Star Fox: Assault captured my attention like no other game in the series. The story is dark and interesting, and the constantly shifting styles of gameplay keep the entire thing fresh. Both the ground and air combat are surprisingly fun, and I ended up getting a lot of mileage out of the co-op VS mode this game offers.
The multiplayer is great and this is one of the games that made me love the Gamecube! Still need to play the story.
As good as if not better than 64. I loved the variety of the weapons and the dynamic objectives of the on-foot levels. Something especially thrilling about sneaking around tunnels within a space station and then venturing out into space in an Arwing for a dogfight within the same level. Kind of evokes Battlefront II's space battles in that way!
Tons of unlockable ships, stages and weapons for local multiplayer, which I played hours of. The orchestrated score is phenomenal.
Tons of unlockable ships, stages and weapons for local multiplayer, which I played hours of. The orchestrated score is phenomenal.
Eff-off everyone, this game is an underrated GameCube gem. At least it tried with variety just like his GameCube brother Adventures.
A little clunky when playing the on foot missions but it was fun revisiting Star Fox Assault regardless. I would love to see a port of this game on Switch but it probably won't ever happen, lol.
Star fox peaked here and were never going back
A good game that controls poorly.
I love this game. It was made before the age of twin stick shooters. And thus, by today's standards, it controls pretty horribly. Everything is inverted by default. You can change that though. Which, props to the devs on that one. You can mostly fix the controls. Except for the landmaster. It will always be annoying to control.
The game excels during the arwing missions. They are by far the best part.
An issue with the game as a whole is that it's repetitive. You get the same mission types over and over. The timers are a bit to strict but luckily if you fail, you can speedrun things since you know where the objectives are.
The worst part of the game are the on rail missions when you ride on top of an ally flying their arwing. They are very strict. It's not kind. It's very trial and error. They demand near perfection.
It's still a pretty game. It advances the Star Fox lore. Taking place after Star Fox Adventures. The story is neat. All in all, a good game.
If you are nostalgic for it, maybe don't go back though. I played a lot of multiplayer with friends when I was younger. I have a lot of good memories of it. But playing it now, I really saw the issues. This one might be better to keep as a good memory.
I love this game. It was made before the age of twin stick shooters. And thus, by today's standards, it controls pretty horribly. Everything is inverted by default. You can change that though. Which, props to the devs on that one. You can mostly fix the controls. Except for the landmaster. It will always be annoying to control.
The game excels during the arwing missions. They are by far the best part.
An issue with the game as a whole is that it's repetitive. You get the same mission types over and over. The timers are a bit to strict but luckily if you fail, you can speedrun things since you know where the objectives are.
The worst part of the game are the on rail missions when you ride on top of an ally flying their arwing. They are very strict. It's not kind. It's very trial and error. They demand near perfection.
It's still a pretty game. It advances the Star Fox lore. Taking place after Star Fox Adventures. The story is neat. All in all, a good game.
If you are nostalgic for it, maybe don't go back though. I played a lot of multiplayer with friends when I was younger. I have a lot of good memories of it. But playing it now, I really saw the issues. This one might be better to keep as a good memory.
This is probably the best Star Fox game but it's also the only one I've beaten so who knows~
Campaign was kind of a short disappointment, the on-rails Arwing is really sluggish feeling after 64. But GOD this multiplayer slaps
It's neat but it's still got that classic star fox game problem of not really being a star fox game
9/10. What an Amazing, underrated, gem of a game, and easily the best of the Star Fox series.
The excellent combat of the Arwing, Landmaster and Wingman sections, and the... decent combat on-foot makes for an all-round great time, with a bit of a time, the somewhat unusual controls become more than manageable even for that last section.
In addition, the worldbuilding, character-work, and stakes provided by this game blow all of the repeated Andross War storylines out of the water several times over, as you fight to stop an insidious hivemind known as the Aparoids from consuming the entire Galaxy. Andross's dark charisma might've been enjoyable, but the soulless, cold, and mostly mute Aparoids provide an eldritch-level threat that I rarely get from a video game.
