Star Fox Assault - Imagine if it had been on the Wii or Wii-U

My introduction to you:

Star Fox, the sci-fi on-rails shooter, might be amongst one of Nintendo's weakest titles, only having 5 actual games not including the 64 remake or cancelled games. Out of all these games, a majority of gamers would find themselves only truly loving Star Fox on the SNES, Star Fox 64, or some for Star Fox Command if not the unreleased Star Fox 2!
So what happened along the way on the gamecube console? Nintendo hired Rare and Namco to work on their game for them, that's what. Honestly, I feel this really wasn't a good move for Nintendo as I feel the team who originally worked on the series could only truly understand the series as a whole. Though, not to say the games were bad, but they were certainly far from the majority of love the previous games received. Star Fox Assault was a bit like the Sonic Unleashed of Star Fox.

Depth: 6

Star Fox for the SNES and 64 were simple games for the fact that even with one or two modes, the game could be replayed to experience the game in a way unlike the first time you complete it. It evolved from the SNES Star Fox 1 and 2 featuring a smooth all-range system, different vehicles, and alternate pathways to go to a different stage from the current one. Unfortunately, Star Fox Assault decided to almost not evolve, or perhaps messily evolve would be a better way to put it.

Star Fox Assault decided to just go with a straight forward 1-player story mode. There are only 10 missions and no alternate paths, secret stages, or hidden bosses. It's very sad to see what was once a great concept for Star Fox suddenly tossed out the window. Why the developers would do this? I have no clue. There is also a VS. mode that allows two to four players to duke it out against each other, and I have to say, this is the best part about Star Fox Assault, and had the developers waited, it could have been expanded to 5-10 players on the Wii U with Wi-Fi. There is also one extra mode that features one of Namco's retro games, Xevious.

The single player mode follows the classic tradition of Star Fox on the first stage by placing you in an on-rails shooter that the series became known for. The allies of the main character, Fox McCloud, already start throwing out classic quotes from Star Fox 64 throughout the stage most likely to give the player a sense of nostalgia. If that's not enough, some of the stages remix songs from Star Fox 64. However, before each mission and in between the on-rails stage check points which environments change, there will be cut scenes which of course allows for the story at hand to play its part. These cut scenes are at least well placed as to not break the flow of battle, but these aren't the only check points in the game either. There are invisible checkpoints that tend to be far separated from each other so if you lose a life, you have to do a whole section all over again (hopefully not an annoying one.)

The new addition to the game already starts on the second stage in which you get to experience a single player pilot mode unlike the unlockable pilot mode in Star Fox 64. At the same time, the land master is also thrown in especially when you realize how easy it is to lose health in the game due to the very short invincibility frame you have after getting hit. The pilot and land master modes function similar to the all range concept in which you play in a 3D environment shooting down swarms of enemies. The land master vehicle no long has an on-rails shooting stage unlike the previous Star Fox 64, however, this does closely mimic Star Fox 2 which was always in all range mode. During the pilot mode stages, if an arwing is present, the arwing will also engage in the all range battle.

The single player mode is somewhat enjoyable, but may feel a little too easy some of the parts, or absolutely frustrating. The bosses of the game are in fact the easiest part of it and the on-rails stages aren't too hard, but overall, this just makes the game feel dull. On the other hand, the pilot stages can be particularly frustrating sometimes considering how easily enemies can destroy you especially when your invincibility frame is so short, but at least it provides a challenge that is feels refreshing to accomplish in the end. You will be given several search and destroy missions to complete to advance checkpoints and the story, and make sure not to lose a life during each mission or you'll have to start that mission over again.

Unfortunately, you'll find yourself getting more frustrated than relaxed with easy stages as the game seems to be longer in the pilot stages than the on-rails stages. The overall experience of the single player mode didn't make much of an impact on me.

Star Fox Assault's VS. mode is probably the best the Star Fox series has ever had, and certainly had more work put into the field than the single player mode. Though you only start with a few stages when you first play the game, after beating the game, you'll have stages from the single player mode to duke it out on with your friends. Eventually after achieving a few unlockables through single player and so many VS. matches (and I mean over 200), you'll have an even greater amount of stages and VS. modes, new items and weapons, and two more extra characters aside from the assault cast, Peppy and Wolf. Clearly, Star Fox Assault is more centered around multiplayer fun as it seems most of what you do in the game unlocks more multiplayer features, which is good.

Being able to play amongst friends in Star Fox Assault seems to flow more nicely than the single player mode. Depending on the map you play on, you'll find yourself having to switch between the Arwing, Land Master, and Pilot modes on the fly to win battles. This alone makes every match feel very fast paced through making you adapt to your friends strategies in order to turn the tables on them. Not to mention, with the amount of new items and weapons you get for pilot mode, it expands the gameplay options while also making the pilot mode a force to be reckoned with. The characters even have their own strengths and weaknesses ranging from speed and health, to how well they fight in arwings and what not. This alone allows players to find a character they feel most comfortable with and develop tactics they can employ through the character's stats.

