It’s February, 2004. Star: Fox Assault hits the shelves. Namco delivers it this time, trying to combine the space missions of Star Fox 64 with the action/adventure of Star Fox Adventures. And oh how it tries.
The single player mode isn’t that long, with someone beating it within 5-7 hours on the bronze setting. The missions are made so that you can replay them over and over. Why would you? You’ll find out later on.
Anyway, it starts to look like another ‘Andross’ battle at the beginning, but soon turns out to be a race called the Aparoids, which are robotic bugs bent on assimilating everything.
The graphics are pretty well done. The team’s outfits have never looked better, and I’ve yet to see a pixelization when you look at something really close. Fox’s fur seems to have clung to his skin, though.
The sound is great for a futuristic game. Orchestrated. A lot. It has enough music to add to the action, but not get in the way.
The gameplay, however, has changed. There isn’t just Arwing mode. Now there’s the Landmaster and on foot too! Actually, on foot was done before, but the system is new. The pilot mode is just you carrying a gun. It isn’t all that bad, though. Fox goes at a nice speed, the weapons nearly never reload, and the variety of weapons is quite good. The Arwing is on rails most of the time in single-player, but in multiplayer, you’re free to roam wherever.
Speaking of multiplayer, the action is fun and exciting. There are lots of unlockables. LOTs of unlockables. And each mode you unlock adds more variety. Now you can pit Fox against Falco, Peppy against Slippy, and Krystal against Wolf. The modes in multiplayer aren’t that varied. There is Team Deathmatch and Deathmatch.
Wow. Also, no computers. CPUs should’ve been included.
Value…how can I put it? In single-player mode, you can beat each mission with a certain difficulty, and the higher the difficulty, the higher the rewards. Multiplayer is the main factor when it comes to multiplayer, so make sure you have friends if you buy this game.
All in all, Star Fox: Assault is a ‘good try’ to Namco, and it can be improved, but any Star Fox fan really should at least give this a play. You probably won’t regret it.
