Star Fox Assault returns to it's roots (mostly) and shines brightly on most aspects but it's not at all perfect.
But let's save the most important aspect of the game for last, as you'll want to find some of the other changes/improvements in the latest installment of Star Fox. The story, for once, does not involve Andross or primates at all except for the first mission, where'll you'll be facing off against the Venom Army and their newly appointed leader, Andrew Oikonni, the nephew of Andross. Instead, you'll be facing the deadly, assimilation happy Aparoids, an insect like race that prove to be foes with high costs to defeat, beginning with the death of the Oikonni gorilla (which is actually quite satisfying). As you face off against the deadly threat, you'll also meet some familiar as well as some new faces. And if you're a fan of romance, you'll get to see some nice interaction between Fox and Krystal, a telepath introduced in the last installment, who apparently gets Fox flustered quite easily when it comes to girls.
The graphics are also an impressive feat. The cutscenes and overall look during missions aren't the greatest thing you've ever seen but the ones in-between are very impressive. They have a very nice look to them: clean, smooth and just plaing good looking. In fact, you'll find good reason to complete the mission you're on just to see the cutscene that follows (although not all missions will reward you with it). Of course, you'll be doing them for the fun of shooting up the bad guys too.
Sound is also very good to hear but it's not exactly 'wow!' material. The music sounds pretty great on the ten stages in the game as well as all the other places you'll find them. It's reminiscent of the older games tunes (including Star Fox Adventures), albeit with a more of a modern tune. The dialogue is also great and well done and are spoken as if it was a real conversation. You'll find the quips traded between characters highly entertaining and real However, there are some times where the voice acting don't come off so well and sound a bit bland. Otherwise, nicely done.
Now, let's get back to what makes a game great: the game play.You'll be given three difficulty levels so that beginning, average and veteran gamers will be pleased. But no matter what difficulty, the Arwing battles will prove to be the best part of the whole game. The Arwing's abilities are what you'd expect them to be, barrel rolls, braking, speeding up, perform loops and u turns and the ability to shoot lasers, charged shots and bombs. In addition, on most non linear levels, you're given the ability to land your Arwing and get out on foot.
You'll also find yourself using the good 'ol Landmaster tank, giving you the chance to blow up baddies from the ground. You've got all the moves you'll need, like rolling and hovering to get you around as well as your primary moving ability to dash across the ground, knocking away anything in your path (including baddies *smiles*).
A new addition to the (not including the black sheep of the franchise, Star Fox Adventures) is not a vehicle but the ability to walk along the ground. You can't do this on the linear missions but the others will let you take control of our favorite mercenary Fox, who'll be equipped with a whole bunch of different weapons. You'll only start with the charge capable blaster but you'll also find some pretty cool weapons such as the machine gun, gatling gun, homing rocket launcher and a whole bunch of other stuff. And thankfully, they're not in the least a generic array. For example, the blaster can be an effective weapon when charged but it takes a while and the single shots can be your downfall against a lot of enemies. On the other hand, the machine gun is good for taking down lots of enemies at once but it's no good against the higher level enemies. The rocket launcher can also kill almost all enemies and obstacles instantly but it'll bring you down in close range. There are also a bunch of other cool weapons with their own strengths and weaknesses but you should find it out for yourself.
Although it's mostly an enjoyable experience, there are some kinks. You'll find the aiming and moving in the Landmaster and on foot portions of the game to be frustrating at times. The Landmaster is a bit clunky and it's difficult to face something that's behind you and you might even end up getting killed just trying to figure out how to get around. It's hard to do both at the same time and even the strafing capabilities that Fox is enabled with to compensate can prove a bit of an annoyance as well. All of this can be handled with a little time and patience but it'll still prove a bit annoying then.
You'll also be a bit bothered by how many damn times you have to save your teammates. Krystal and Slippy, newcomer and occasionally incompetent, respectively, are understandable (although saving Slippy is still troublesome, annoying and just way too common for comfort) but why Falco, who is supposedly the ace pilot of the team, finds himself in that kind of pathetic trouble is quite odd. Still, saving them can get you some health and weapons so it's not all bad. And there's something about saving Falco's feathered behind that is very satisfying, leaving you with a smug sense of superiority.
Overall, Star Fox Assault is an impressive installment in the Star Fox series with a once again great handle of the Arwing portions. The ground portions are good as well but not on par with the Arwing levels what with it's somewhat irritating controls. Nonetheless, many (others will probably just go for the Arwing levels) of you'll find the urge to go back to all the missions and play through for better scores, as well as the fact that they're incredibly fun. Still, the replay value isn't the greatest you'll find since you don't have many missions to choose from. Despite this, the mostly sound game play bundled up with the great graphics and pretty good but not amazing sound, this game comes out as a great shooter with a pretty cool looking cover. Still, some of you might want to rent this game as there's a chance that you might not enjoy the new additions to the formula.