Star Fox: Assault (2005 Video Game) User Reviews

My Treasured Game

[Fields201 · 9/10 · 19 October 2010]

I'm biased because StarFox Assault was the game that I bought since moving into my apartment five years ago. I was nervous being out on my own, alone this time, and as a celebration I bought this game. A lot of people hated it, but I loved it. Not only did it help me through some rough times and being scared of the loneliness, it was still a great game to boot.

Since Nintendo rightfully sold their developer Rare to the rather gullible Microsoft, they handed the project over to Namco; a company most famous for the Pac-Man series. Namco and Nintendo had a good relationship going, even handling works like Mario Kart GP for the arcade (which, for some reason, was never brought to the States)and taking over this: StarFox Assault.

Namco took on the project while maintaining the spirit of the franchise (a la flying the Arwing) to also mixing things up like on foot missions and piloting the Landmaster (Starfox's version of a tank). The controls work quite well, and the different planets you are taken to are all very interesting and colorful. The only real problem Namco was creating was there were more on foot missions than actual Arwing levels, and when there are Arwing levels, they are oddly abrupt. This contributed to a lot of the backlash from the fans of the series, even though I personally thought the experience was fun overall, regardless.

The story took a different turn, as well. The game begins by confronting a relative of series mainstay bad guy, Andross, but is quickly diminished after the first level, and instead focusing on a new enemy, The Aparoids. Fans complained about this too, and I don't see why because it's good to see Fox and his crew go after something different. It makes the galaxy bigger if there is a new threat to the team. It all leads to satisfying ending, with a hope that the developers will continue the franchise on the Nintendo Wii.

If anything, the fans certainly can't complain about the music. It's well orchestrated and easy on the ears. I love the first level music, but my favorite has to go down to, of all things, the briefing music. I listen to that one a lot. It's a very beautiful score and under-appreciated beneath the shell of a much reviled game.

I love this game. As of this writing, there hasn't been any word for a Starfox game for any platform, which is a shame. Starfox Assault was probably the best franchise game to come out on the Gamecube's lifespan, and this includes titles like Wind Waker and Super Mario Sunshine. Hopefully Nintendo is considering on resurrecting Fox and his crew in the same vein as Starfox Assault, only this time incorporating more Arwing levels.

My favorite Star Fox game yet!

[Whitestache · 9/10 · 12 July 2006]

I know a lot of people really hated this game, but I LOVED it. No, I'm not new to the Star Fox series either. This is a long review on 7 different categories and their ratings. And I don't care what everyone says about hating it either!

Story 9/10-The story of the Lylat System falling to an enemy other than Andross makes it already more original. The first half of the story mainly revolves around getting the Core Memory from Pigma, but the second half features some great plot twists that no one saw coming.

Graphics 10/10-A lot of people didn't like these graphics as much as Adventures, but I did. The graphic quality of Star Fox Assault is probably the best I've ever seen on the Gamecube. EVER. The 7 cinematic cutscenes have quality comparable to an actual CGI movie.

Music 10/10-Absolutely amazing. The orchestra remixes of classic Star Fox tunes is just incredible incredible. I wouldn't surprise me if John Williams wrote the soundtrack. My favorites are the Star Fox theme,Star Wolf theme, Fortuna, Meteo, and Corneria.

Voices 8/10-Many people hated the voices, too, and again, I didn't. I really don't understand what's wrong with them. Nintendo fans should actually be thankful since Star Fox is one their few franchises where they actually took time to add voices. I personally liked the voices of Falco, Wolf, and General Pepper the best. (And at least Slippy sounds like a boy now.)

Gameplay 9/10-I enjoyed the idea of being able to leave the Arwing or Landmaster at will. The shooting was pretty cool, but I wanted more guns and some that that don't exist. Though I wish you could choose your own path like in 64.

Length 5/10-This is definitely where Namco made their biggest mistake. This game was WAY too short. And even though 64 had 16 levels, the 7 that you actually play through made it much shorter than Assault. I beat the game in 5 days, but only because I already knew it was short already.

Replay Value 10/10-The replay value makes up for the game being so short. This is one game I can play over and over again without getting easily bored.

Overall Value-9/10 This is game is for sure one of my favorites. I recommend it to anyone who's new to Star Fox, or has never played 64.

