Just what I needed to see: a new review.
When I started playing N64 games, I was looking which games were known as the best games for the console. I knew nothing about Star Fox at that point, but I saw on videos and forums that Star Fox 64 was called one of the best N64 games. I had my doubts if I should get it, I had never played any of the Star Fox games. But the game looked and sounded interesting, and when I heard the voice acting they had in the game I thought I would try out to see if I would like it. That was a good choice, since it now is one of my favourite and most played N64 games. I also finished this game today and since I haven't done a review this month yet I have decided that I will review this game!
Story: 7
The story of this game is literally told at the beginning of the game, so all that I'm going to say now is more of a repeat from the beginning of the game.
There is an universe called the Lylat System. On one of those planets, Corneria, an evil monkey scientist by the name of Andross did dangerous planets that almost turned Corneria into a wasteland of near extinction. Since Andross was way too dangerous General Pepper, a member of the Cornerian Army, exiled him to the planet Venom, a planet thought to be near uninhabitable. However, a few years later strange activity is noticed coming from Venom.
A legendary team known as Star Fox is sent out. In the team are James McCloud who is the leader, Peppy Hare and Pigma Dengar. However, on their way to Venom Pigma betrays the team and captures Peppy and James!
Peppy manages to escape and returns to Corneria and informs James his son, Fox, about his father's fate. James is presumed dead by then...
Some more years later, Andross is taking over the Lylat System! When he reaches Corneria, General Pepper and the Cornerian Army try to stop him but Andross is too strong. They ask the new Star Fox team, led by James his son Fox, Peppy, Slippy Toad who is a mechanic and has developed many of the vehicles of the team, and last but not least Falco Lombardi, a reformed space gang member with shooting skills close to Fox himself.
Throughout the rest of the game there is not much of a story. You just have a goal and Andross will send his troops and loyal henchmen to stop you, that's it. The beginning of the story is really cool and original, but it would be nice if there were put more story aspects in the rest of the game. What also bothers me is that there is even more of a back story but which isn't told in the game. The main characters all have small back stories, and there is even a back story of the original Star Fox team. If it was put in the game then it would make the story even better. One of the better things about the story though is that all the characters stay pretty much the same. This may sound boring at first, but in so many games the characters make developments throughout the game because they have to overcome fears or they have to learn something, but all the characters stay true to their personalities: Fox is the cool leader, Falco the arrogant skilled friend, Peppy the wise and experienced shooter and Slippy the clumsy but smart pilot.
Graphics: 8
The first Star Fox game was made for the SNES. Since the SNES isn't a 3D system, the SNES used some handy tricks, including a special chip that made use of polygons, which was quite rare at that time as this was the first time Nintendo used 3D polygon graphics. While it was amazing at that time, it was hard to create good looking 3D. With the Nintendo 64 however, 3D games became real and now were a lot easier to make, due to the strong polygons and the 64-bit processor making it possible to create 3D textures.
For N64 standards, the graphics are definitely good. The Arwings, the ships used by team Star Fox, look amazing, there are many good and unique looking enemies, and each character has a distinctive face now. The worlds in general may have some weird looking things, but most of the things are clear and easy to see. The ships from other enemies look good as well, and Andross his helpers have strong and vague looking ships.
What I don't like about the graphics however, is that some things can kind of disappear when you're flying. If you're making a sharp turn for example, you could hit a pillar since you could not see it in any possible way. Another thing I don't like is that the game is quite dark, not figuratively, but literally. I really have trouble seeing some obstacles and enemies, even in some levels which are supposed to be brighter. And that's how I sometimes get hit two or three times very quick after each other because I couldn't see something.
One last thing, all the characters have their own sprite and talking animation. Or well, animation... it's just opening and closing their mouth real quick. Of course, it's hard to make good looking talking animations, but I think they could have made it look better. Also, one of the members of Star Wolf (I'll tell more about Star Wolf in the depth section) , Andrew, has a nose that looks like it's his mouth at first. Andrew is a snow monkey but instead of white fur they gave him a grey fur and gave him a weird nose and mouth.
Sound: 10
In terms of music, Star Fox has a few tracks. There isn't any song that will make you say Beautiful or 'this is my jam' although the music is quite catchy. The theme of Star Wolf and his theme is the best song in my opinion and apparently I'm not the only one, since this theme returned in later Star Fox games.
As far as the sounds go, they're pretty good. Your laser makes a real 'piew piew' sound and things like explosions and flying sound realistic too. There isn't any sound in the game that sounds like it's misplaced.
