Hey all. Now seeing how Son of Andross has surpassed me in his own review series, I am in need to finish my own review series up. I apologize for leaving this blog empty as an April Fools joke for a week, and have meant to conclude the entire series by now. Anyway, lets jump into: "Star Fox Adventures"
Gameplay/Mechanics[]
As I have previously said: "It's just Ocarina of Time on the Gamecube" (even though Ocarina of Time was remastered on the Gamecube). Firstly, unlike previous entries, Star Fox Adventures takes us to the ground. To all of those who aren't familiar with OoT (or any 3D Zelda game for that matter), Adventures takes a third person perspective, with little to no emphasis on direct action.
In fact, nearly the entire game is on foot, minus a few (rather bland) flying rail segments including the Arwing in which Fox must traverse the rocky orbit of Dinosaur Planet. Also similar to Ocarina of Time, a certain amount of objects (Spellstones in this case) must be obtained to complete the game. Numerous places must be visited and unlocked through a combination of puzzle solving, collecting, skill and even pure luck in some cases in order to find all four spellstones.
Personally, I've never been too much of a sucker for 3D Zelda games, even if I adored Ocarina of Time and subsequent Zelda titles. After attempting to replay them nowadays, their entertainment value isn't as high as a fast paced shooter like Call of Duty (See my Replayability blog on the topic).
I feel like I should note the collectathon aspect of this game. Unlike Ocarina, Adventures features a wider variety of objects and supplies that you must replenish. From the Magic Meter, GrubTubs, Fireflies and more, it reminds me of another Gamecube collectathon I've recently been enjoying.
As many of you know, Star Fox Adventures was developed by Rare, who initially planned on making the game an independent take on the Zelda adventure formula on the Nintendo 64. The game: Dinosaur Planet was in a conceptual/early alpha stage when Nintendo EAD manager and Star Fox creator Shigeru Miyamoto stepped in and gave the game a Star Fox theme. This move set the entire Star Fox series into a much more magical and ancient theme that it wasn't quite used to.
Graphics/Art Design[]
Firstly, Fox himself looks quite amazing in detail, with some of the best detail on "fur" out of any Star Fox game. Krystal too. In my opinion, Peppy and Falco don't hold up to their designs in 64 and Assault, but given their relatively minor appearances, it's to be expected.
Dinosaur Planet (or Sauria for you Assault fans) is well detailed, with numerous different environments and a rather large world to explore. The indigenous population of dinosaurs ranging from SharpClaws, CloudRunners, LightFoots and EarthWalkers among other species are a welcome sight.
A more mixed element from Adventures is the controversial Dino language. Despite being a fully applicable language, it is more of an encrypted version of the English alphabet. It sounds like a real language when you hear people talk it in the game, but it's unbearably dull in depth.
Another nitpick is the corny dialogue. I'm not going to go in depth, but the cartoon-ish sound effects don't help the character Nintendo is trying to give Fox McCloud.
Despite a few setbacks with the mentioned Dino language, Adventures is one of the best looking GameCube games in existence. Featuring truly great graphics and a nice conceptual design, the aesthetic value of Adventures is its greatest strength.
Storyline/Plot[]
While in concept Adventures has a halfway decent plot, it doesn't quite match the mood of the Star Fox series. Star Fox SNES, 64 and the promotional comics/tie-in material set a much different atmosphere than what we get here. It's the stark contrast from the subtlety of the Force in Star Wars: A New Hope to the blunt observation of it in Empire Strikes Back. While most agree that works there, in my opinion it doesn't work here.
To start off, the reveal of magical presence within the world is anti-climactic and doesn't hardly express the shift in pace. For those switching from 64 to Adventures, they're not only going to be met with a heavy gameplay change, but a confusing shift in plot structure with only a wall of text to explain the 8 year leap. This is especially frustrating to the English players who don't have access to the tie-in Japanese manga Star Fox: Farewell, Beloved Falco, which explains Falco Lombardis absense in most of Adventures.
Spoilers! The reveal of Andross is genuinely one of the most confusing and downright strange moments in all of my gaming experiences. It's odd, and even the tie-in manga doesn't explain why it happened.
Conclusion[]
Star Fox Adventures is a good game. It's Star Fox's take on the 3D Zelda genre, but it doesn't do hardly enough to make itself a definitive standalone game. With nice (but unoriginal) mechanics, amazing graphic quality and an unbalanced plot, it's most definitely a mixed bag.
