This game is the fourth installment of the Star Fox series and was developed by the arcade loving Namco, best known for their own lovable Pac-Man. After the out-of-place Star Fox Adventures Rare created, Namco wanted to clean up that primitive mess and draw everything back into the way Star Fox should be: Space-Aged with airborne dog fights, as well as on-ground combat with a variety of firearms and assorted weaponry. Sounds good, right? It does. However, Namco managed to screw it up and poorly execute the game.
This game is the fault of many problems; mediocre foot-levels, poor-quality voice acting, warped character personas, and so-so graphics. Of course, it has positive points as well, such as that of a seemingly impressive multiplayer, fun Arwing levels, and even several unlockables... Too bad most aren't worth it...
Anyway, the game starts off two years after Star Fox Adventures. Krystal is now a renowned member of the team, Peppy is truly retired, and Andross appears to be truly dead at last, bringing peace to Lylat. However, one day, the team receives a message from General Pepper. He says that Andross' nephew, Andrew Oikonny, has taken charge of the remnants of his uncle's army and has chosen to use them to avenge his uncle's death and to grant his wish of getting revenge on the Lylat System once and for all.
For some odd, unclear reason, however, Andrew has set up his base in Fortuna. Odd, wasn't the Venomain Army situated in Venom? Why are they on Fortuna? Another question; Fortuna, a snowy wasteland of a planet in Star Fox 64, is now a lush forest planet in this game. When did this happen? How did this happen? Namco never tells us. Some major plotholes there that were unfulfilled in this game.
Moving onward, Star Fox takes on the army outside the planet's atmosphere and eventually breaches the planet and takes on Oikonny. Andrew - a whiny chimp who tried hard to act tough in Star Fox 64 - is even dumber, wimpier, and more pathetic in this game. In fact, he pulls off an "Andross wannabe" (as Falco put it) maneuver when he gets caught by Star Fox and transforms his attack ship into a weak robotic variant of Andross from Star Fox 64. He easily gets beaten.
However, that isn't the end; as he makes his "I'll never lose" speech after being defeated (there's a paradox for ya), his ship gets blasted to the ground by another being. A robotic moth creature that came to be known as an Aparoid comes into view. It shows hostility towards Fox and his team, and another battle ensued. Fox battles the being and wins. After getting back to the ship, Peppy and Beltino (Slippy's father and head of Cornerian Research Team) tells Fox about the beings and how they attacked Lylat seventeen years ago. And now Fox and team have to stop them.
Personally, I disliked the story some because of the fact that Namco not only tried too hard to cook up a story for a franchise that isn't much about storis, but also poorly executed it, as the story is full of unanswered plotholes. Plotholes like how Fortuna came to be a lush forest, how Andross ever managed to move his base from Venom to Fortuna, and other events that take place later on in the game.
Gameplay can easily qualify as bland, mediocre, and just too repetitive for the foot missions. The on-foot modes are very similar to that of another game called Jet Force Gemini for the Nintendo 64 (developed by Rare), where you must run around with a gun and shoot beings like aparoids, soldiers, and cyber-thugs. However, the fun has been greatly docked and gets boring incredibly quick with constant shoot everything tactics with no massive explosions or anything impressive. Disappointing at most.
Arwing missions were a lot more fun, as they were very much similar to those of Star Fox 64. Sadly, out of the missions that may even have the Arwing available, only three of the ten missions use the Arwing the entire time (ala classic Star Fox), making for a limited gameplay. Another aspect is that this game is far too short. There are only ten missions in this game, none of which can be dodged or branched out upon. This makes gameplay linear, brief, and disappointing.
The multiplayer, however, is a blast. The characters, while they can battle it out on foot, can also board Arwings, Landmasters, and even the Wolfen. As you play more matches, you will unlock more, including characters, weapons, and even new courses. The battles here can get tense with more players, and although something like this practically BEGS for online play, it can still be fun with a controller in each port. The multiplayer is no doubt the most redeeming quality of this game, and in many cases is the sole reason for even buying.
I found the music highly overrated and given far too much respect. I saw the music as mostly a bland collection of remade songs from Star Fox 64 and it sometimes seemed non-existent at times due to its low volume. Many of the songs were too slow and bland for Star Fox, especially that over-respected Star Wolf theme with a Mexican standoff mix to it. Many people think it's cool, but I don't. Not one bit. Next time, we should have the blaring orchestras that Nintendo had in Star Fox 64. Sounds were about the same. A laser here, a laser there, an explosion over there. There is, in reality, little to say except that it isn't that great either.
Then comes the voice acting. One word can describe it: TERRIBLE. Many of the voices have been butchered or dumbed down greatly. Nobody sounds like their past counterparts. Fox still has the personality of a lampshade, Krystal sounds even more like a British sterotype to the extent of sounding fake (more tea and krumpets, what-what!), Slippy sounds like a Saturday morning anime (not a good thing, but I prefer it to his older voice by far), and Falco, once a smart-aleck, has been reduced to having a toughness level of a boy band "tough guy" (yeah, right!), butchering his personality almost completely. Peppy and General Pepper seem to have decent voices and acting, unlike the rest (although I prefer this Slippy's voice to his past voices).
Star Wolf was also butchered. Wolf, once a fierce enemy of Fox, has now been reduced to just a friendly rival. Also, he loses his British accent in place of some 4Kids drop-out voice. Leon also loses his slick accent in place of sounding more like the lizard he is (a drastic change, and I wasn't pleased). Pigma, no longer part of Star Wolf, loses his cocky and mobster-style voice in place of some drunken lard who Namco (must have) picked up at Moe's Tavern one night after having a few shots of the old brew. Andrew, once having a cocky voice with bit of mobster in it, was replaced with some pre-pubescent nerd in his late 20's. And that isn't a good thing. The acting in general was terrible. Sometimes characters said things as if they were right off the script (i.e, in monotone) for the first time. I have never had to put up with such horrors. One line includes Falco's rendition of a boss; "That thing is giant! And ugly!" Clearly, script writing could also have been better.
This game was very monotonous and bland. And the unlockable bonuses that are found in this game are often not even worth finding, especially if you're a hermit gamer who prefers one-player games and story modes. Most of the unlockables go towards multiplayer, but they add little and it is nothing that will attract a hermit gamer's attention at all. This game amongst reviewers is more of a mixed bag than a one-sider. Star Fox fans and casual gamers may want to rent first. After you play the game, you should ask yourself, "Would I pay $50.00 to play this game as often as I would like?" Some will say yes, others will say no. If you want to hear it from me, then you should only buy the game if you have the friends for the multi-player. The single- is far from being brag-worthy.
Scores
==================
Story - 5 (Average)
Game Play (Single Player) - 6 (Fair)
Game Play (Multi-Player) - 9 (Golden)
Visuals - 7 (Good)
Audio (Music and SFX) - 5 (Average)
Audio (Voices) - 2 (Horrible)
Replay Value (Single Player) - Low
Replay Value (Multi-Player) - Very
High
Estimated Value - $25 or less
Overall Score - 6 (Fair)
While the multiplayer may have been a blast to play (as my scores imply), I had larger doses of the single than I did with the multi. And thus I am ruling out the multiplayer scores. You can find more fun on-foot missions in Jet Force Gemini for the Nintendo 64, and more fun Arwing missions in either Star Fox 64 for the Nintendo 64 or even Star Fox on the Super Nintendo. This game only seems to combine the two and make it less fun. In fact, if it hadn't been for the multiplayer, many would find it hard to recommend this game to other people. Consider this game only if you either want to get updated on Star Fox or if you have friends for the multiplayer.
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