User reviews

Originally, Rare intended for this to be released on the N64 under the title "Dinosaur Planet". But Shigeru Miyamoto persuaded Rare to combine the game with Star Fox, taking it in an interesting new direction. And so, one of GameCube's best platforming games was born. The Zelda-styled adventure game was so distinct from the prequels, some fans don't consider it a true Star Fox entry, but I disagree. Sure, it may not have nearly as much space combat, but it was still a great game.

It didn't bother me as a kid, but looking back at it years later, the game is chock full of Zelda elements and while I wouldn't call it a rip-off, it did make it feel a bit unoriginal. Fox controls a lot like Link and besides fighting enemies, the gameplay relies on puzzle solving, hitting switches, clearing obstacles with explosive barrels, or pushing crates. You can improve your health, magic meter, and amount of money you can carry. You even have a companion to help you out: Prince Tricky. With his voice, he could be annoying, but not as much as Navi. Plus, he can dig for items and breathe fire at enemies. You have to constantly feed him though. To top it all off, flying in Fox's airwing was limited to travelling from world to world and flying through gold rings to access them.

Fox's controls and movements are smooth and easy to get used to, but combat is a little underwhelming for me. Your staff is your only weapon, and besides melee, its features are limited to launching fire or ice projectiles, a shockwave, and propelling yourself upward. Combat is a repetitive routine that involves mostly button mashing to smack Sharpclaws and other foes around with your staff. The bosses were better though, and the fight against Andross was a fun combination of the battles against him in the prequels.

Rare legend, David Wise, once more outdid himself with the game's soundtrack. All the music was atmospheric and beautiful, like Thorntail Hollow with its tranquil drumbeats and chanting and the soft, mysterious flute and wind chimes inside the Krazoa Palace. The sound effects were cool too, especially those from the staff as you launch projectiles or boost yourself into the air.

All the levels were big and fun to explore. They had great and exciting layouts and were textured and detailed with plants, boulders, and other features. The weather effects like raindrops, snow, and lightning flashes made them even more dynamic. The characters showed a good range of strong facial expressions and emotions, and their models were well designed with cool textures like Fox's fur or the scaly hides of the dinosaurs.

The voice acting was a mixed bag, and the cheesy, unimpressive dialogue didn't help. Steve Malpassc sounded bored while delivering his lines in a gravelly voice. Again, Tricky was whiny and annoying at times, and the shopkeeper's voice made me want to cut my own ears off! There were a few good performances though; the Warp Stone was great with his Scottish accent and deep, bombastic voice and Krystal had a charming British accent in the game's finale.

In the end, I consider this a pretty good game, and it was definitely worth playing. But sadly, this was Rare's last title before being bought out by Microsoft and it I feel the Star Fox franchise began to decline after this.

I played all of the Star Fox games except for the original SNES Star Fox (because I was a wee bit too young for the video game world during the SNES days). I did like the Star Fox 64 game, which brought rumble to the home consoles with the Rumble Pak bundled in the box. I got this game as a holiday gift last year along with Metroid Prime (the best game ever as of 8/30/03). It's a pretty good game. I heard it used to be for the N64 as "Dinosaur Planet", which would have been the last of the N64 giants, but as Rare realized that the end was near for the N64, they decided to cancel the game, give it a major facelift, and make it for the Gamecube, executed as a Star Fox game. In the game, our hero Fox McCloud is called upon to save Dinosaur Planet (which is being split to pieces by General Scales and his Sharpclaw army) and save some lady fox named Krystal. It takes returning the Krazoa Spirits, the guardians of Dinosaur Planet, finding the Spellstones, and bringing down Scales and the Sharpclaw. SFA has their share of great graphics, which, when it comes to the Star Fox series, improve in a revolutionary manner by the times (the original with the graphics powered by the S-FX chip put into the cartridges, SF64 with their anti-aliased graphics [which were very advanced at the time] and the Rumble, and SFA's detailed graphics of the worlds around Fox) . However, there are flaws. Some of the puzzles you must solve are a waste of time. Part of your quest is run-and-fetch, which can be annoying at times (you have to look for lost dinosaur kids scattered at the Lightfoot Village one time). When it comes to the voices, while some voice acting is pretty good (like the greedy dinosaur running the store at Thorntail Valley who complains about wanting to live at Cape Claw), some are pretty annoying (like Prince Tricky, who goes with you on your quest, and Peppy [whose voice wasn't frail in the N64 game]) or unintentionally hilarious (like King Earthwalker or one of the Lightfoot mothers [the one who says "My babies are sooo naughty... they like to play underground"], who sort of sounds like Cartman in "South Park"). Prince Tricky, like I said, is annoying at times. I didn't like the racing parts where you race the Sharpclaw at times (it took me my guide to go through it). The parts where you fly your Arwing to get to other planets and back are great and bring back memories for those who played the previous Star Fox games, but they are completely short. There is no multiplayer, which SF64 has that SFA doesn't (then again, who cares about multiplayer, and that the multiplayer in SF64 sucks hard). It is, overall, a great game. Sadly, this game is Rare's last game for Nintendo, whereas as the game was released, Nintendo announced that they sold their share of Rare back to Rare, which then went to Microsoft, which, in turn, led to Microsoft owning Rare and having Rare make games exclusively for the Xbox (thus having games in development for Gamecube at the time delayed and brought to the Xbox). This game is probably the only Rare game for Gamecube (Rare's support in the N64 days where a contributing factor to the hit N64 was [though not as successful as the Playstation, which competed against the N64]). However, hope is not all lost to the ailing Nintendo. There is Square able to make games again for Nintendo (though Square games for the Playstation 2 are in the works too [although the introduction to the PSP might lead to Square supporting Sony completely again]). All the franchises Rare left behind that are owned by Nintendo, like Banjo-Kazooie, Star Fox (though Rare did not make the previous Star Fox games), and Donkey Kong (Rare did not make the original DK games, but they did make the 1990's DK games [Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Land, Donkey Kong 64]), are now picked up by THQ ( picking up Banjo-Kazooie, Sabre Wulf, and Mr. Pants) and Namco ( picking up Star Fox and Donkey Kong). However, even though THQ is probably not redeveloping the Rare franchises they picked up (their games are on the Game Boy Advance) since those games probably went gold before Microsoft bought Rare, when it comes to Namco matters, thats the thing to worry about, because of the lackluster showings of Star Fox 2 at E3 2003 and Namco having the Gamecube Donkey Kong be some sort of gimmicky Sambe De Amigo ripoff involving some damn conga controller (then again, the Star Fox game might be changed between the E3 showings and the product coming out). I give this game a 9 out of 10.