There are various gameplay modes in the VS. mode as well as an option to set the rules of the match. For the battle modes, there are Main Rules, Sniper Showdown, Homing Launcher Clash, Missile Launcher Bout, Booster Packs Brawl, Booster Packs Launcher Tilt, Sure-Shot Scuffle, and Crown Capture. Though you'll only start with the first three mentioned, the other modes are worth unlocking to change the flow of gameplay. The rules you can play by are time limit, survival stock, or point match, and there are a few other rules to set handicaps for players and what not. On some of the selectable stages, you can also adjust what vehicles are allowed to be used. There is certainly a lot more fun to be had in VS. mode than there is in single player mode.

There are many unlockables in the game, but sadly, a few of them sometimes feel near impossible to achieve or will take a lot of time. The easy and time consuming unlockables are found within the VS. mode by simply playing a number of matches ranging from 5-260. The more difficult unlockables, such as being able to play as Wolf, unlock the bonus game, Xevious, or the VS. mode weapon, demon sniper. can be achieved through the single player mode. The hardest unlockable might be having to collect all S flags in the game which may require you to sacrifice achieving silver medals on all missions for the Xevious game, making you have to play through twice. On the other hand, to unlock Wolf, you just need to keep your allies alive on each mission...but it's not really that simple with how easily they go down most of the time. I found myself having trouble dedicating to such tasks.

Story : 4

The story is probably the biggest downfall of Star Fox Assault and claimed to possibly be one of the worst in the series. At first, the story looks it might take an interesting turn of events since Andross is no longer alive to attack the Lylat system and his nephew tries to take over as the new Andross...however, he is destroyed by the true enemy of the game, the Aparoids. The Aparoids are parasites that are part machine and part biological in which they take over those without a strong will, or even machines, infecting them to mutate into a more dangerous form. The race feels they are superior and wants everything to submit to their power and join them.
The story is not executed as well as it could have been and really falls lower than it should have thanks to the very cheesy script and voice acting. It's really nothing too special, not to mention, a similar concept was already used in the Megaman X series. The reoccurring maverick virus that turns reploids violent and making them want to destroy reploids and humans for the sake of a maverick world. In short, the story just feels a little too generic and doesn't really go that far outside of the box.

Difficulty: 5

Star Fox Assault is an easy game overall in terms of the single player mode as it is. Sure there will be points where you lose a life or two to a small challenge or maybe the final boss, but in comparison to the previous Star Fox games, this has to be the easiest. There is only one or two points I can remember in the game where I actually did struggle greatly to accomplish a stage, that being near the end as a pilot mode stage. But regardless, this game can be beaten in one to two hours and the other amount of hours will be spent in VS. mode most likely.

What is actually challenging gameplay wise in Star Fox Assault are the three tasks you can accomplish on the side while you play the single player missions. The first task that at hand is a part of the difficulty levels you can choose before entering a mission. By choosing the bronze, silver, or gold medal, you will have to achieve a certain score number or higher in order to achieve that medal. The difficulty actually does change well enough to make the game more challenging by giving you less med kits, stronger enemies, and a very high score to reach. I've been able to get through gold medal missions just fine, but It is very difficult to actually get the medal, and sometimes even silver medals are difficult to achieve. This is what actually gives the game some spice to challenge yourself with and a reason to replay single player mode.

The second task available is a little easier, but very unfortunate as you have to keep your allies alive in all stages to unlock Wolf O'Donnel. Slippy, Krystal, and Falco are absolutely useless and are just there to get themselves killed, however, if you save them, they will give you power ups at least...unless it is all range mode where they, on occasion, destroy big ships. On foot, Slippy and Krystal who appear in one stage have A.I. worse than anything I'd ever seen in which after the enemies in one very small area is killed, they just run around in the same place and never follow you to help out or anything, though this does keep them alive in turn. On the on-rails stages, you'll only have around 5 seconds or more to save your ally, so hopefully you have precise aim, or you'll be starting over a lot.
The third task that brings a challenge and probably the most annoying is to find all 50 S Flags in the game. I've only found two and it's impossible to know where they are unless you really search carefully and shoot at random things I guess. An S Flag appeared on top of a pillar on one of the bridges that I just happened to shoot by accident. Though these three tasks are there for you to attempt, chances are you might not attempt all of them.

