Wow, I've managed to already get to the actual review without spouting off the line that this game made famous. Hint: rhymes with carol bowl. This game was really what propelled the N64 into a new level of gaming when it first came out. Sure it had Super Mario 64, which was great, but that catered to the platformers out there. What about people who wanted to blow the crap out of stuff? That itch, so easily scratched nowadays with seemingly every new game being some sort of blow-em shoot-em knife-em up like Call of Warfare, Modern Battlefield 3.5, was soothed by the appearance of Star Fox 64. Not only did it provide satisfying gameplay and story, but it also introduced a peripheral that would soon become standard in every game controller: the Rumble Pak. Yes, Star Fox 64 is the game that the original force feedback brought to rumbling life in your hands, which meant you felt every hit. It was so successful that every controller made thereafter would have a rumble feature built in.

I could talk about this game all day. The gameplay is so easy to pick up and play. Controlling the Arwing, Fox Mcloud's vehicle of choice, or the LandMaster, the land locked tank, is a breeze. The controls are wonderfully responsive, with the slightest movement of the control stick sending your vehicle exactly where you wanted it to go. Which is good, because this game's enemies come fast and furious, and you have to have a quick thumb to avoid their lasers, their bombs, their mines, and their eyeballs. Yeah, there are enemy eyeballs.

Another major praise for this game is the voice acting. Nintendo is known for silent, or at least mostly mute, protagonists. Link says nothing, Mario squeals with delight, but rarely does he form coherent sentences. This game, however, is fully voice acted, and quite well done I might add. From the sarcastic Falco to the androgynous Slippy to the instructive Peppy "DO A BAR..." No, I refuse to succumb to the temptation... must write review... without saying it... No matter what anyone else says, I think Nintendo could stand a few more fully voiced characters in their lineup.

Folks may gripe about the limited number of levels in total, the shortness of the game, and the general repetitiveness of the gameplay. I would challenge that though, because each level you go through is unique to itself, there are no rehashed gameplay elements aside from the fact that you are flying (or rolling, in the tank levels). Each level presents its own unique twist. The solar level, for example, constantly drains your health the closer you fly to the sun. The satellite level features a revolving stage underneath you that makes targeting enemies difficult. And on and on. Each level, though maintaining the same basic "shoot enemy spaceships down" premise, is a unique experience that, when seen through that eye, never get old. Also, each run through, which levels you go to, are dictated by your actions in the previous level. Did you kill enough enemies to go to the harder route? Did you fly through the correct sequence of gates? Each of these actions is seamlessly woven into the gameplay so it is not simply a matter of choosing your course through the game, you must earn your way.

Another point that does deserve some special mention is the cohesiveness between single-player and multiplayer. Each world has a set number of enemies you have to beat to medal on the level. As you unlock more medals, you unlock additional things for the multiplayer mode. Though not an extensive list of unlockables, the allure of unlocking all the medals was strong, and I spent hours attempting to make the best runs I could through the game in order to destroy as many enemies as I could in effort to capture that elusive medal (until my brother "accidentally" erased the entire memory card...)

The story is surprisingly fun, as it shows rather than tells. Instead of telling you of the odd love affair between Falco (a bird) and Kat (a feline) it shows it to you in the dialogue between the characters. Instead of interrupting gameplay, the dialogue takes place during the actual missions, while you are flying, and more than once I found myself crashing into space debris because I was laughing at the lines being delivered in the midst of a galactic war. It's also a surprisingly personal story. Though it may appear to be about a fox saving the galaxy (as so many stories are) at its heart it is about a young fox facing his father's killers and betrayers in an effort to come to grips with his father's death. It is a wonderfully subtle story, never becoming preachy or heavy handed, it is always subtle in approach, conveying the story elements slowly through character dialogue and interaction.

The final thing I have to mention, I absolutely have to mention, are the bosses. This game has some of the most wonderful boss fights in the history of games, and it perfected the "Every boss has a weak spot" cliche. Each boss does have a weak spot, and they are quite obvious (big, flashing and yellow) but they are not just some random spot on the enemy. They have a specific spot for a reason, perhaps it is the head, perhaps it is the arm you are trying to blow off, or perhaps it is simply a power supply. In addition to being a wonderful example for bosses to come in terms of execution, they take the cake when it comes to creativity. I'll just leave it at that, because each boss is truly something that needs to be seen to believe. And the final boss battle is something truly both grotesque and amazing at the same time.

This game will keep you coming back for more. Playing through each of the game's different, branching runs means you will have to. And then if you like a challenge, you will keep coming back to try and get those levels. Plus, at the end of the game, General Pepper adds up your total score in terms of money earned by your mercenary team, comically reminding you that team Star Fox is in it for the money as well. Trust me, this game will get on your tail and not let up. You might even have to DO A BARREL ROLL to shake it off. Wait... darn it...