"A fun single player mode while it lasts, and a decent Multiplayer, but it's still dissappointing"

UPDATED

Starfox is one of those series that are very unknown to a lot of people, but people who do know definately know what to expect from starfox. I haven't played the original starfox, but I first played Starfox Adventures. It was a great game and is the best starfox, but for the wrong reasons. I think that because Starfox Adventures was meant to be an adventure game. Despite the fact the Rare Ltd. developed this game, it recieved mostly mixed reviews. Some liked it, but others didn't due to messing up the formula or some just don't think it's a good adventure game. Then suprisingly I played Starfox 64 in the year of 2005. It was a great game. Yes it's short, and you couldn't save in the game, but you could take branching paths which was really interesting. Now Nintendo has choosed Namco, who developed games like Soul Caliber, to develop Starfox Assault.
Most of the Nintendo characters are still very likely to be alive to continue. Mario, Link, Samus have been top characters of the nintendo world and still are. While some say mario is been around alittle too long, he's known as Mr. Nintendo as well as being the logo and has starred in alot of games. Link, known as the best character in Nintendo because his adventure games were alot of fun and Orcarina of Time will always be a classic. Samus is also good because her games were long lasing and unique. Kirby, while having a hard time on consoles with the incomplete game, Kirby Air ride, his flaws are still being made up with the newer games like Kirby the Amazing Mirror and Canvas Curse (I haven't played any of these games yet). That proved kirby strong and still likely being alive for a while at least. C. Falcon, while not seen very much, still has a great racing game F-Zero GX. The only one left thats in my mind is Fox. He was good in Starfox adventures, but thats in my opinion. There hasn't been a very good starfox game since SF64 to alot of people that like starfox. Starfox Assault didn't solve everyones problems, and still leaves alot to be offered. I found it to be very enjoyable while it lasted, but this disappointment most likely means that this nintendo series will be the next one to end.

Story: This game is the very first starfox game (save for starfox adventures) to actually have a story to the game. Honestly the story is good, but quite alot was very disappointing. Fox and his Team are ready for takeoff as the apariods are new creatures which are scattered around places and are ruling corneria. It was nice to include cutscenes and dialogues going on between missions though like said before, it's stiil disappointing. Honestly, I think after this game, starfox is going to die due to the story.
Score: 6-10

Gameplay: 7/10- This game has the same stuff as the previous "starfox" games but with the addition of the ground-missions. These are all-range modes.
IN FACT, this game actually feels more like a third-person shooter(not the best, but no that bad).

The arwing missions are alot of fun, but they only take up less than half the game like 40%. Yes you at times can use your arwing during some of the ground missions to save your teamates and fight during boss battles, but still, it would be about 45% to 48%. Anyway, the Arwing missions are on-rail missions which you move forward and shoot anything on your way. There are boss battles which are also alot of fun. I wish there were at a few more arwing missions though, they still seem to be the best part of the game.

Now on to the Ground-missions. Many people believe that this is what really killed the game. They were boring, hard, and took to long. But I think it's not all that bad. I mean the ground-missions do have their positives. I'd admit that they are very hard. Some of the ground missions are good like Sargasso SpaceZone and Corneria. The controls depend on what suits you. If you play shooter games, then one control setting will work. It plays like most first-person shooters. I used this one. Another one consisted of one controller stick that you could move as well as turn with it and the A button was to shoot. Some people may not be used to it, but it can be ok with people who play games like metroid prime. The last one consisted of holding the R button to move and the A button to shoot. This one is probably the worst control option as it can be annoying how you use the R button to move

Graphics: 9/10- That graphics are outstanding and are the best aspect of the game. This was what really starfox was all about. Even the ground missions look awsome. Character modelings are ok, but fox looks a bit awkward, but not terrible. The framerate never drops. Just remember, if a game has bad frameratem it would most likely be a terrible game. This game is one of those which play well and don't feel nothing serverely wrong with it.

Sound-6/10- I may have underrated the sound a little bit, but I can say the music is awsome. Most of it is remixed starfox themes. The starwolf theme is very catchy as well as the main menu music. Nearly all the songs don't disappoint(Few are mediocre, particularly the count down music in MP, it can get annoying sometimes). As for sound effects, I can't say much about them but I think they get the job down a fit the game well. The voice acting is the worst in starfox history. Slippy, however, is much more perferable and tolerated because he doesn't sound like a girl like he did in SF64, but once again, his voice can get annoying, but it's a huge improvement. Fox is okay, but sounds very plain and lacks emotion. Falco has that "cool" attitude which is okay, but can get on your nerves. Peppy, General Pepper,Krystal and ROB have okay voices, but Krystal has that fairly annoying british voice.Okay so far all the voices were averaged to okay, but don't forget starwolf. This team had the worst voices in the game. Andrew sounds a like an idiot, a huge difference from SF64, but his voice isn't the worst. It's Pigma that has the worst voice in this game. He sounds like a drunk pig and a nerd. His voice was so annoying, but I don't necessarily hate him. Wolf's voice I guess is okay, but he was buthered and sounds so bland. Leon may have the best voice in the starwolf team, but sounds very different from his old voice. Panther, a new member of the starwolf team doesn't help at all cuz his voice is bland.

Value: 4/10- This is the game's weakest aspect. There are only ten missions in the game which is too short. I beat it in nearly 2 in a half hours, but if I included deaths, then probably around 3 in a 1/2 to 4 hrs. It depends on what difficulty setting to choose from. I chose the Silver difficulty. Most people would want to choose this one, since it isn't too easy. Some parts are very hard in this difficulty. NO ONE should choose the Bronze Difficulty, since there is no challenge and it's way too easy for this type of game, UNLESS you are new to Starfox or to shooters. For hardcore gamers, choosing the Gold difficulty can be mostly hard, yet alot of fun. Honestly, this game had potential, but it was too short of a game. This game was supposed to be released in April 2003 and ended up being released in Febuary 2005. That was almost 2 years of delay. Rare could do better than Namco, but it isn't to say that Namco is a bad company. I just expected better. The multiplayer is actually decent and quite fun(I suppose better if you have at least 3 people). There are a lot of unlockables, some stages being unlocked from playing the story missions, but most can be unlocked from playing multiplayer alot of times. Wouldn't be simple to put alot of the unlockables to the story missions to beat a certain score and you would unlock stuff? That would make replaying the missions alot more fun, but I did replay them anyway. They were still fun to, yes, even the ground missions too. Even though the multiplayer is fun, somethings could have been better and a few things were missing and I still keep the replay value at the same low rating. It could have been better

Starfox: Assault is a great rental, anyone should rent it, because it can be alot of fun and you would know Namco has done a decent job introducing the series. The music was great. The Arwing missions were fun. The groundmissions aren't terrible, but not as entertaining as the Arwing missions. Multiplayer is decent(at first I thought it was boring) and you should rent, then buy, only if you enjoyed the multiplayer, unless if you really need a Starfox Update Though I have a feeling that starfox is going to end after this game, but lets not hope that. Lets hope nintendo can improve and continue the series. Please Nintendo

Score: 6.8/10(B-)

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/09/06, Updated 05/05/06