Related:  -Select- Game ProfilePreviewsMediaCheatsDiscussion System: GameCube Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Namco Release: February 14, 2005 Genre: Shooter Rating: Teen Players: 1-4

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The game play follows in the footsteps of Star Fox 64. Some missions take you through space in an Arwing fighter, and some are on land in the Landmaster tank. What’s new here is the ability to walk around on the planet’s surface in the context of a third person shooter. And still other missions have you driving around in a Landmaster, climbing out to destroy specific targets, and then climbing into an Arwing and taking to the skies, all in the same task.

If you liked the controls in Star Fox 64, you’ll like these. The Arwing and Landmaster work almost exactly the same as they did. The on-foot missions are a bit different. Maybe it’s the light colored graphics, maybe it’s the high running and jumping speed, but something makes it seem like it shouldn’t be taken seriously. It feels more like you’re controlling a cartoon. It is fun however, and that’s what matters.

The actual controls are as good as they could be. There are three different control modes to choose from, and for each, you can choose to invert the Y axis for pilot, Arwing, and Landmaster individually. This allows for a wide range of control schemes, so you shouldn’t have a hard time choosing one. The basic controls use the control stick to move and turn; players then hold R to stop and aim manually, while pressing A to shoot. The dual stick controls are a more ‘standard’ control scheme, using one joystick to move and one to aim, and the R button to shoot. And the final setup looks around with the control stick, and holding R switches to movement. Don’t worry abut it, though, it won’t take more than a few missions to get used to everything.

Single player is fairly simple. You move from one mission to the next, each mission providing a handful of objectives. There are ten missions, and three difficulty levels. Bronze will be easy for even the most inexperienced player, Silver is about average, and Gold will have you begging for a respite before long. The game doesn’t have multiple paths, as in Star Fox 64, it’s going to be the same thing no matter how many times you beat it. This, combined with the fact that it’s too long to do in one sitting, but long enough to take a few days, means that you’re going to get bored of it pretty fast. More on this later.

One would hope that multiplayer would make up for this. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. There are quite a few maps, most of which have to be unlocked by playing the single-player mission of the same location. The character list is fairly small, with only the four normal Star Fox Team members, but there are a handful more that are unlockable. The actual gameplay rules are very basic. A standard match, sniper rifle only match, or homing missile launch only match, each with a customizable number of kills to win, number of lives, or time limit. It won’t keep you entertained for very long.

The graphics are a mixed bag. While the cut scenes look great, the actual in-game visuals are, well, less impressive. There are no real flaws, it just doesn’t look that great. The textures are somewhat poorer than the detailed fur and outfits in the cut scenes. In high action scenarios it’ll even lag a bit. Not bad, but not amazingly good either.

The music, as well, varies. The music itself is awesome. The only problem is that it rarely fits with the action on screen. When you first battle the Star Wolf team, the music sounds like it would be more at home in the ending of an old western film. In a number of dramatic and high action battles, the music feels like it should be used when a character dies (not that any do…) or when a battle is lost. It just doesn’t usually match up with the current situation.

And then there is the voice acting. The voices themselves are good, and go with the characters personality well. But then there’s the lip syncing, or lack thereof. If you remember the talking in Star Fox 64, you know what to expect - mouths moving on their own accord, flapping up and down at their own pace. Not a big problem, but it’s there.

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