Also, when traveling between planets, Fox flies his Arwing in a throwback to his old adventures. But unfortunately, these levels are short and hardly challenging. But, why did Rare throw in these god awful button mashing matches and these games where you have to keep the line in the green area? These just aren’t any fun, and are so bad that they may hurt your impression of the entire game. But when Fox reaches a boss in the game, Star Fox Adventures is a really fun game. The bosses require you to think, and require much more than simply hacking away at them. The first boss you encounter require extensive use of your fire magic in conjunction with your staff. Yet another boss requires you to hit a switch to trip him, while you run in to toss a gas canister at him. If only the rest of the game’s combat involved this much variety, the game really could have been so much more. If there is one thing that Rare has achieved with this game, it is near graphical perfection. The character models are outstanding, and everyone is appropriately furry or scaly that you encounter during your quest. Speaking of fur, Fox’s coat of fur all moves separately; creating one of the most realistic hair effects I have ever seen. The game’s water also looks outstanding, bringing the various areas in the game to an unprecedented amount of life. All game should strive to create as beautiful environments as these. The game’s cutscenes use the in-game graphics engine and subsequently look amazing. Everything also animates very well. Fox runs, rolls, and fights with fluid movements, making it a sight to behold. The dinosaurs inhabiting the game’s world also move realistically, even reacting if you accidentally hit them while battling enemies. The enemies also display numerous animations while fighting, which do help to make battles at least look cinematic. The only drawback to the graphics is I found an occasional hiccup in the frame rate, but it was nothing major and it didn’t take anything away from the fluidity of the game. The sound work is exceptionally well done in some respects, but falls short in some areas. The music does a good job of setting up the mood of each of the game’s environments, creating a truly immersive feeling. The game’s music also will change appropriately when Fox encounters a battle. The voice work is the only weak point in the sound, even though it is really good for some characters. Fox’s voice is particularly well done throughout the game, and for the most part so is Tricky’s. But many other characters in the game suffer from horrible voice work, such as the randomly Irish Warpstone. The game also features a ridiculously silly sounding language of gibberish, but fortunately you don’t have to listen to it for too long. In the end, Star Fox Adventures is a very easy game, since anytime you get stuck you can ask Slippy, one of your partners, basically what to do. Fortunately, the game is lengthy, as it lasts fifteen to twenty hours. But due to the excessive item collection, this is almost a downside to the game. But, platformer or adventure game fans will find things to enjoy in the game, if they can get past the flaws in the game and stomach the monotony. If you are indeed a fan of these kinds of game, then I do recommend giving the game a purchase. However, Star Fox fans should be wary, as the game really wouldn’t have felt any different if Fox wasn’t in the game. This is NOT a Star Fox game.
The Good: Impressive graphics and sound, interesting story, good Arwing missions (though not enough), fun to play through despite Gameplay issues, good puzzles The Bad: Awkward item system can be annoying, boring Game... Read Full Review
Star Fox Adventures is more than the sum of its dismal parts. One would believe that pointless story, mind-numbing combat, inane puzzles and excessive backtracking destroys any game. Thanks to the constantly changing gam... Read Full Review
