Star Fox

"Essentially a tech demo, but Argonaut crafted a pretty solid game around its Super FX chip"

It may not be exactly be obvious these days, but in terms of console games and their jump towards bigger and better graphics the original Star Fox is a landmark title. This is the game that was a poster child of the revolution toward to the third dimension, and the fact that it was the preeminent display of the capabilities of the much lauded “Super FX” chip of certain Super NES games does not hurt this fact. Believe it or not, the blocky polygonal shapes were hailed as incredible for the time. Finally, games could be developed that were almost on par with the latest PC technology. However, in this day and age people are beyond this seemingly simply rendering of the third dimension. What is important now is that the game's solid gameplay stands the test of time.

For what can be best described as a glorified tech-demo, Star Fox is certainly a blast to play, even with a moderate amount shortcomings and annoyances. The timeless tale of a group of misfit Arwing pilots destroying the mighty primate Andross and his galactic empire can be construed as parallel to the original Star Wars and Luke's destruction of the imposing Death Star. That is certainly one appeal of the game, it essentially created a chance for players to feel the same sort of gratification received from this game as they received from one of the classic popcorn flicks of the seventies. It is apparent that the developers were pushing for a cinematic quality from the game, and although they might have been one console generation short of actually accomplishing the goal they certainly put a lot of effort into it. From the imposing galaxy present at the stage selection screen in the beginning with the more tame looking planets first accessible, to the final showdown at Venom; darkly named, darkly colored, and ominous in the back galactic corner as the final inevitable destination, it becomes apparent that the task at hand for the creatures is not going to be an easy one.

And although the creatures in the story are anthropomorphic animals, you tend to feel sympathy and root for then at every corner. Fox McCloud, the player's character, is the brave leader willing to go down to the last to avenge his father. Falco Lombardi is the ornery seasoned veteran who never fails to display an air of pretentiousness throughout. The two other characters that round out the Fox team are Peppy Hare and Slippy Toad; frightened and naïve, respectively. Falco, Peppy, and Slippy are your backbone and accompany you throughout, unless of course they take extensive damage and have to fly back for repairs.

As can be imagined, the game is in the form of an on-rails shooter. Your character can fly in eight directions, but cannot fly in a truly three dimensional environment. While this may seem limited, it allows for the action to be constantly spewing forward. The Star Fox team seemingly doesn't know the meaning of the words “stay back.” The spacecraft of choice is the Arwing, a highly advance star fighter. Your Arwing is navigated through the respective terrain of a planet, spaceship, or asteroid belt. In each level there are numerous enemies and obstacles, whether they are enemy fighters, simple robotic protection drones, exploding asteroids, or larger transport ships full of enemy fighters. Your character's Arwing is equipped with a blaster cannon and a limited supply of bombs capable of destroy all enemies on the screen to an extent. These can seem to overwhelm the player at times, creating an array of challenges only seasoned veteran players can safely maneuver. The character can also pickup numerous power-ups such as dual blasters and extra bombs. At the end of most levels there is a large boss ship or robot that typically is destroyed by firing at the naturally blinking weak points.

The drawbacks of such a system can naturally be immense, as games such as this can become entrenched with a sense of monotony or overwhelming challenge. Star Fox does this to an extent; fighting wave after wave of drones, and lo and behold a boss that can be defeated by easily shooting at the blinking portions! However, there is a sense that great care was taken by the developers at Argonaut to ensure that players can stay firmly focused on the game and keep attention their attention spans soaring (like an Arwing!). Star Fox does not fall into the boredom trap as many other games of its ilk, but it still manages to contain a number of spots of annoyance in its relentless flight path.

The biggest drawback for me, however, comes in the form of control. There really are no ways around it: the game at times can have incredibly sloppy control. Sometimes Arwing bullets do not come out as often as you intended to have pressed. Also, the Arwing's movement isn't exactly expressively obedient to your input on the control pad. No came can succeed fully without an uncanny ability towards excellent control. While Star Fox is definitely playable, the lack of effective control becomes noticeable numerous times throughout your journey. It can be disheartening to see the sloppy steering of the Arwing when you could have sworn you have been pressing all the right buttons. It becomes increasingly depressing when you progress to later levels and have to witness the hordes of Andross's minions swarming around your ship. This is also coupled with an insane amount of slowdown that occurs when many items or large polygons crowd the screen.

The issue of slowdown is of course drawn to the fact that nearly all of the Super NES's processing power is transferred into polygonal rendering and the like. The game certainly is ahead of its time in that regard, even if the art style can be a bit lacking. You see there is a distinct lack of texturing on all of the models so insane realism isn't truly present at all in the game. Of course when you are dealing with the minimal graphics capability (as far as 3D is concerned) of the Super NES, this isn't exactly surprisingly. Still, the three dimensional graphical output of the game is a marvel and one of, if not the, most striking and memorable aspects of the game itself. The fact that space and movement can be rendered so neatly must have been a breath of fresh air too console developers of their time, and certainly should have opened them up to new horizons. Of course Wolfenstein and other shooters were already out on the PC and trouncing this game in processing power at the time, but that's unfair to compare and a whole different story.

The game also has an incredibly memorable soundtrack. The action-packed music has become standard in the Nintendo musical canon. Just about every track in the game has a fitting sound mix to accentuate your romps throughout space. Many of the original compositions were retooled and used in the game's sequel Star Fox 64. The sound effects throughout are also effective in their display: blasters firing, explosions, and the like. Standard of course, but these are nonetheless effective.

So, in this day and age should somebody be interested in purchasing or even playing a title that is graphically dated as this? Certainly. The game is a blast to play, even with certain shortcomings that tend to be commonplace with games that essentially are meant to showcase a system's power. Argonaut succeeded in making this game an enjoyable game to go along with the fact that it is also and effective display of the Super FX chip it helped develop. With a price tag of less than ten dollars (usually five) at gaming stores offering classic SNES titles, you can't go wrong.

The game is not an utter success, the control can just be so sloppy and sometimes the graphics look like they could have done with less rendering and more texturing. However, such the game is a fun little space shooter. All Super NES owners should owe it to themselves to add this to their collections.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/07/07

Game Release: Star Fox (US, March 1993)