Star Fox Adventures

The Good
This most certainly is an adventure. You have a large world to explore, with items to collect, puzzles to solve and (of course) bad guys to defeat.

The plotline is interesting. The world itself has been torn into pieces, and you must put it back together. General Scales has caused this in his quest for power, and won't just let you save the world. He sends his loyal Sharpclaw tribe dinosaurs to stop you, and they provide an enjoyable combat experience.

The graphics are outstanding and they show off what the GameCube is capable of. Water reflects, everything has a realistic shadow, and the characters even show emotions through facial expressions.

The audio department is no slouch either - memorable music is played through the game, and most characters have full speech. You'll note some strong British accents among the cast, which are far from common in games these days.

The Bad
Even though it has taken all of Zelda - Ocarina of Time's style, it's never quite as deep or engrossing a game as that. This game is very linear, and unfortunately pretty short - it took me less than 20 hours to complete which included a lot of exploring and extra object collection.

And since this is a Star Fox game, why haven't I mentioned the space combat sections yet? That's because there is very little space combat in the game at all! The space flying sections consist of landing on the planet or orbiting lands which require you to fly through up to 10 (of 10) gold rings. There is a boss fight at the end, but it's pretty easy - Star Fox veterans will be disappointed.

The Bottom Line
As an adventure, this game is wonderful - a fun story, lots of action and a lot to see. But for fans of the series, they'll be saddened to know that there is very little space combat action to be had. And as much fun as this game is, you won't be replaying this in a hurry.

The Good
Rare can't fail with graphics and sound, and this game is not an exception. Locations are beautiful, characters detailed and well-animated. The game is one of the few modern releases that manage to impress me with the graphics (In some cases, there's fur effects and depth-of-field). Music is excellent. Voice acting isn't stellar but it works wonderfully and no character is actually annoying.

Playability is wonderful. I might describe it best as "Zelda without the annoyances" - no beep-beep when you're low on health, can save just about everywhere, and no need to hurt fingers because enemies are targeted automatically.

While the plot isn't that complex, it still manages to keep me interested all the way. Cutscenes are very competently done.

Slippy Toad's in-game hint system is definitely welcome, even if it's not very helpful in all situations. Thanks to it, I never really got stuck.

The Bad
Well, Rare has the reputation of adding weird near-useless items in the game, and this game is not an exception. I don't know if it's that bad, though. The puzzles weren't very challenging, but I suppose it's also positive (better easily done than impassable). Overall, the game has "a huge bunch of cool ideas that aren't too well joined" kind of feel.

The Bottom Line
Fox McCloud gets to explore the beautiful and atmospheric Dinosaur Planet on foot, recovering some mystical stones and passing small challenges. This game is just like Zelda games, just a bit more refined and evolved, and far more linear in structure.

Some might say the game is too easy, but I found the game to have just the right amount of challenge. It never got too easy, it never got too hard. With a very linear plot, it was much like a scenic ride through the planet with some puzzles along the way and more than enough action. Even if it still uses the platform game cliche of "n different levels with different themes", the game surprisingly manages to create an interesting atmosphere in each location.

As for if it's a good Starfox game, I'd say yes. The space shooter sequences aren't too large parts of the game, but I've always wanted to see Fox adventuring on foot.

And once finished, the game hasn't left me with a "glad it's all over" kind of feeling. While one might say it won't reward the player at all and thus it has no replay value, I think it actually is worth playing again. The game is not really amazing to complete, but through and through, with very small exceptions, it has been really really fun. I will play again, and I'm hoping for a sequel.

The Good
In case you're all wondering, SFA is an RPG similar to the 3D Zelda games. I'm gonna let y'all know how good this game is now.

Graphics (10/10):

Whoever did the graphics in SFA deserves to be rich. The graphics are the most impressive I've seen in a Zelda-like RPG. The sky effects are impressive, and the day and night times look quite realistic. And I like the way they make the hair on Fox look so real. Check out the way some of the environment and enemies look, these to me just show one what our 'Cubes can do.

Music/Sound/Voices (9/10):

Some of the music featured in Star Fox Adventures is pretty neat, especially the Arwing music and the racing music. Most of the voices in this game are nothing to complain about. I like Fox's voice and General Scales' voice and the WarpStone has a nice Scottish accent.

Gameplay/Control (10/10):

If you've played Ocarina of Time, you pretty much know already what the gameplay and control is like. This stuff is very similar to OoT except there are a couple of changes, you open up the inventory with the C Stick and you attack with A and put the staff away with B and the rolling is now done with X and you can assign an item or an upgrade to Y. I like the control, and fans of Star Fox, Zelda and RPGs should too. And the gameplay is awesome.

Oh, and I should mention that the Arwing missions are pretty fun too. You're flying around in the Arwing to reach a certain part of the planet while flying through gold rings to open the forcefield.

Replay Value (9/10):

This game has a lot of replay value in it. I never got bored with this game for months. Actually, there's not that much in it, but it's still good nonetheless. I could go back and find the cheat tokens after I beat the game the first time and that's about it. But this game is so much fun that you could actually start a new game and play again.

The Bad
Arwing missions are sparse, and Tricky's constant "Ah, come on Fox! I'm hungry!" and "Where are we going?" can get moderately annoying after some time.

The Bottom Line
Overall: 10/10

I highly recommend this to Nintendo/Star Fox fan's everywhere. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

The Good
The game plays like a (N64/Gamecube/Wii) Zelda game, which means it is basically an action adventure game - something which might be a bit irritating when you hear the Star Fox name. Apart from that you get all the great features from the Zelda games: excellent controls, a cute setting with different sceneries in different parts of the world and wide landscapes.

