Star Fox: Assault

"Mission Failed"

Introduction
One of the very first Nintendo 64 games I owned was Star Fox 64. I was (and still am) unfamiliar with the original Star Fox for the Super Nintendo, but thought I'd give its sequel a try without knowing anything about the series. I absolutely loved it. It's excellent graphics (for the time) and non-linear gameplay made me love every second of it.

When Star Fox Adventures was announced for the GameCube, I knew I had to get it. When I did, I played for about half an hour and then quit. I later picked it up and played it about 60% through before stopping again. But, let's face it, Star Fox games tend to lack good storylines, so making an adventure game was setting it up for failure. Then, Star Fox: Assault was announced. Fox was returning to his Arwing and Landmaster! SF64 nostalgia anyone? I instantly got Assault to find nothing but pure disappointment.

Storyline (3/10)
Wow. Well…umm…where to start? Okay, okay…well as I said earlier, the series isn't really known for their stories, right? And, though I love it, ST64' s story was far from miraculous. But here's the difference between the storylines of Assault and ST64: in Assault, they tried. In my opinion, the point of the Star Fox series and anything similar is to blow up everything you can and kill the guy threatening the universe. The story of ST64 was basically this: Andross is going to kill everything. Kill him first. Assault tries to throw in twists and complications to the plot that are not necessary in a game of this nature. It's just not that good. But you want to hear about it probably anyway.

Well first, Andross's annoying nephew and former Star Wolf member Andrew Oikonny is doing something bad so you have to go kill him on Fortuna and stuff. But wait – there's more! Out of the blue, comes a space parasite called an Aparoid! And of course, these Aparoids are evil and want to take over Lylat, and you must find them and then kill them all! Wolf and Leon are back with a new member, Panther (whose soul purpose in the game is to hit on Krystal…?) to complete the Star Wolf team (disappointments discussed in Gameplay section). But wait – there's more! They're friendly this time around! Don't worry (notice the sarcasm) – Pigma's still around, but he's helping out the Aparoids and has gone completely loony! Oh, and the game is also full of more than enough “AAAH!!! So-and-so is dead! Oh wait! They're not – just kidding!” scenes. So, basically, the story is plain bad. Let's move on.

Gameplay (6/10)
The gameplay has a lot of high and low points that basically balance each other out. I'll have to split this into two sections.

THE GOOD: The Arwing returns! The Arwing missions are definitely awesome. There's a lot of ST64 nostalgia when flying your airship around. And for more nostalgia…the Landmaster is back! Actually, I didn't like any of the Landmaster missions in ST64 or Assault, but they do add a little mix to the game. Okay, now I'll be honest, I'm not a big multiplayer kind of person. Most of the games I play are one-player RPG and adventure games, despite the occasional Mario Power Tennis and Super Smash Bros. Melee. However, I think lots of people will really enjoy the multiplayer mode in this game. Lots of unlockable levels in which you can use the Arwing, Landmaster, be on foot, or all three!

THE BAD: To put it bluntly, I hate the on-the-ground feature. I've always hated first-person shooters. And it's not exactly a first-person shooter, but I think it's very close. The control in those kinds of games is absolutely awful, in my opinion anyway. If the control in this feature was more like that of Ratchet and Clank or Jak 2, I don't think it would bother me nearly as much. Not to mention, the feature is basically useless! You get to use the Landmaster on almost every mission that you can be on foot. And those missions are usually not that fun anyway. I know this may be contradicting everything I've said about nostalgia, but half of the game's bosses are exact replicas of those from ST64. Don't be surprised if you recognize any clones of Andross, Gorgon (the boss from Area 6), and the missiles from Sector Z. I only wish the Star Wolf fight would be more reminiscent of those in ST64. I always dreaded fighting Star Wolf in ST64 because they gave me so much trouble, but in this game they are just wimps! Grr…

Graphics (8/10)
Well here's somewhat of a redeeming factor to this game. The graphics really are very nice, especially on Fortuna and Sauria. I can't exactly say the graphics are realistic, for obvious reasons. Also, some textures didn't really work for me, like the “fur” textures practically don't exist. But Fox was too furry in Adventures for my taste, so whatever.

Music/Sound (4/10)
I didn't really notice the game's music that much. It certainly wasn't painful, though it was far from outstanding. The sound effects weren't that great either. Things like bumping your wing into something or shooting at an enemy are lacking in good SFX. The voice acting, like in most games in the series, is awful. The characters are annoying.

Replayability (4/10)
You can get medals and stuff… But I don't really see myself playing through the game agian. Once again, the multiplayer mode is very good, and you may find yourself putting some hours into that.

Play Time (0/10)
Yes - something is actually worse than the story! When first playing the game I wondered if the story mode could be beaten in about an hour or two like ST64 or would there be over 20 hours of gameplay like Adventures. The only word I can think of to describe the length of the game is “awkward.” Casual gamers won't beat it in one sitting – it's long enough to have to save. But I honestly can't see it taking anyone longer than two days for anyone. There are only 10 missions, each taking from about 20-30 minutes, which means about five hours of gameplay. Awkward.

Final Score/Conclusion (4/10)
Don't waste your money buying this game, at least not until the GameCube is considered “retro” and you can get the game for $3. Otherwise, just rent it. Only if you fall in love with the multiplayer would you need to buy it. The game is not abysmal, but it's nothing you need to own for the rest of your life.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 06/08/05