TGITBISFS-This Game Is The Best In Star fox Series

[jedrek_17 · 9/10 · 20 June 2006]

I bought that game as my 3rd on Gamecube,and i still think that it's very cool.I played Star Fox 64 earlier,but Assault is the best Star Fox game in my opinion,now.Of course,it's short and sometimes it seems very hard,but multi player is cool and i really enjoy it(of course it's too bad there'e s no computer players,but that's not important).It's too bad Peppy is no longer a pilot.but i can't imagine a 50-year-old pilot;).Tough missions are rather short(except the Aparoid Homeworld)they're really cool-looking.Music rocks as well,especially on Orbital gate or Theme of Star Wolf.I don't really care what others think,i say that-STAR FOX:ASSAULT RULESSSS!

An impressive game

[pgear83 · 10/10 · 9 September 2006]

Star Fox Assault for the Nintendo Gamecube was a worthy addition to the series. The graphics and music are outstanding and the voice acting is mostly improved from previous titles. There are some minor quibbles to make. The game could stand to be a bit longer and the on-foot controls could be better (turning around while on foot is an agonizingly slow process, especially in the multi-player). Still, the game provides fast action and lots of variety. The last mission in particular is incredibly intense; pure Star Fox.

The best part of the game may be the plot and character development. The telepathic Krystal adds a fantastical element to the science fiction. Her relationship with Fox McCloud is developed (one wonders why a character like Fox, who has killed thousands of people/creatures in battle, acts so embarrassed when confronted with the issue of romance).

Also of note is the relationship of Fox (an orphan) with several de facto father-figures. He becomes very protective of his aging mentor Peppy Hare. Fox also has a strange relationship with Wolf O'Donnell. The older Wolf claims to hate Fox, yet repeatedly saves him. While not exactly on good terms with Wolf, Fox has some level of admiration for him and takes his advice to heart. It reminded me of the relationship between Amsterdam and Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York (right down to Wolf's missing eye).

Finally new villains are introduced, the Aparoids. They are partly- mechanical insects. Many have compared them to the Borg from Star Trek, but I feel they owe at least as much to the Formics (or "Buggers") from Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Either way, they are a distinctly non-mammalian form of life, and as such inspire a fearful reaction.

A great gaming experience overall, I highly recommend it.

Space Assault with More Land Assault

[kervindonngo · 8/10 · 14 April 2023]

Another game that I played after playing Star Fox Adventures is Star Fox Assault. Like every Star Fox game this has Space shooting in fighting enemies. Of course this game does not forget the one of the most popular vixen in the Star Fox franchise Krystal.

Like always the shooting in the game remain pretty good. I get to maneuver around, shoot enemy ships and even fight bosses. I almost broke my hand in fighting bosses too.

As for the land combat I can finally get to play Fox by using his blaster. Although the controls here in the game felt a bit odd Unlike the shooter games today because how I controlled Fox looked more I am controlling a droid on wheels. And let me tell you that the enemies are tough than I remembered which really convinces me to use the other weapons in the game like the machine guns, grenades, rocket launchers and including the vehicles like Archwing and Landrover which in land combat it can used as vehicles.

The game's campaign mode just felt to short to complete. It only took an afternoon to completed it. And even in the multiplayer the unlockables are too long to complete because it does not really go online mode.

If they plan on making another Star Fox game I would not mind getting another sequel or remakes that can actually go online mode.

Different

[Xion87 · 7/10 · 16 October 2006]

Well this is my first review and what better way to start then with Star Fox Assualt! Star Fox Assault I guess takes place five years after Star Fox Adventures which I'm hoping you played prior to this one, though it isn't 100% necessary. The team is a little different now though, Peppy is now a retired pilot and now does his work guiding the Star Fox team from the main ship, Great Fox. Krystal has also become an addition to the team, replacing Peppy in the battle field. It starts off with them fighting off the remainder of Androsses followers which is led by a commander named Oikany, but they are soon dispatched, not by Fox but by a race called the Aparoids. And so the game revolves around Fox trying to defeat this race.