Sure, it looks like the Zelda game, and the dinosaurs are a little too odd for some, but I gave this game a ten for several reasons. Here they are: -Gameplay: Not original, I'll admit, but still the fun, general feel the game creates, with improved features like auto lock-on and others. -Graphics: This game (And Assault) are definitely the best looking games on the GC. Any SF fan who has played the N64 game will be amazed, with the realtime fur-rendering, high-detail tri-liner graphics, which blew people away when they first saw it, a game which finally out-smarted Sony with their fancy-pants graphics. Go Nintendo & Rare! -Sound: Woah. With high-bitrate sound effects, breathtaking music and real-sounding voice acting is also an element which puts this above other games of it's time. -Plot & Storyline: Any Star-foxy fan will admit, previous Star Fox installments plot lines were a little bit on the 'basic' side. Face it. But this game has the best storyline in any SF game to date. It has everything a good game needs; action, adventure, treachery, mystery, romance, and other stuff. Gimme more juicy plot-lines Nintendo. This game was originally meant to be a game for the N64, with nothing to do with StarFox, until Nintendo and Rare joined forces once again, so it's come a long way! -Characters and stuff like dat: All your fave SF characters have returned- now in high detail graphics! Everyone from the previous games are here, with some new faces. Even Slippy looks cool! The SF Fandom who thought Fox and his mates looked awesome in StarWing and SF64, then look at what they look like now! *Jaws drop* WOW! -Bottom Line: Need I say more? A timeless classic that Nintendo players will remember forever...

True, this game is criticized for some "crappy" voice actign as well as a different gameplay, but to me, this game is likeable! Each time Fox gets a new VA , some of his traits and personality differ, but it's all still the same regardless.

We know the gameplay's too different and the Arwing's been downgraded. But a Zelda fan might love this! Since this was Rare's last game, you'll be surprised by the accents these characters have. because they had British voice actors in this game.

This game is really great. It's gonna last a LONG time to beat, but it will be really fun along the way. Once you pick up the controller, you will never wanna stop playing. The graphics are really amazing and a marvel to look at. The battle system and extra side-quests are really fun. Boss fights are golden and can be really fun to play. Overall, this game is one of the best yet. Once again, Star Fox has delivered a hit title to add to their golden collection. Pick it up today and let your own adventure begin!

OK, there are ship battles, but they are few and far between. the rest of the game is a half realized Zelda game. the action is too awkward, the aiming is really weird, some parts in the story don't make much sense (no blasters....? well, this is excusable, no advanced technology for the dinosaurs, but come on, the dinosaurs are gonna die if you don't blast some baddies) a lot of the characters movements are awkward, and the story is kind of sad, not in terms of mood, but in terms of they could have done a lot better. the game isn't all bad, the adventure parts have their moments, and the ship combat is extremely enjoyable. but that doesn't salvage the wreck of a game it is, Nintendo should have gotten a better performance out of rare, as this was their last game for Nintendo, lets pray for star fox assault to be better.

5/10 *****/**********