F-Zero Climax

"F-Zero kicks the throttle into overdrive one last time on the GBA"

F-Zero has always held a special place in my heart. On the Game Boy Advance, the series has seen three games, each different than the last. But the most radical change to the series is in F-Zero Climax. This game has everything: dozens of pilots, tons of courses, a track editor, and above all, loads of speed.

Gameplay – 9/10
Climax's singleplayer game is split into two major sections: Grand Prix and Survival. Grand Prix is simple enough: Pick your class (Novice, Standard, Expert, or Master) and your difficulty (Bronze Cup, Silver Cup, Gold Cup, or Platinum Cup). Like in GP Legend, the tracks change on the higher class levels (the one exception is the Platinum Cup). This adds a lot of tension to the game, as you're racing on the 53 tracks accessible through this mode. Grand Prix mode itself is superbly done, and it ramps up the difficulty very naturally. It's actually possible to lap the computer players, who are no longer the push-overs from GP Legend.

Survival mode is another story. Here, you can take every character through a series of challenges, split into three levels: Tour, Challenge, and Battle. While it's fun at first, you'll soon realize they want you to do each of these three modes 36 times before you'll unlock everything. That's a lot of playtime to invest, and the levels themselves don't change for every racer. So if you are a perfectionist who has to beat everything, expect to spend a lot of time racing around the same levels. It's by no means bad, but a little more variety would have been nice.

Extras – 9/10
F-Zero Climax has some very nice extras. Zero Test mode makes a return -- of course the difficulty has been increased quite a bit. Then there's the Edit mode, which lets you create and save 30 levels to the cartridge (which are available for play in Time Attack) or share them to friends (via the link cable) to compete in a multiplayer match. Beating Survival mode allows you to view artwork, character profiles, and story synopsis from the Anime episodes (however, the text is in Japanese). Finally, the game features a cool option screen, allowing players to make up to four fully-customized control profiles. Before jumping into the game, you can select or customize your control profile.

Graphics – 8/10
Climax has simply amazing graphics. GP Legend's bland track textures have given way to more detailed and varied textures. Once again, this helps with the sense of speed the game gives you. The vehicles are detailed, however they seem to rely heavily on primary colors, which can make telling some vehicles apart difficult (whether this is intentional, to relate to the anime series designs or not). Outside of the races, the characters in on the pilot select and profile screens are done in a really cool comic book style.

Sound – 6/10
Okay, so Climax doesn't have fancy guitar riffs or pulsating techno music. But it does have a solid, somewhat recycled soundtrack. It does its job, but the soundtrack is not particularly memorable. The announcer returns from GP Legend, and this time he walks the line between annoying and helpful. Sometimes the announcer is dead off, spouting phrases like “Watch your back” when the closest opponent is miles away. Engine sound effects are, as far as I can tell, imported directly from the previous game. I guess it would have been nice to hear some voice clips from the anime series, but that didn't happen in this game.

Overall – 9/10
It was about a year ago, when I was playing the import of what would become GP Legend, when I wondered if F-Zero could get any better. A little over a year later, Nintendo answered my question with a resounding “YES!” This is the best racer on the GBA: it's mature, it's responsive, it's feature-packed, and it's worth your time and your money.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/23/04