Only minor issues I have are how the Wolfen managed to follow Star Fox into the Aparoid planet even after the shields closed, a decent chunk of the music is just remixed Star Fox 64 tunes (though the original tracks in this game are absolutely incredible) and I do kind of wish they had committed to killing off Pepper and Peppy.
In the end, this is, in my opinion the best on-rails shooter, the best Star Fox game, the best GameCube game, and the best game with a toad always getting shot at.
If you have a GameCube I would highly recommend giving it a go.
The excellent combat of the Arwing, Landmaster and Wingman sections, and the... decent combat on-foot makes for an all-round great time, with a bit of a time, the somewhat unusual controls become more than manageable even for that last section.
In addition, the worldbuilding, character-work, and stakes provided by this game blow all of the repeated Andross War storylines out of the water several times over, as you fight to stop an insidious hivemind known as the Aparoids from consuming the entire Galaxy. Andross's dark charisma might've been enjoyable, but the soulless, cold, and mostly mute Aparoids provide an eldritch-level threat that I rarely get from a video game.
Only minor issues I have are how the Wolfen managed to follow Star Fox into the Aparoid planet even after the shields closed, a decent chunk of the music is just remixed Star Fox 64 tunes (though the original tracks in this game are absolutely incredible) and I do kind of wish they had committed to killing off Pepper and Peppy.
In the end, this is, in my opinion the best on-rails shooter, the best Star Fox game, the best GameCube game, and the best game with a toad always getting shot at.
If you have a GameCube I would highly recommend giving it a go.
Good arcadey fun, though it's short and the ground segments suffer from some wonky controls.
A game that's difficult to play when you have carpal tunnel! I really enjoyed it. Short, sweet, and full of impressive mechanical design.
One of my favorite games growing up. One of my favorite games to play with my Dad as a kid and all around a great game that had so much more potential. Never completed it as a kid and going for the gold medals is not really fun.
I did not like this one as much as the n64 one. Even though when I was a kid, I thought it was cool that you could run around and blast aliens with gun.
Star Fox: Assault offers a unique blend of on-rails Arwing missions and third-person shooter segments. While the classic aerial combat is thrilling, some may find the ground missions clunky. The story is engaging and the multiplayer is surprisingly fun, but the focus on on-foot combat may disappoint purists. Overall, Star Fox: Assault is a fun, albeit uneven, entry in the series.
Star Fox Assault is a great story wrapped in odd gameplay decisions such as open zone levels with little sense of internal progression (with notable exceptions) and ground 3rd person shooter sections that don’t hold up as well as they should. It has a wonderful multiplayer mode. A good proof of concept for a sequel we never received.
As an aside, go in the settings and change the ground controls to twin stick.
As an aside, go in the settings and change the ground controls to twin stick.
Star Fox Assault? More like Star Fox Assault On This Game's Reputation. Seriously everyone was way too harsh on this game when it was first released.
The foundations for a great Star Fox game are here. With just a bit more tweaking this could have honestly been as good as 64.
I'll go through what this game is, and what it was criticized for. At heart, Star Fox Assault is intended to be a successor to Star Fox 64, an evolution of that game. It's a short arcadey score based shooter that is about blasting down enemies while protecting your friends. You can easily get through it in one playthrough.
Having said that, this sounds like what every fan wanted after Star Fox assault, so what went wrong?
Let's start with the good. The music is fucking phenomenal and uses an orchestral soundtrack that remakes a lot of 64's tracks.
The story and writing is actually not bad. This is surprising considering that Star Fox Adventures had Sonic Adventure 2 tier writing (I mean that as an insult to both SFA and SA2).
