Like the other aspects of the game, the story of Star Fox Assault is a return to form compared to Star Fox Adventures. The most interesting levels in the game are the ones that allow you to freely switch between arwing, landmaster, and infantry combat, though once again the sloppy controls and lackluster enemy encounters on foot hold things back.
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The game has a mix of classic linear stages and free roaming stages, and while I still think the more classic stages are better, the free roaming stages are better here than they were in Star Fox 64. The aerial gameplay almost feels like it was designed by an entirely different team, with tight and responsive controls and fairly interesting encounter design. It really is a shame that the ground missions are so poor, because the other half of the game is exactly what you’d want from a Star Fox game on the Gamecube. The enemies themselves don’t offer any sort of interesting encounters, mostly just soaking up bullets, and the lack of linear progression is a disappointment. All the on-foot sequences take place on arena-like levels with various objectives scattered around. It’s not just the controls though, but the level design of these stages that really brings it down. The movement and aiming feels incredibly loose and unresponsive, and the Gamecube controller isn’t particularly suited to shooter controls with it’s very odd triggers and tiny right stick. The game actually does feature a dual analog control scheme, making it one of the few on the Gamecube, but it’s not executed well at all. Even by the standards of the day the on-foot sequences come up far short in terms of both controls and level design. Granted, this game was released before Gears of War revolutionized the third person shooter genre, but let’s also not forget that games like Max Payne and Socom did exist. The on-foot portions of the game consist primarily of third person shooting and these sequences are the worst parts of the game. Star Assault does a lot of things right, but the game’s biggest shortcoming is in the execution of the ground based gameplay.
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Obviously this game isn’t as much of a departure than the previous game, but the inclusion of on-foot gameplay and a cinematic presentation make it feel like what many had hoped a modern evolution of the series would be. Star Fox Assault is an action game through and through, with the focus shifting between space combat and ground combat consisting of both vehicle and on-foot third person shooter gameplay. With Star Fox Assault conceived as a Star Fox game from the very beginning, unlike Star Fox Adventures, the game sticks much closer to the fundamentals of the series.
After several years of development and refinement, Star Fox Assault was finally released in early 2005.
The game was actually first announced before Star Fox Adventures was even released, though early impressions from media and fans was rather negative. With Rare obviously no longer contributing to the Star Fox franchise, Nintendo turned to another external developer for the next game in the series.įor the next Star Fox game on the Gamecube, Nintendo partnered with Namco, in particular many of the individuals that had worked on the Ace Combat series. Within days of the release of Star Fox Adventures for the Gamecube in September of 2002 Microsoft purchased Rare, making Star Fox Adventures the studio’s last game on a Nintendo platform.
Though it has come to be hated by many Star Fox fans for its major departure from nearly everything resembling Star Fox, the game is pretty good as an action adventure game. In the previous installment of this Star Fox Series Retrospective, we examined the Rare developed Star Fox Adventures.