Star Fox Assault (GameCube)

This long awaited sequel, developed by arcade masters Namco (creators of Soulcalibur and Air Combat) features even more of the same, with all the expected improvements in graphics and detail. However the main thrust of the game is the innumerate multiplayer modes with a four player co-operative mode where everyone can pilot their own fighter or simply sit on the wing of someone else's and take pot-shots with a laser gun. When you'd prefer to hurt your friends rather than help them there's also a full-featured deathmatch mode, where you get to run around on foot using sniper rifles and rocket launchers or climb aboard one of the various spacecraft and tanks that litter the arenas. This more open style of gameplay adds a whole new to dimension to the game, almost turning it into a kind of mini sci-fi version of Battlefield 1942. So forget about all that tedious object collecting from Rare's unsung swansong and experience StarFox the way it's mean to be. --David Jenkins

Adventures isn't quite as bad as critics tend to suggest although there were flaws. The sotry was not what we, as Star fox fans, are used to. There were not enough space battles, and dinosaurs. What was that about. Nevertheless all of this can now be swept neatly under the carpet because now we have a typical star fox blast fest where you can shoot and destroy just about anything that moves. This is the way Rare should have gone about it instead of creating lavish scenary with little or nothing to do in it.

However, Namco have included some foot based missions which should provide an alternative to flying or riding in the tank. Also, watch out for the return of that old foe Star Wolf.

It looks like being a cracker.


In a word-FANTASTIC!!!   June 5, 2005
 6 out of 11 found this review helpful

Star Fox has always been a good series, so let's have a bit of backtracking over Fox's history... First, on the SNES, came 'Star Wing', a polygon-filled shooter that was the first (maybe only) '3-D' SNES game. A few years later came 'Lylat Wars', a true 3-D Star Fox that fans dreamt of in their sleep-and that was only hell of a fantastic game. Then came Fox's first GameCube outing in the form of 'Star Fox Adventures'-created by Rare instead of Nintendo-which was an on-foot RPG adventure. It suffered some bad reviews in the game mags-after all it could be completed in a few days-but was an enjoyable experience. Now, we come to 'Star Fox Assault'-which is the best in the series so far. It mixes the great Arwing-based sections of the originals and the fun on-foot sections of 'Adventures'-fused together to make a true masterpiece. SF veterans will recognise some of the stages. The levels are all brilliantly designed, with luscious 3-D backdrops, nicely detailed characters, and where would this game be without great enemies? The new enemies-Aparoids-give you hard and chaotic gunfights, especially in close-quarters. The Sargasso level in particular is quite mad and tricky. The bosses are the icing on the cake-huge, difficult bosses which pose tough challenges in the Gold Difficulty setting and will blow your mind. The multi player is great too, up to four people can have an all-ut gunfight, tank battle or mid-air starship clash-the choice is yours. Also, you can unlock one of Namco's ancient NES titles 'Xevious' if you play well.

VERDICT
The best Star Fox game yet. Like F-Zero GX, it really shows that Nintendo can put a franchise in an other company's hands and get good results. Well done Namco.
5/5


StarFox Assault arrives!   April 30, 2005
 4 out of 9 found this review helpful

At long last, StarFox Assault (Yes, it is ASSAULT, not ARMADA!!!) has been completed by Namco and Nintedo as part of their 'TriForce' union thing. It seemed like forever before a final PAL launch date was given, and now it shall be released on the 29th of April!

This is by far, the true sequel to Lylat Wars (StarFox 64)and the game that will give back the reputation of the series that the outrage of 'Adventures' stole. It was indeed an excellent idea for Nintendo to request that Namco design and create the new game.

We can look forward to piloting the Ar.Wing properly this time, and an outstanding return of the Landmaster shall also please the fans out there (I know I did). But, there are on-foot missions, but not the ones from 'Adventures' at least, where you can use an arsenal of your usual blasters, machine guns, bazooka's and other weapons that are on hand for the one and only Fox McCloud (Drooooool)!

The team are back, yes...Including that incompetent Slippy Toad (Grrr, he should have been killed in 'Adventures'). Krystal makes a return (Sigh) but for some odd reason, Katt Monroe and Bill Grey (Both from the N64 version) haven't made an appearance in Assault, which is a shame to be honest. Making a return for this game are the StarWolf mercenary team, the StarFox rivals. Wolf O'Donnell is back (Droooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool) along with Andrew Oikonny, Pigma Dengar, Leon Powalski, and a new member called Panther (Yes, that's what he is) Caluruso.

The graphics are superb, with no slow down at any part of the game, thus creating amazing scenery and backgrounds when playing. The sounds...What can I say? That classic StarFox theme always makes me hum along to it. The good ol' laser blasts, explosions and such are great...The voices....Well, the voices have been selected well...But there is a let down to it all...The voice acting...It's terrible, there is no emotion, especially at the opening scene of the first mission where Oikonny unleashes a barrage of missiles at the Cornerian fleet and you hear someone call out "Stinking Ape!" No emotion whatsoever. Ok, so there is only one part where the voice acting is great, and that's at a scene where Fox is talking to Krystal on top of a dinosaur in dinosaur planet (Tricky is mentioned, so urge Fox to bomb the area).

Another thing that Namco have screwed with, is the duration of the game, as there are only ten missions, a bit of a dissapointment indeed, seeing as their were 15 missions in both the SNES and N64 versions, you would ahve thought tht namco would have added at least 35 more than that!?. But at least there are loads of multiplayer levels to unlock and plenty of other features to unlock alongside (Fox and Wolf in underwear, so drool worthy!)

Other than the voice acting and the short, ten missions...I'll still give it the top score, because it's Fox McCloud and Wolf O'Donnell and I cant underscore them.

It should be worth buying anyway, whether you're a fanboy/fangirl or not.


excelent game a bit short though   June 30, 2005
 1 out of 3 found this review helpful

after reading severial reviews that complained about bad graphics and bad controll i started loosing hope for star fox assult but i liked the previous ones so i gave it a go.

star fox offers a few different game play experences firstly on rails shooting stages in your airwing, onfoot sections that were much better than i expected (when done with a twin analogue set up)and land vechele stages.

The airwing stages are just the same as all the other games the camera travils down a route and you blast anything that gets in your way with bombs and lazers and at the end of the stage you have a boss battle. The onfoot sections were good also you have a set up that makes it play like a first person shooter its really easy to controll the only problem with on foot sections is you cant tell exactly where enimys are as there are several floors to these stages and you only have a 2d map so you might think a bad guy is right next to you but they are really 500 feet and 4 floors above you but you can also jump in to landmasters and airwings on these missions e.g you land at a base where you have to blow up pods inside but a air battle is going on outside you you run around blowing up the pods and when the meter at the top of the screen starts filling up your friends are struggling so you quickly jump in the airwing get out side and shoot down the badguys then return to your mission.

i was quite supprised that the graphics looked good i dont see what the problem is it has a good frame rate lots of action on screen at one time and the graphics although not resident evil 4 standard were very good and didnt deserve the bad press the gameplay and controlls were also good and enjoyable the only thing letting this game down was the length of it and the fact that you could not choose a different route like in the previous games the levels just come at you one by one.

the multi player is quite special though you have massive arena's where you can choose what guns you want and if you want either airwings or landmasters or both my faveriout is going in to the arena with just sniper rifels great fun.