Graphics are just excellent: The characters have detailed shadows, you get dynamic day / night changes and nicely animated water. The closer an object is to the camera, the more details can be seen like very realistic fur for our foxy characters or single blades of grass on the floor. Combined with nice facial expressions the visual impression is just excellent - and Fox's expression when taking an important item is just priceless.

The Bad
The game plays exactly like Zelda. In fact the differences are so minimal that it would be enough to replace the main characters (Fox with Link / Crystal with Zelda) and leave out the occasional Arwing scenes to get an original Zelda game. As already said this is not bad in terms of gameplay, but it doesn't have elements to set it apart from the Zelda series - be it gameplay, levels, mission design, story or graphics. Even those few additions not seen in Zelda games like your little dinosaur companion "Tricky" didn't make an considerable difference - he could just be a fairy with new abilities...

Aside from the conventional adventuring the game adds in a few interludes like a racing game (where you have to chase enemies) or shooting sequences (riding on the back of a dinosaur and shooting incoming objects). And this is were the real trouble begins: While those "minigames" add a diversion to the rest of the gameplay, they are not optional. And unfortunately some of them are actually quite difficult - namely that one last rail shooter sequence a few minutes before you reach the final boss. It's ridiculous: You play through the entire game, just to be confronted with an extremely hard sequence of an entirely different genre than the rest of the game. Just imagine you'd play a turn-based strategy game, but at the end of the final battle the game would suddenly switch to first person mode and require you to kill the boss in melee combat. Seriously: Mixing of genres is nothing bad per se, but please prepare the player for the task adequately! That scene was definitely one of my most frustrating game experiences since I started playing games...

The Bottom Line
Starfox Adventures is an excellent Zelda game with Starfox characters. I'd highly recommend the game, though it may be frustrating towards the end if you are not into button smashing.

The Good
From it's lush colourful worlds, to it's fun and perplexing puzzles it is one fun game.
There are lots of things to do, lots of worlds to explore, puzzles to solve and tons of hidden items and upgrades!
The worlds are large, the bad guys are everywhere and it's a cute enough game to appeal to anyone from 10 and up.
Even when you beat the game, it is so large that you forget how you beat it and that makes for a fun replay value.
While not exactly "cheating", a great feature of this game is asking you pal "Slippy" for help. Because of the size of the worlds and the complexity of your tasks, it is easy to forget what you need to do or go. He'll remind you what you need to do. This is great for younger players who may get confused and disoriented, and us OLDER players who are senile!! LOL

The Bad
One aspect that was very boring was buying things at the stores. You had to buy everything individually. Even if you were planning on buying, say, 5 fuel cells, you have to buy them all one at a time. This means listening to the shop keeper over and over...."You pay,,,,this much!", "OK, I'll sell it to you!"..... What they should have done is allow for multiple purchase. "How many?" etc. This aspect of the game really slows it down and is irritating.
Also, the map system is ok, (PDA tool) but the maps could have been just a bit more detailed. After a while you don't really use them, as the lack of detail and small size makes them marginally useful. They'll give you a general idea of where you are, but only enough to allow you to orient yourself if you a bit lost.

The Bottom Line
This game has something for everyone. Shoot 'em up, space craft flying/shooting, one on one fighting, lots of puzzle solving, and it's all wrapped up in a nice colourful package. It's not so violent as to be a major concern to parents, but not so wimpy it's a dull snooze fest. No blood or gore, just smacking or shooting with a staff.
It's fun, it's engaging and has a great story. Isn't that what you want in a game, afterall?

The Good
I got this game thinking that this was gonna be another Rareware game with cute character and trees having eyes. But I was wrong. I got Zelda and Banjo-kazooie into one which is great because I love Banjo and I absolutely love Zelda. Its got the feel like Zelda and the characters like Banjo. Good gameplay, GREAT graphics, good sound. You control Fox Mcloud who gets hints from Slippy, maps from Peppy and totals from general Pepper

The Bad
Nothing except if you save at the final boss fight, you are stuck there forever.

The Bottom Line
Do you love Zelda, Banjo-Kazooie and Lylat Wars then get this. All three into one.

The Good
The graphics are some of the best I have ever seen, rare have really milked the gamecube’s capabilities and have packed a lot graphical treats in to it as well as it being technically masterful and skilfully coded. And a few of the little minigames are sort of fun.

The Bad
Where’s the gameplay eh rare? If the developers spent as much time on the game’s structure and puzzles it would be amazing, but they err, haven’t, they have simply put there effort on the good graphics and forgot about the rest of the game sadly. Its structure is very linear and the puzzles are laughably easy, if you’re a Zelda fan you will stroll through it very quickly. Speaking of Zelda, this Starfox has a nasty habit of simply aping everything that oricania of time does, making it strangely familiar… though obviously not as good since it doesn’t have half the excellence or fun or the genius of any Zelda title. The plot is quite frankly a load of stinking rubbish; I haven’t herd such rubbish since sonic adventure, some of the cut scenes are funny as they try to be emotional, exciting or epic and end up being silly. Another thing sonic adventure has in common with Starfox is the horrible voice acting it’s terrible, window smashingly bad. Oh it’s also far too easy and lacks in after game fun. It really should be better since to all to development time and hype surrounding it.

The Bottom Line
All graphics, no substance