The last game I reviewed was Starfox 64 for the Nintendo 64. This Starfox is a completely different game, though under the same genre, and hardly relates to Nintendo's series today.

In Starfox for the early system of Atari, you control a white fighter jet that has been deployed to an alien world where your mission is to mine valuable crystals in the planet's surface. Your ship flies above in the atmosphere as you search for these crystals. When you see a crystal (represented by a flashing pixel) then you have to drop directly down to the surface and pick it up. Of course, the game isn't that easy. Enemies are constantly attacking you with lasers that destroy your ship in one hit. Fortunately, you are equipped with a laser of your own that can destroy these ships. There is no ending to the game, only a game over when you lose all of your ships.

GRAPHICS-- 8

It's only an Atari game, so you can't expect superb graphics, but Starfox boasts graphics that rivals even those on the NES. Being the first ever home console, that's a pretty big deal. Your white ship is nicely detailed, and actually looks like something that could be flying through space. It has a separate frame that it shows when shooting and yet another one it shows while digging on the surface. Your ship also features a nice explosion when you die. Don't die just to see it though. There are two enemy sprites: the normal and quick one. The normal one is essentially a sphere with a hole in the center of it. The quick one looks similar to a rabbit of sorts, probably to demonstrate its speed. You can easily tell the two apart and they're nothing like your ship. So practically speaking, the graphics are good.
A few other details also grace Starfox. Your laser is a fast moving line that flashes as you fire it. Not much special here. In the background, as you fly along, there are structures which seem to represent buildings and resource gatherers. Though they add nothing to the game itself, they add a nice little touch to the environment. One of the issues I have with the graphics is the seizure-inducing game over screen. It flashes several different colors right after another and leaves you pretty disoriented afterwards. I guess that's just their incentive to keep you from getting a game over.

SOUND-- 7

Starfox doesn't boast any music in the game, but neither does a majority of games for the Atari. What it does have is a variety of sound effects that can either entertain or annoy you. It all depends on how much you pay attention to it. To start, you'll probably be listening to the sound of your laser firing the most, a simple "blip" every time you shoot. That isn't the worst part, though. Throughout the game, except for the main menu, there's always a humming sound in the background in order to simulate what it would sound like in a ship. The humming adds that little sense of realism, but annoys you more than it enhances the experience. The other sound effects, such as when you destroy an enemy, aren't as annoying, but they don't being anything new to the table even compared to other Atari games.

ADDICTIVENESS-- 9

The majority of this game's charm comes from its arcade feel, and from that, its addictiveness. Even after the first few plays, I found myself thirsting for more as I kept wanting to beat my last score (heck, I'm still playing it as I write this). After every play, you learn more about the game and its mechanics, and you want to go back and implement those into your next play. Though the game itself isn't very deep, it's one that has a high replay value because of its few mechanics and score system.

STORY-- N/A

Well, there technically is a story, but it does nothing for the game. Like I explained before, you're just mining crystals on some unknown planet. Period. That's it. End of story, literally. Not much you can talk about there.

DEPTH-- 7

Because of its arcade style, the game doesn't offer much in terms of superficial variety. There is only one basic style of gameplay, three modes, a multiplayer system (which is just alternating controls), and two enemies. However, in terms of gameplay strategies, the game has quite a bit to offer, whether intentional or not. When approaching the surface to mine for crystals, you lose the ability to move left and right. You have to be quick in extracting the crystal if you don't want to be shot by the enemy. The best time to go for the crystal is after you take down an enemy as it gives you a split second of a head start before the next one appears.
Additionally, the way the AI works for the ships, you have to be fairly precise with your aiming. You can either let the enemy come to your level and let them fire at you, or you can try and take an aim at them before they move out of the way. The former strategy works for the normal enemies but not for the fast ones as their shots move too quickly for you to react to on a dime. These are just a few of many strategies that you can find in the game, and help enhance your score.

DIFFICULTY-- 7

The game offers an easy mode and a hard mode, though there is little difference between them. Easy mode starts with the regular enemies and hard mode starts with the quick enemies. When you reach 2000 points in easy mode, then quick enemies take the place of the regular enemies. From there, the difficulty hardly changes. It takes getting used to the controls and how the enemies move, but one can learn the mechanics fairly quickly after a few playthroughs. The quick enemies tend to move unfairly fast, but applying some of the strategies I outlined earlier takes some of that difficulty off. Starfox really isn't a difficult game, you just have to know how to act in certain situations.

FINAL-- 8.1

Overall, Starfox is a decent game for its time. It isn't tremendous in terms of visuals and sound, but its gameplay is quite definitive for its time. Being only 1 Viz in the RGR, there isn't much reason not to give this game a quick spin. (you can get at least 1 Viz just be replying to this review ) It looks simple on the outside, but after closer inspection Starfox is a deep game. And it has even paved the way to the Starfox series that we all know and love today.

Awesome review! You make me want to play a Starfox game, even though I don't like them. >.>

Great review on this game...I never knew Star Fox was on the Atari