The on-rails Arwing sections are back, and they're really good. Like almost Star Fox 64 good, but if Star Fox 64's on rail Arwing sections are 10/10, Assault's is 9/10. The reason for this being that stages aren't as depthful as 64 as they lack secondary objectives that lead you to alternate paths, but everything else plays exactly like 64 if not better. So what's the problem here? 3 of the 10 stages are Arwing only.
Now, 64 wasn't only on-rails. You had plenty "All-range" levels that let you fly around freely on the map. People also liked these levels in 64 and this is what the other 7 of the 10 stages are here. So what is the issue here if people also like All-range mode? What would be the gripe if a Star Fox game was more All-range focused? Well, the on-foot sections is what everyone had a problem with.
I'm going to get into more detail about the on-foot levels, and how it was unfairly criticized, because the boos this game got when it was first revealed killed any momentum this franchise had going for it (before Star Fox Zero killed it again). People were so scarred from Star Fox Adventures being so different from the standard formula, it triggered a fight or flight response if they saw Fox on foot again.
As mentioned, the on-foot sections is an expanded All-range mode from Star Fox 64. You are given an open level with objectives to complete.
On-foot doesn't only just mean on-foot though, as you are given access to your Landmaster (Tank) and Arwing at any time. You can go from land to air in seconds and it is very impressive for the Gamecube era. When you are in the Arwing, it feels no different from Star Fox 64's All-Range levels.
The on-foot gameplay was the most criticized aspect of Assault. And I will go ahead and say, the gameplay is fine. It plays exactly like Megaman legends, and there is no issue with that. Are there smaller issues that could have been ironed out to make the on-foot gameplay even better? Abosultley. You are given a couple of weapons to cycle through in your arsenal, but there is only 1 cycle button meaning if you want to switch back and forth between weapons, which you will need to do in order to kill enemies that are unaffected by some of the weapons, then it is a frustrating time. Other than that, the on-foot is fast-paced, controls well, and is satisfying to run and mow down enemies. My point here being that people just dismissed the on-foot sections because Star Fox Adventures existed.
The other big part of these on-foot sections is the use of the Landmaster. I love using the landmaster as I feel like a beast blasting groups of enemies on the ground, or locking on and shooting things down from the air. However the landmaster has one of the biggest issues I believe to be in the game. The controls. Driving and turning this tank is not the same as every other tank controlling game. You CAN adjust the settings so that the tank does control like a tank, but then you are also forced to have the on-foot sections use tank controls. You can't have one or the other. You will need to compromise.
I won't go into detail about the All-Range Arwing sections as they pretty much are the same as the 64 ones. Except the fact that you can jump out of your Arwing at any time. There is one glaring problem with using the Arwing in All-Range mode and that is performance related. Sometimes when you are flying in the air, enemies won't appear on screen till you're really close with them. That can kind kill some runs as dogfighting with aircraft kinda requires you to know where all enemies are. It doesn't outright ruin the game, but it can sour some parts.
The other minor gripe I have is that the on-rails play at 60fps and on-foot is 30fps. But this doesn't bother me too much since a certain Dolphin can help you fix that issue.
I really liked Assault. At first, I was liking this as much as Star Fox 64 but as I went further into the game, the jankiness mentioned before started to sour some parts for me. But overall I'm still salty that we effectively killed a potentially great future for Star Fox considering if the next game just followed what Star Fox Assault did and refined a few things like controls, performance and maybe a few branching paths or levels, we could have gotten the next big great Star Fox we have been waiting for. But now Nintendo have listened to your unjustified cries, and now you will get nothing but Star Fox 64. Star Fox Zero? Nope it's just Star Fox 64 gyro edition.
The foundations for a great Star Fox game are here. With just a bit more tweaking this could have honestly been as good as 64.
I'll go through what this game is, and what it was criticized for. At heart, Star Fox Assault is intended to be a successor to Star Fox 64, an evolution of that game. It's a short arcadey score based shooter that is about blasting down enemies while protecting your friends. You can easily get through it in one playthrough.
Having said that, this sounds like what every fan wanted after Star Fox assault, so what went wrong?