The controls in the game can be set to three types, however, they mostly center around the pilot mode since that is the most touchy feature of the game. The first control schematic, the single stick, has been known to be a little troubling to some players though, is still usable with a little practice. Moving and camera control are done with the control stick, the R button allowing you to control the camera, the A button being used to shoot , and the c-stick for changing weapons. On the other hand, the dual stick method which I use, allows you to play like the modern day shooters where the control stick is to move and the c-stick rotates the camera, R being used to shoot and A for switching weapons (which can also be done with the D-pad.) The third method, R Button , makes R button the run button similar to old shooters, A is to shoot, the control stick is to aim, and the C-stick or D-pad can be used to switch weapons. Overall, the best control scheme would be the dual stick in my opinion, but at least the game gives you options that work either way.

The controls of the three gameplay modes in the game all differ from one another, and unfortunately, the land master controls the worst. The land master actually takes a lot of getting used to, and of course, it's a tank so it should be hard to move, but it shouldn't feel frustrating a lot of the time. Hovering for instance is very annoying as you have to be very precise with how you land or you will roll off the edge of the higher platform, and this happens with some of the other controls too. The pilot mode could have had faster turning speeds, and rolling with either the land master and pilot sometimes doesn't execute, but most of the time it will. The arwing on the other hand is almost flawless having very smooth flight controls, the only problem being that it is much slower and different than previous Star Fox titles.

Addictiveness: 5

After I beat Star Fox Assault and tried to complete a few of the challenges for the missions, I only came back to the game for the single player once in a blue moon, but when friends were over, we'd play Star Fox Assault and still do to this day as it is the best part of the game. Compared to Star Fox 64, one would definitely choose this over it for multiplayer. The game is very fun and though one would have to get used to the controls available, they'd adapt within a short time and enjoy the great multiplayer gameplay that anyone could enjoy. Otherwise, I found myself playing Star Fox 1, 2, and 64 for the single player Star Fox experience. Only half of Star Fox Assault is addicting really.

Graphics: 8

The graphics in Star Fox Assault are pretty good, though, it also depends on if you use composite, component, or a dolphin emulator to really bring out the best in the graphics. I've tested both composite and dolphin so I will balance out the two and use a game comparison.
With the composite cables on a large modern screen, the graphics aren't as crisp as it would look for Super Mario Sunshine or Metroid Prime, but they still are nice regardless, and colorful. The lush scenery of Fortuna in the second part of the first stage is still enjoyable to look at. However, when you look at the game in 1080p, it really does bring out the best in the character and machine models, and the stage backgrounds. Crisp and clean is the best way to describe it. Overall, the graphics do not disappoint in this game, but still fall a little short of a few games out there.
An interesting little fact I learned from someone about Star Fox Assault is that the on-rails shooter part which looked the best ran at 60 frames, and the all-range missions and pilot mode ran at 30 frames. This may be because of how much more enemies there are all at once in the all range stage.

Sound: 9

Star Fox Assault's soundtrack is well done, having original songs as well as rearranged songs from Star Fox 64. The remixes of the Star Fox 64 music plays through the single player mode which will bring a nostalgia factor to the player, but with the way the music is orchestrated, each piece sounds more epic then their originals, in fact, better! (Corneria and the Asteroid belt are a good example of this.) In VS. mode, there is an entirely different soundtrack for the stages that can be achieved from single player. The music seems more reminiscent of Star Fox for the SNES as it mimics the vibrant, upbeat music of the game, also giving a sci-fi feel to some of the songs. Overall, the music in the game is great and fun to listen to alone also (though there is one annoying song out of the vs. themes).
The sound effects of the game are a bit of a letdown when you actually look back at previous Star Fox games. Some of the laser and explosion sound effects are mellow and just not as memorable. Some of the sound effects are fine, but it just doesn't do the game enough justice.

Overall: 7

Star Fox Assault would have been a great title for the Wii U had there been wi-fi matches and refined controls, but sadly, we might not get to have that since rumor has it that Star Fox will have a crossover with Metroid. The game is very enjoyable for its multiplayer feature and is certainly much better than what we had for Star Fox 64. However, the single player part of the game is a bit dull in the gameplay and story department, the challenge only going as far as being annoying at best. However, the graphics and music are well done, especially since some of the single player songs are remixes of the original Star fox 64 songs adding a nice nostalgia factor. The game shouldn't cost too much anymore, so if you can find it somewhere for under 10$, it'll be worth the buy.

Wow. Just wow. This review is amazing. 3000 WORDS! I can't even write a 1000 word review! You included a ton of detail. Great job. Keep writing reviews and make the Retro Game Room a better place.

tgags123 : My natural amount is usually around 2000, but suddenly it has been upping itself to 3000, which I feel isn't necessarily a good thing. I don't think many people would want to read 3000 words. You sure I'm not doing something wrong? This happen to me last time with Soul Calibur V, though that review was terrible.