Post by Brian-RN on Mar 6, 2005 20:09:24 GMT -5
Star Fox: Assault
Starfox Assault is somewhat of a sequel to the classic Starfox 64 for the Nintendo 64. A game originally based on all flight based combat, un-spreads its wings and adds more Land-Master missions, and all new ground missions. Assault is not as good as 64, but is still a good game. The flight missions are the highlight of the game, and the on-foot missions do nothing, if not take away from the game.
To hit the ground running, the on-foot missions are bad. Not that bad, but they do more bad than good. Controlling Fox is harder than it has to be, and it doesn’t feel like your run-of-the-mill shooter. You press the A button to shoot, and the joystick to move Fox. Of course, you can change to a traditional third person shooter control scheme, but this just feels wrong and the camera is horrible. Along with an odd feel, there aren’t that many weapons to choose from. Although some might argue there are, there just aren’t. You have the stereotypical blaster, which has unlimited ammo and a charge shot, the machine gun, homing launcher, gatling gun, sniper and a few more. The weapons look rather bright and cheery and are rather strong. A few shots from the simple blaster can take out a machine 3 times bigger than Fox. You also have some grenades and mines at your disposal. The grenades are much harder to use than they need to be but the mines are rather easy and effective to use. Overall, the weapons make some of the game rather easy.
The length of the game is ultimately the lowest point of the game. Lasting ten missions, Assault can be beaten in one sitting. If you played strictly to the story and don’t enjoy blasting a few random enemies, the game can get over in about 4-5 hours. Of course, you can go back and play missions over again if you want to, but once you’ve gotten all the medals and flags, there’s not much to do. If you remember Starfox 64, half of the fun was going back and playing it again. This is where the multiplayer aspect comes in.
Originally, Assault was supposed to be an all multiplayer game. This is where Assault shines the brightest, but no glasses are needed to view this aspect of the game. You unlock levels as you play through story mode and you unlock more weapons as you play more multiplayer. There are three different levels in which you can play, Arwing levels, which are all arial. Pilots, which are on foot, and require a faster player, and a mix of the two, with a Land-Master thrown into the mix. You can change the rules to certain bouts only or what type of match you want it to be and mayhem ensues. You can tell that Assault relies heavily upon the multiplayer, because you have to play a lot to unlock most of the content.
Of course, Assault does a have a single player story mode. We begin where Starfox 64 left off. You are chasing a monkey named Andrew Oikoney, who was simply “Andrew” in the 64 version. There is no real prologue, you’re just dumped into your Arwing and shot into space. You must then follow Oikoney to Fortuna, where you learn the rest of the story. Coneria is once again in trouble, but this time, thanks to the race of bug-machines named aparoids. They have the ability to do numerous things, including taking over people/machines, scanning your memory, etc. Besides that, they game is very much the same as previous installments. Of course you can play on ground now, but in retrospect, ground-based action adds nothing, if not takes away from the overall gameplay.
Since Assault is pretty much the same, flight missions are once again the highlight of the game. They feel right at home, as if you were playing Starfox 64. Of course, most of the missions don’t involve flying, and if they do, they’re like the rest of the missions, very short, very easy. One of the other downsides of the game is the difficulty. The last boss can take only 3 minutes to beat, and the harder part is getting to him without dying once. Even when you beat a level on Silver or Gold mode, the game doesn’t get harder, you just have to kill more enemies.
If you add together the flight missions and the foot combat, you get the Landmaster. The Landmaster is pretty much a high-tech tank. You can barrel roll, hover, speed up, shoot and whatever else you want to do in a tank. It can be pretty powerful once you get inside, but can be destroyed fairly quickly by either a swarm of weaker enemies. The Landmaster hasn’t gone through any changes since its 64 days. It can still fly, and roll, but you can charge you shot and lock on. Besides that, there have been no changes.
Assault sound like any other game. You have the traditional classical music with an emphasis on bass and brass instruments. While flying around or blasting aparoid, the music fits right in. Of course, to fit with the series, Assault also has some pretty good voice acting. Although there is no word-to-mouth animation and all you see if the animals jaw moving up and down. The sound effects are rather cool. Whether your mowing down a row of enemies with your machine gun, or flying around in your Arwing, you’ll feel immersed in the game, and the graphics take you even farther in.
Assault has some of the best fur graphics seen to date. Each individual fur moves separately, and just looks beautiful. Besides the fur, the game itself looks amazing. The glass reflects you, the textures are superb, and the characters themselves look great. The particle effects are good, but nothing exceptional. Overall, Assault one of the better looking titles for the Gamecube, but not the best.
Star Fox: Assault had a big name to live up to. The 64 game was great, and Adventures introduced some great new characters. Sadly, Assault doesn’t live up to that name, but is a good game. If you’re a Star Fox fan, you’ll most likely enjoy Assault. Even if the story mode is short, multiplayer will have you coming back for more, and is ultimately the best part of the game. If you’re looking for a must-have title for your collection, Assault isn’t one of them. But look into it, because it can be fun.