Let's start with the good. The music is fucking phenomenal and uses an orchestral soundtrack that remakes a lot of 64's tracks.
The story and writing is actually not bad. This is surprising considering that Star Fox Adventures had Sonic Adventure 2 tier writing (I mean that as an insult to both SFA and SA2).
The on-rails Arwing sections are back, and they're really good. Like almost Star Fox 64 good, but if Star Fox 64's on rail Arwing sections are 10/10, Assault's is 9/10. The reason for this being that stages aren't as depthful as 64 as they lack secondary objectives that lead you to alternate paths, but everything else plays exactly like 64 if not better. So what's the problem here? 3 of the 10 stages are Arwing only.
Now, 64 wasn't only on-rails. You had plenty "All-range" levels that let you fly around freely on the map. People also liked these levels in 64 and this is what the other 7 of the 10 stages are here. So what is the issue here if people also like All-range mode? What would be the gripe if a Star Fox game was more All-range focused? Well, the on-foot sections is what everyone had a problem with.
I'm going to get into more detail about the on-foot levels, and how it was unfairly criticized, because the boos this game got when it was first revealed killed any momentum this franchise had going for it (before Star Fox Zero killed it again). People were so scarred from Star Fox Adventures being so different from the standard formula, it triggered a fight or flight response if they saw Fox on foot again.
As mentioned, the on-foot sections is an expanded All-range mode from Star Fox 64. You are given an open level with objectives to complete.
On-foot doesn't only just mean on-foot though, as you are given access to your Landmaster (Tank) and Arwing at any time. You can go from land to air in seconds and it is very impressive for the Gamecube era. When you are in the Arwing, it feels no different from Star Fox 64's All-Range levels.
The on-foot gameplay was the most criticized aspect of Assault. And I will go ahead and say, the gameplay is fine. It plays exactly like Megaman legends, and there is no issue with that. Are there smaller issues that could have been ironed out to make the on-foot gameplay even better? Abosultley. You are given a couple of weapons to cycle through in your arsenal, but there is only 1 cycle button meaning if you want to switch back and forth between weapons, which you will need to do in order to kill enemies that are unaffected by some of the weapons, then it is a frustrating time. Other than that, the on-foot is fast-paced, controls well, and is satisfying to run and mow down enemies. My point here being that people just dismissed the on-foot sections because Star Fox Adventures existed.
The other big part of these on-foot sections is the use of the Landmaster. I love using the landmaster as I feel like a beast blasting groups of enemies on the ground, or locking on and shooting things down from the air. However the landmaster has one of the biggest issues I believe to be in the game. The controls. Driving and turning this tank is not the same as every other tank controlling game. You CAN adjust the settings so that the tank does control like a tank, but then you are also forced to have the on-foot sections use tank controls. You can't have one or the other. You will need to compromise.
I won't go into detail about the All-Range Arwing sections as they pretty much are the same as the 64 ones. Except the fact that you can jump out of your Arwing at any time. There is one glaring problem with using the Arwing in All-Range mode and that is performance related. Sometimes when you are flying in the air, enemies won't appear on screen till you're really close with them. That can kind kill some runs as dogfighting with aircraft kinda requires you to know where all enemies are. It doesn't outright ruin the game, but it can sour some parts.
The other minor gripe I have is that the on-rails play at 60fps and on-foot is 30fps. But this doesn't bother me too much since a certain Dolphin can help you fix that issue.
I really liked Assault. At first, I was liking this as much as Star Fox 64 but as I went further into the game, the jankiness mentioned before started to sour some parts for me. But overall I'm still salty that we effectively killed a potentially great future for Star Fox considering if the next game just followed what Star Fox Assault did and refined a few things like controls, performance and maybe a few branching paths or levels, we could have gotten the next big great Star Fox we have been waiting for. But now Nintendo have listened to your unjustified cries, and now you will get nothing but Star Fox 64. Star Fox Zero? Nope it's just Star Fox 64 gyro edition.
