Star Fox Assault Review (GCN)

Often cited as the black sheep of the series (more so than even Star Fox Adventures), Star Fox Assault relies just as much on foot/ground combat as it does the aerial combat the series is known for.

Developed by Namco (likely due to the developer's Ace Combat series) and published by Nintendo in 2005, the game released to generally mediocre and slightly above average reviews and a collective yawn from gamers. Despite this, Assault is my favorite Star Fox game.

The aerial combat is smooth and works just as it does in any other Star Fox game, while the on-foot missions play a lot like Rare's Jet Force Gemini on the Nintendo 64. Fox can also hop into the Landmaster tank for ground fighting, but the tank's controls leave much to be desired. In many ground missions, you'll still need to watch the oppressive forces in the sky, and hop into your Arwing to help your teammates when necessary. It's an interesting balance, and quite fun.

The story is silly and the voice acting is campy, but I kind of like that. I can appreciate the levity, even if it's unintentional.

Assault offers a lot of replaybility with medals to earn, unlockables and a really fun four player competitive multiplayer mode.

I'm not one to get hung up on what a game or series "should" be. Though there is always the risk of alienation, franchises "should" be little more than a vehicle to deliver new gameplay experiences (or else face stagnation). So, I enjoy Assault. It's imperfect and kind of ridiculous and not entirely in tune with its predecessors, but that's cool by me.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• star
• fox
• starfox
• assault
• gamecube
• game
• cube
• gcn
• review
• footage
• gameplay
• play
• video
• retro
• classic
• namco
• nintendo

[guitaristdude0]

good review... are you going to do command too?

[tvandlust]

@guitaristdude0 Of course. :)

You can catch that review in the next week or so.

[Gamester81]

Hey excellent review Craig. I really enjoy the Star Fox series and I wish they had one for the Wii.

[XxVicistxX]

Assult was my favorite too, so many people disagree with me, its just stupid fun and i love it

[sAmUrAiBreakdance]

...the game!

[sAmUrAiBreakdance]

You are right Assault is pretty underrated personally I really like it. I don't really mind the voice acting it's whatever. The landmaster does control like crap though. This game has the best arwing design so far! It would be a great idea if they remade!

[321cheeseman]

>Star Fox Assault relies just as much on foot/ground combat as it does aerial combat

On-foot segments make up 60% of the game. And that's only in terms of AMOUNT. If you go by PLAYTIME, they are an OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of the game's content.

I think the on-foot segments are just bland. In a series known for hectic arcade shooting action, Assault has you navigating maze-like areas with tank-like controls trying to use a horrible map system to locate all 5 of the thing so you can destroy them.

[popcornstand39]

u kinda sound like Reid...\

[saijeehiguchi]

Not a bad review, but I think the strong part of this game is the multiplayer, and I was a bit disappointing that you did not cover that.

[heri3g1]

this is one of my favorite star fox games just being able to play as fox on the ground blew my mind.

[mariostrikersmaster]

a big reason that people hate on star fox assault is that they make too many comparisons to the N64 version. I mean COME, ON! Of course its not gonna be better because alot of people suffer from nostalgia and then get really pissed off because they dont get the same game.

[AnimalCreation]

HOW DARE YOU TALK SMACK ABOUT FALCO THUMBS DOWN THIS FREAKIN VIDEO. THE VOICE ACTORS ARE GREAT! YOU WANT BAD VOICE ACTORS PLAY SPYRO ENTER THE DRAGON FLY!.

[darthtulip]

one of my FAVORITE games EVER

[mrgoukimaster]

This is better than ratchet and clank.