Overall: 8.2
Starfox Assault is somewhat of a sequel to the classic Starfox 64 for the Nintendo 64. A game originally based on all flight based combat, un-spreads its wings and adds more Land-Master missions, and all new ground missions. Assault is not as good as 64, but is still a good game. The flight missions are the highlight of the game, and the on-foot missions do nothing, if not take away from the game.
To hit the ground running, the on-foot missions are bad. Not that bad, but they do more bad than good. Controlling Fox is harder than it has to be, and it doesn’t feel like your run-of-the-mill shooter. You press the A button to shoot, and the joystick to move Fox. Of course, you can change to a traditional third person shooter control scheme, but this just feels wrong and the camera is horrible. Along with an odd feel, there aren’t that many weapons to choose from. Although some might argue there are, there just aren’t. You have the stereotypical blaster, which has unlimited ammo and a charge shot, the machine gun, homing launcher, gatling gun, sniper and a few more. The weapons look rather bright and cheery and are rather strong. A few shots from the simple blaster can take out a machine 3 times bigger than Fox. You also have some grenades and mines at your disposal. The grenades are much harder to use than they need to be but the mines are rather easy and effective to use. Overall, the weapons make some of the game rather easy.
The length of the game is ultimately the lowest point of the game. Lasting ten missions, Assault can be beaten in one sitting. If you played strictly to the story and don’t enjoy blasting a few random enemies, the game can get over in about 4-5 hours. Of course, you can go back and play missions over again if you want to, but once you’ve gotten all the medals and flags, there’s not much to do. If you remember Starfox 64, half of the fun was going back and playing it again. This is where the multiplayer aspect comes in.
Originally, Assault was supposed to be an all multiplayer game. This is where Assault shines the brightest, but no glasses are needed to view this aspect of the game. You unlock levels as you play through story mode and you unlock more weapons as you play more multiplayer. There are three different levels in which you can play, Arwing levels, which are all arial. Pilots, which are on foot, and require a faster player, and a mix of the two, with a Land-Master thrown into the mix. You can change the rules to certain bouts only or what type of match you want it to be and mayhem ensues. You can tell that Assault relies heavily upon the multiplayer, because you have to play a lot to unlock most of the content.
Of course, Assault does a have a single player story mode. We begin where Starfox 64 left off. You are chasing a monkey named Andrew Oikoney, who was simply “Andrew” in the 64 version. There is no real prologue, you’re just dumped into your Arwing and shot into space. You must then follow Oikoney to Fortuna, where you learn the rest of the story. Coneria is once again in trouble, but this time, thanks to the race of bug-machines named aparoids. They have the ability to do numerous things, including taking over people/machines, scanning your memory, etc. Besides that, they game is very much the same as previous installments. Of course you can play on ground now, but in retrospect, ground-based action adds nothing, if not takes away from the overall gameplay.
Since Assault is pretty much the same, flight missions are once again the highlight of the game. They feel right at home, as if you were playing Starfox 64. Of course, most of the missions don’t involve flying, and if they do, they’re like the rest of the missions, very short, very easy. One of the other downsides of the game is the difficulty. The last boss can take only 3 minutes to beat, and the harder part is getting to him without dying once. Even when you beat a level on Silver or Gold mode, the game doesn’t get harder, you just have to kill more enemies.
If you add together the flight missions and the foot combat, you get the Landmaster. The Landmaster is pretty much a high-tech tank. You can barrel roll, hover, speed up, shoot and whatever else you want to do in a tank. It can be pretty powerful once you get inside, but can be destroyed fairly quickly by either a swarm of weaker enemies. The Landmaster hasn’t gone through any changes since its 64 days. It can still fly, and roll, but you can charge you shot and lock on. Besides that, there have been no changes.
Assault sound like any other game. You have the traditional classical music with an emphasis on bass and brass instruments. While flying around or blasting aparoid, the music fits right in. Of course, to fit with the series, Assault also has some pretty good voice acting. Although there is no word-to-mouth animation and all you see if the animals jaw moving up and down. The sound effects are rather cool. Whether your mowing down a row of enemies with your machine gun, or flying around in your Arwing, you’ll feel immersed in the game, and the graphics take you even farther in.
Assault has some of the best fur graphics seen to date. Each individual fur moves separately, and just looks beautiful. Besides the fur, the game itself looks amazing. The glass reflects you, the textures are superb, and the characters themselves look great. The particle effects are good, but nothing exceptional. Overall, Assault one of the better looking titles for the Gamecube, but not the best.
Star Fox: Assault had a big name to live up to. The 64 game was great, and Adventures introduced some great new characters. Sadly, Assault doesn’t live up to that name, but is a good game. If you’re a Star Fox fan, you’ll most likely enjoy Assault. Even if the story mode is short, multiplayer will have you coming back for more, and is ultimately the best part of the game. If you’re looking for a must-have title for your collection, Assault isn’t one of them. But look into it, because it can be fun.
Overall: 8.2