What a game! Considering I didn't even know it existed until a week or so ago, I'm so glad that I found it in that resale shop, even if it was for about retail price.
The flying sections are all great, needless to say. I was at two minds about the on-foot sections at first, but once I played a level or two and died a couple times, I was cruising through them. The only issue I have control-wise is the land-master, which handles kind of weird, at least in the control-scheme I picked. Maybe if you play with just the control stick and not the c-stick it drives more managably.
The story was actually way more serious and dark than I was expecting, tbh. With all the campy voice acting to start, I really wasn't expecting things to get nearly as grim and bleak as they did.
Verdict: If you liked Star Fox or Star Fox 64, this one is at least worth a try. The on-foot stages might totally turn you off, which I'd understand, but I didn't find it a total deal-breaker, and came to even like them a fair bit :3
The flying sections are all great, needless to say. I was at two minds about the on-foot sections at first, but once I played a level or two and died a couple times, I was cruising through them. The only issue I have control-wise is the land-master, which handles kind of weird, at least in the control-scheme I picked. Maybe if you play with just the control stick and not the c-stick it drives more managably.
The story was actually way more serious and dark than I was expecting, tbh. With all the campy voice acting to start, I really wasn't expecting things to get nearly as grim and bleak as they did.
Verdict: If you liked Star Fox or Star Fox 64, this one is at least worth a try. The on-foot stages might totally turn you off, which I'd understand, but I didn't find it a total deal-breaker, and came to even like them a fair bit :3
Las secciones parecidas a Adventures fueron muy buenas, se siente muy distinto a la esencia que tiene los otros juegos y creo que no es tan bueno porque solo se puede pasar 1 vez y de ahí es todo igual.
Casi pierdo mi mierda cuando Falco dice "He really thinks he's the man".
Juego bueno me ha gustado bastante es muy entretenido y se agradece jugar un juego asi de vez en cuando, le pesan un poco los años en los controles pero no es nada que lo haga injugable, buen juego
Juego bueno me ha gustado bastante es muy entretenido y se agradece jugar un juego asi de vez en cuando, le pesan un poco los años en los controles pero no es nada que lo haga injugable, buen juego
Guys ima be honest this is better than 64 this game is AMAZING
I believe this was one of the very first video games I ever played. It was when I was very young at the Target store demo during the Katina level, and I had somehow gotten the Landmaster out of bounds and couldn't figure out how to get it back in. Actually playing it years later, made me truly realize how phenomenal of a Star Fox game this is. The soundtrack really has a hand in it as it is one of my favorites in any video game, and the 64-esque Arwing levels are fantastic. This right here was the last good Star Fox game Nintendo ever decided to make, but at least they went out with a bang
Following up Star Fox 64 was no easy task, but I believe Bandai Namco was on the right path to make a great sequel. The on foot combat sections are a good way to add variety to a series that had pretty much perfected on rails shooting, and having the player jump between different vehicles on these missions was the perfect way to tie everything together.
That's why it's a shame that the biggest problem with Assault is the on foot combat itself. The execution of the gameplay style has some flaws, like the lousy weapon switching or the low enemy variety, but I really believe all of that could be largely ignored had the gameplay style been reserved as something to add some variety to the game, instead of being the main focus of it. And even if all these problems were fixed the vast mayority of the missions in the game are centered around destroying X ammount of Y enemy in maps made for multiplayer deathmatch battles (multiplayer mode that I have never ever seen anyone even mention, let alone play). And those repetitive objectives are made worse by a minimap that doesn't help with finding your targets and the fact that the integration of the arwing in these missions ammounts to little more than having to fight off a handful of generic enemy pilots every once in a while. Speaking of the Arwing, it's hard not to feel short changed by the lack of on rails levels on this game when the three times you get to go through some traditional Star Fox levels are so good! Despite lacking the special objectives that made every level in 64 so unique and memorable all three levels are great fun, with the last mission being the highlight of the game, and yet most of your time in the space ships will be spent in some rather plain dogfights.
