"The Gamecube has a strong game here, with some flaws but still quite enjoyable."

Star Fox: Assault is one of those games that only some people can create, this game was developed by Namco and produced by Nintendo, two of the best game companies out there (Namco is the same company that made one of the best, (if not the best, flight simulator for the Playstation 2 and Nintendo is known to make several good games). The previous Star Fox for the gamecube was not what people wanted, they wanted a game like Star Fox 64, but they got a Zelda style adventure game, it was a good game, but not what people wanted. This game features what people wanted since the masterpiece "Star Fox 64", a action Star Fox game using the power of the GameCube, the story is involving, the graphics are cool and shiny, the gameplay is good and the multiplayer is the best part.

Story 9/10
This is not a RPG, so the story is not so deep but is surprisingly very very good. At the start of the game you will find yourself on a mission to capture Andrew Oikonny, the leader of the Andross Remains, soon after you "complete" that mission, a race of bug-like creatures called Aparoids will invade the Lylat System and is your new mission to destroy them, it has some plot twists but obviously I won't reveal them.
The only bad thing about this, is that the game should have included backstory of the main characters so people that have not played any other Star Fox game don't get confused.

Graphics 9/10
The graphics on this game are really good, not as good as other games on the GameCube but very good indeed, the Arwing and the Landmaster look very detailed and shiny, the levels look toatally awesome, and you can see that since the first mission, the cutscenes look splendid, some things could be better though, like the animation of the bombs and other little things, overall the graphics are very good but not perfect.

Gameplay 7/10
The gameplay is good on this game, you can choose between Bronze Difficulty, Silver Difficulty, and Gold Difficulty (Easy, Moderate and Hard respectively). The game has "Pilot" missions in wich you go on-foot, usually finding and destroying specific targets with several different weapons, but unfortunatly, it feels like you are controlling an action figure.

The classic "Arwing" missions in wich you fly with your arwing attacking entire armies of enemies, this are what fans wanted since Star Fox 64, and are perfectly well-done.

The old "Landmaster" missions are back aswell, you control the landmaster usally on open field missions and not linear missions like on the Nintendo 64 version, the Landmaster feels very good and it's very fun to use.

Most missions are mixed, meaning that you can use more than one vehicle. It should be noted that there can be thousands of enemies on screen and the game does never slows down, it's always very fast paced, and this adds points to the gameplay.

Multiplayer 10/10
The multiplayer is the best part of this game, you can battle your friends on several different stages and with different vehicles, there are different modes to play, there are alot of unlockables that you get by playing certain amount of matches and others you get by playing Single Player mode. The different characters have different status. You will like the multiplayer of this game.

Sound 7/10
I'm not the kind of person who focuses on the sound but I will have to do that this time. The Remixed Star Fox Theme is cool but it gets repetitive, there are alot of music themes on this game but that's the one that you will be hearing most of the time. The sound effects are perfect, the explosions, the lasers and everything, is very realistic. The voices are not perfect but good, but they still need emotion, the "Aahhhh!"of Fox or the "Uncleee Androooss!" of Oikonny are not as realistic as they were on the N64.

Replay Value 9/10
The replay value is incredibly huge on this game, you will be playing hours with your friends on Multiplayer Mode and trying to set records on Single Player Mode, the game makes you able to replay missions after you complete them, that adds alot of replay value, also after you complete the game once, you are able to play the game on Survival Mode, wich is exactly like story mode just that you cannot save between missions. There are 5 hidden flags on each level in case you want a real challenge, since those flags are very hard to find.

Overall Score 7/10
This game is cool, it has incredible and shiny graphics and the cutscenes are godly, good gameplay that makes the game longer and interesting until certain point, as the on-foot missions steal some of the charm of the game...

Fast battles with hundreds of enemies on screen, good story and cool characters, cool sound effects although the music is a little repetitive...
But without a doubt is one of the best multiplayers for the GameCube at the moment.

Namco is a very good company and it's reflected on this game. Namco did a good job with Nintendo's Star Fox franchise

Rent or Buy?
If you are one of those people who likes challenges, you have played any other Star Fox game, or simply want a good multiplayer, buy this game.
If you don't fit on any of those categories, rent this game if you want to test it before buying it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/06/05, Updated 08/29/06