Star Fox 64 ReviewGames that were from the N64 seemed to have left more of an impact than any other games from other games consoles: Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Paper Mario, they all stood out of the crowd from the NES and SNES games. This was probably the height if their gaming before the release of the Wii. It might have been because of the full 3D graphics and a joy stick for precise movement, but they were differently heard. One that stood out more than the others has to be Star Fox 64.
But first, a little history. Star Fox appeared on the SNES, a game I really should play soon. They planned on having a second game for the SNES, but it was cancelled and was never released. The game was fully completed, apart from some debugging tools to be removed from the programming, but was stopped because of the release of the N64. This wasn't intended, as the N64 was going to be released a lot sooner than thought. So they took the game, took advantage of the new and more powerful system that was N64, and made a new game. It has been said that Star Fox 64 had about 60% game content from the SNES game, and about 40% new game features. The result is this game. This is one of my more favorite games. Lets dive right into the story, shall we?
So Andross is threatening to take over the Lylat System and is building an army on the Planet Venom, an uninhabitable planet full of waste and swamps. So General Pepper calls Star Fox to stop Andross. So you must fly though different planets to get to Venom, destroying all forces that stand in your way. On, the game play, you are flying on what's known as an Arwing, a battle ship much like you would see in Star Wars, I wonder if there's an connection....You're constantly moving through a level and there are guys trying to shoot you down. So pay them a favor back and gun them down. You can charge up your lazer and create a slower, but more powerful blast. On top of that, you can use Smart Bombs, to completely destroy anything in its radius, and deflect lazer beams by....get ready for this....A BARREL ROLL! This game is famous for Peppy saying those words: Do a barrel Roll. Press R or Z twice. So famous, that someone made a sond of him saying those words, and a remix of that extending the point of doing a barrel roll, with more words!
Who is Peppy? Oh yeah, I forgot. The Star Fox team is created by four members. Fox McCloud the fox, Falco the Falcon, who is blue, Peppy the Rabbit, and *sighs* Slippy the Frog. Some people find this high-pitched frog (or is it a toad?) really annoying, but you wouldn't hate him because of that, that really adds on top of it for the reason you hate him so. But some like this guy like how people can like Ja-Ja Binks. That's how. Why? Well, you could get annoyed at all of them. The reason being is this: they suck at being pilots. When your flying through a level, you normally get a distress call from one of your members. They are being chased by someone and they can't shake them off. Even the tactics master Peppy can't shake them off. So you need to help them and destroy the enemy. At first, you'll be happy to, helping your fellow comrades in combat. But after a while, you realize that they get into trouble quiet often. You are told to to a loop to throw your enemy off or even a u-turn if you are in a free-for-all battle. But do they do it? No, they are pretty useless. But I can't say that, they do have their uses.
Let me explain free-for-all battles first. On some levels, you might have the choice to fly freely through a level instead of just going straight on. You can do a u-turn which makes you go in the opposite direction quickly, which is very helpful. This is when your comrades are showed how good they really are. Every now and then you'll need to help your comrade out, which can get annoying quickly. You could just help them out and the very next second they need your help again. Well, you qualified Arwing school, you can handle it yourself.....Oh, looks like they can't, if you don't help them out, their arwing becomes to damaged and they need to get it repaired, meaning you don't see them until the end of the next mission. And what are they good for? Mostly boss fights and medals (there is a certain number of points you can get in a level known as hits. If you can get that number, and keep all your comrades at the end of the mission, you get a medal. This unlocks a harder difficulty and couple more things in multi-player), what do they do in a boss battle? Falco helps fight off some minor enemies, Peppy gives you advice on what to do, and Slippy gives you a health bar of the boss. How nice of them =D
I want to talk about the graphics and the sound in this game. I think it is underrated. Or more accurately, not noticed. Your so caught up in the game you hardly notice the nice view of a planet or the music on some levels. Although Star Wolfs theme is the most memorial of all. Star Wolf? They are the arch-rivals of Star Fox. The leader, Wolf O'Donnell
, and two members, Leon the lizard chameleon or something like that, and Panther the panther. Easy to remember. You meet them in the game and have an epic battle with *sighs* distress calls. Although this is one time that they do accurately fight, so I should give them some credit. And in the end, you still have some bond with them, and might get annoyed that one of your team members got gunned down by Star Wolf. Then you want to avenge them. I love those times. But the best feature of this game is the routes you take. You have a choice between two, or sometimes three different ways.
But these routes are ones that you can't choose on the map, but chosen in the level. You have to do a certain task in order to get a higher route (i.e. the left hand side of the system). I'll tell you the first one to go left instead of right, because I had no idea how to at first, and it was kinda like a "how the hell was I supposed to work that out?" In the first level, simply fly through all the arching stones. The rest you can work out. Some of the levels are unique like the planet Aquas, where your in a submarine. No, it's not yellow, so you really can't make that joke. Another one is you fly on the surface of a sun! How insane is that? And one of my favorites is The Asteroid Belt. If you can, you can find a secret wait to get to the other side of the system in a flash, literally, you go into......I can't say, sorry =P
Another thing is the bosses. I love them. The verity of bosses is great. Ranging from robotic armored monkeys to Genetic lava monsters. The N64 had great final bosses that ended in a great climax. This one is one of my favorite. But only if you can make it to Venom on the left hand side. I mean, Andross.....I can't say, no spoilers! One thing I never quite understood was how you could rotate the map of the system. I'm not sure why you can, or the purpose, but it is a nice touch. This game is very fun and has a lot of reply value. Apart from the distress calls, which you will get used to, the game is a classic. In fact, I love this game so much, that the future games don't seem good enough to be games. Star Fox Adventure was nice to add a combat touch to it, but took away a lot of the arwing action that I love star fox for. And Star Fox Assault got the balance of arwing action and foot action right, and the multi-player was great, but for some reason the new characters and the fact some of them died (turns out they didn't really) put me off. And it just didn't have the right charm to it that the 64 one has. And Star Fox Command for the DS. Please don't get me started. Just please, don't, I was several disappointed by that game, and the different endings in it.....nearly makes me cry.
So with that being said, I give this 9.4/10 The whole lot comes together to create a fun game to play, with some flaws in it, but you'll play it again to have a look at all the levels in it. I'll be getting the 3DS remake of it when it comes out, but for now, break out the old N64, or if you don't have that or a Wii, play here, on Vizzed.
Graphics
8 Sound
9 Addictive
9 Depth
10 Story
8 Difficulty
8