On a more possitive note, the story may be the thing people rave on the most about this game, and for good reason. The team clearly realized how and why the simple characters from this series are so beloved, and they were able to nail down their team dynamic while developing them in a way that feels natural.
It's easy to see why the game got such a lukewarm reception (especially being such such a short experience), but I'd recommend all Star Fox fans to at least try this one out, if only to see the banter between the Star Fox and Star Wolf teams.
That's why it's a shame that the biggest problem with Assault is the on foot combat itself. The execution of the gameplay style has some flaws, like the lousy weapon switching or the low enemy variety, but I really believe all of that could be largely ignored had the gameplay style been reserved as something to add some variety to the game, instead of being the main focus of it. And even if all these problems were fixed the vast mayority of the missions in the game are centered around destroying X ammount of Y enemy in maps made for multiplayer deathmatch battles (multiplayer mode that I have never ever seen anyone even mention, let alone play). And those repetitive objectives are made worse by a minimap that doesn't help with finding your targets and the fact that the integration of the arwing in these missions ammounts to little more than having to fight off a handful of generic enemy pilots every once in a while. Speaking of the Arwing, it's hard not to feel short changed by the lack of on rails levels on this game when the three times you get to go through some traditional Star Fox levels are so good! Despite lacking the special objectives that made every level in 64 so unique and memorable all three levels are great fun, with the last mission being the highlight of the game, and yet most of your time in the space ships will be spent in some rather plain dogfights.
On a more possitive note, the story may be the thing people rave on the most about this game, and for good reason. The team clearly realized how and why the simple characters from this series are so beloved, and they were able to nail down their team dynamic while developing them in a way that feels natural.
It's easy to see why the game got such a lukewarm reception (especially being such such a short experience), but I'd recommend all Star Fox fans to at least try this one out, if only to see the banter between the Star Fox and Star Wolf teams.
...I think this was is in a different wheelhouse.
A good wheelhouse, though! I liked it a lot.
A good wheelhouse, though! I liked it a lot.
This felt like a true Star Fox game after having dealt with the previous game set on the dinosaur planet, but it still works it's way in and we have Krystal onboard the ship.
The gameplay is a lot of fun with the third-person combat along with jumping on and off the space ship when having a combat on the planets or other location that you need to get out for a bit.
The story is really interesting as it starts with a battle against the remnants of Andross' followers led by Oikanny before the appearance of an ancient enemy that, much like the Borg, are intent on absorbing and evolving as it spreads along the universe. A danger to all involved and even bring in once-enemies onto your side.
However, the problem is that your allies aren't programmed too well so in certain cases, you have to do everything at once because the AI can't be trusted to fight off the enemies.
Gameplay + Stream
The gameplay is a lot of fun with the third-person combat along with jumping on and off the space ship when having a combat on the planets or other location that you need to get out for a bit.
The story is really interesting as it starts with a battle against the remnants of Andross' followers led by Oikanny before the appearance of an ancient enemy that, much like the Borg, are intent on absorbing and evolving as it spreads along the universe. A danger to all involved and even bring in once-enemies onto your side.
However, the problem is that your allies aren't programmed too well so in certain cases, you have to do everything at once because the AI can't be trusted to fight off the enemies.
Gameplay + Stream
Best one so far.
The best Starfox game.
Starfox fans don't deserve good games.
Starfox fans don't deserve good games.
This game deserves a second chance. It got done dirty despite having a more interesting threat, advance the gameplay and story and the music is legit makes the better each time I play it. Also Star Wolf theme is so perfect
Jesus, this game is fucking bleak. Like half the named characters in this universe die and by the end "they come back" but no they fucking died. I dig this game for being something different, both in story and gameplay. I wish there was a better balance of the two styles, but it's still pretty good.