But what really makes the sound in this game shine, is the voice acting. Star Fox 64 is just one of those games where they got a great voice actor for every character, literally every person has a fitting voice. Not only that, the voice actors also did a great job. I haven't heard a single quote where I thought 'hey, that doesn't sound very angry or sad' or 'it sounds unemotional'. Due to this, the game has some famous quotes like the one I used in my title, and some others like 'Those tin cans are no match for me!', 'Hey Einstein, I'm on your side!' and the ultrafamous 'Do a barrel roll! (Press Z or R twice)'. In fact, that last quote became so popular that if you type 'do a barrel roll' in Google then Google will turn around! Now that shows how awesome the voice acting was.
Difficulty: 9
In terms of difficulty, this game has taken an interesting approach. Most games only have extra levels you can open up which are insanely difficult, or games come with harder modes. But in Star Fox, depending on how you complete your mission, you can go to a harder or easier level. The first level for example, looks like it has just one way to finish: Keep flying until you reach the boss and defeat him. But...
Minor spoiler:
Spoiler:
But if Fox is able to fly through some stone bridges on the lake, Falco will suddenly see a different way!
So depending on how you finish the level, you can get access to other planets on your map that can be harder or easier for you. Since you get no hints of it in the game though I suggest you do some research if you want to know all the possible options, because it can be hard to figure out yourself.
If you really are hardcore, you can try to shoot down as many enemies as possible. If you succeed, you will get a medal. But beware, for the first level only you need 150 hits already. So good luck if you want to make it.
The only thing that bugs is me that some missions that were supposed to be easier or harder were actually the opposite for me. I couldn't pass one of the 'easier' levels once so I did a 'harder' level but I found it quite the opposite.
Depth: 9
Like I have mentioned in the difficulty section already, the choice of multiple planets is one of the best things.
Another great thing about the depth is team Star Wolf: A team hired in by Andross to defeat Star Fox. There are two missions where they always will appear, and one where they can appear if you trouble reaching the goal. Just like team Star Fox, they have four members who each have their own rival in team Star Fox. Wolf, the leader and also the one who named the team and ships (the ships are called Wolfens, although this isn't mentioned in the game) may miss an eye, but is an excellent shooter and will hunt down Fox (in this case you since you control Fox) in missions. Leon is Wolf his best friend, and has skills that can compare to Falco his skills, so he will hunt down Falco. Then we get Pigma Dengar! Yep, the same Pigma who betrayed Peppy and James. He is greedy and will mention that they get paid a lot of cash, and he will try to take revenge on Peppy. And the last one who I mentioned earlier, Andrew, is Andross his nephew and he actually can't do much but Andross put him in Star Wolf anyways. He is even worse than Slippy (who is known by both your teammates in the game and players of the game as the worst character in your team) and also Slippy his rival.
Now what I think is so great is how they constantly target your members so you have to be really tactic to defeat them. What's else, they have about the same skills as your team so they're really strong as well. This one of the best things about the difficulty and the depth as well.
Addictiveness: 9
Who doesn't love to shoot? And with great voice acting, planets you need to explore yet and trying to improve every time to maybe reach that medal make the game very addicting. I keep playing it because I haven't explored all planets yet, or there are certain bosses I love to fight because of their fights and their voices. The game can be a bit hard to get started with though, so the only downpoint would be that if you haven't played this in a long time and you want to play again then you might have trouble getting started again. But if you have played it a few times, you should have not so much trouble with it anymore.
There is only one more thing that I want to tell. A remake of this game was made for the Nintendo 3DS. Maybe you want to try out this game and you think 'Hey, I have a 3DS, should I get it?'
I haven't played it myself, but from what I have seen on Youtube the gameplay is just the same. The graphics are beautiful. The worlds are colourful and nothing is too dark to see.
Some sounds however, are a bit off, especially the laser sound. And unfortunately, the voice acting isn't that good. Some of the original voice actors of the N64 game have voiced characters in this game as well (the voice actor of Fox and Slippy for example) so those sound good, but other voices just don't fit their characters or they just aren't as good as the N64 game, even though they sound really alike.
So it's a bit of a 50-50 situation. They're both pretty good, and I think you will enjoy yourself with it even though the voice acting isn't so good anymore.
That's it for this review! I hope you had fun reading it and if you have questions, feedback or something else, you can tell me whatever you want! Until next review!
PS, if you enjoyed reading this review and you would like to read more of my reviews, then tell me so I can summon you next time.
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you've definitely grown from when I first saw your reviews :3 and a long list of viewers as well < 3 you definitely deserve it and this review is perfect for the game man 
THANK YOU! 
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