SFA was a little different but that was okay, Star Fox Dinosaur was different but it was still pretty good. That't not what brought down the game. It was the on foot battles I didn't appreciate very much. In the first level you start off in your Arwing which was great. You got to fight off the remainder of Androsses followers. It really brought me back to the old days playing the original on 64. However, after the first level the game slowly begins to go down hill. The on foot battles were bland, hollow, and tedious. Every battle you just did the same thing, you would always have to find and destroy a certain number of generators or enemies. And the environments lacked depth, I don't know what it was but everything in the game just seemed really small. The weapons weren't very exciting either because they all had more or less the same effect. The Arwing battles were great as always but there simply wasn't enough of them, the number of on foot missions outweighed the Arwing battles when it should have been the other way around. What stinks is that the on foot battles could have been made better if they had spent a little more time on it. It was a good idea but it was just poorly executed in the game. Oh well, what's done is done and there's no use bitching about it now.

One reason why I don't think this game did as well was because people kept comparing it to the original. It's no question that the original was better but the last thing you want to do is to play through it thinking how much better it would be if you were playing 64. When you play this, look at it as its own game since it kind of is. Nintendo made the original, Namco did the new one. Another problem I had was the voice acting. For the most part it was pretty good but there were a few characters that sounded absolutely retarded. It was like they were trying to make them into completely different characters. Characters like Leon, Slippy, Oikany, Pigma, General Pepper, and Rob sounded nothing like they did in 64 so it kind of takes some getting used to and yes I know I said not to compare it to the original but voice acting is an exception. I know it's hard to get the original voices but they could have at least tried to make them sound similar to 64. However some of the voices were pretty good like Fox, Wolf, Peppy, and Krystal.

You wanna know another big problem, No Andross. None. If Mario has taught me anything, it's that the recurring villain is like a member of the family and without him, the game will feel like it's missing something. Instead we are left with these apariod creatures which I'm not too fond of.

One upside to this game is the music, some of it's just spectacular. It's just great to hear all the old music from the original again in a full out orchestra. They must have paid money out of the ass for the music alone. My personal favorite is the Star Wolf theme. Now if music not a big factor for you then just go ahead and disregard this paragraph.

Well, overall, the game left me feeling a little unfulfilled. Though it did have its moments, particularly in the Arwing battles. I do love Star Fox. Next to Zelda it is my favorite Nintendo game but I felt they could have done so much better with this one. The length of it is much too short being only ten missions and six of them you do on foot. If you are a hardcore fan of the Star Fox series as I am then by all means, rent it. I seriously don't recommend a buy though. All in all, I give it a 7 out of 10, not great, just okay.

Namco Ruined the Classic Genre

[dctcool · 2/10 · 14 July 2005]

Lylatwars (Star Fox 64 for you US one-way readers) was one of my favorite game on the N64, and since 1997 I have been waiting desperately for a sequel, In 2002 I got Star Fox Adventures, Which was NOT Star Fox in the least, It was an Adventure game not a 3D Space shooter like Lylatwars was. Then this came at first I was exited thinking it was too good to be true.

Now I realised it WAS too good to be true here are 10 things I was disappointed with in this game:

10: They ruined the Landmaster tank, It can no longer rapid fire, and is harder to control 9: The Multiplayer does not have any CPU controlled players or extra enemies, (If it did It would have extended the life of the game) 8: Not enough missions (only 10, Lylatwars had 16, and you could choose different paths) 7. Peppy isn't a pilot anymore 6. The collisions are not as responsive as they were in LW 5. Would it have killed Namco to give Star Wolf a 4th member? 4. You can't damage your teammates yourself now. 3. Focuses too much on ground based missions (which is NOT true Star Fox style) 2. You Can't carry over power-ups (like bombs) to the next mission anymore. 1. The Game focuses too much on the changing storyline (Who cares about the storyline, Those are for Movies and RPG's not 3D Space Shooters 0: The Game is over too quickly.

good, but not great

[smellyface20002000 · 9 April 2005]

wow, i had great expectations for this game, i mean, a new developer should get over that abysmal star for adventures, and it does. The ship combat is beautiful, but the controls are kind of off. the tank combat is fun, but the tank is hard to control. the on foot combat is bad, but it manages to bring you into it. the script writing is OK, a lot of the dialog is really corny (dang, fox help me out! who says dang?) I'm not going to ruin anything for anyone, but the ending was the worst part, way too corny. the voice acting sounds great, but some of the actors need some acting lessons. the difficulty is nice, not too hard, but not a pushover either. the multi-player is fun, giving you the option to use any vehicle and most weapons, but there aren't many features except for unlockable characters. a capture the flag would be awesome. overall, nice, fun, a quick little romp in the star fox universe.

7/10