Star Fox for the Nintendo 64 was one of its best games and it holds up very well even today. Star Fox is a flying game based around the premise that an evil scientist named Andross is attacking planets in this star system and Star Fox and his team are sent to stop Andross. Depending on how you complete each mission (more on this later) you will take a different path but all roads lead to Venom, Andross’ home world.
The first thing that people who have played the SNES Star Fox will notice is the graphics, they are much better and more elaborate. The control scheme is great, responsive and tight, no unnecessary motion. Clicking the right trigger twice will send Fox into a barrel roll and this can deflect enemy fire. The “B” button will deploy your bombs and the “A” button fires your laser. You can hold on to the “A” button to charge the laser for a larger blast and this will automatically lock on to any enemies in the vicinity. Pressing “C left” will put you into a temporary boost of speed and “C down” will slam on your breaks.
The other three members of your team are Peppy, Falco, and Slippy. Slippy may be the only bad thing in this game, he is just so annoying (and yes that isn’t a typo Slippy is a guy) from time to time they will need help and they can save you sometimes. If they take enough damage they will duck out of the fight and they won’t be available for the next mission. For every 100 enemies you destroy you get an extra life. There are a wide variety of combat zones; terrestrial planets, oceans, space stations, an asteroid belt, and the solar system’s sun to name a few. Regardless of what route you take you will have one level
where you need to use a vehicle other than the plane and these levels are meant to add variety but they are usually pretty annoying to complete, especially the level under the ocean.The back story is actually pretty involved and if you read it your battle with the “4 aces” will make much more sense. The use of animal characters is interesting and something different; the personalities of each character are also laid out very well so they work well as a team. One of the most interesting aspects of the game, that adds to the replay value, is the ability to take different paths to the same end. You will play through 7 levels regardless of what route you take and Venom and Corneria will both be on the list regardless but the other 5 will vary based on certain things that you do within the level. Some levels have warps where you have to pass through a certain number of rings to warp to another level; some levels will have special tasks to complete if you want to go on a different path. (for example on Corneria if you fly under all of the arches on the water Falco will lead you to a different objective) Other levels will require you to destroy a certain number of enemies or defeat the main boss quick enough. The alternate paths are harder than the main path so they are obviously for the more advanced player.
For the most part this game is great, the only slightly annoying things are the levels where you aren’t in an arwing and the fact that Slippy even exists but those are easily dismissed because of the incredible elements of gameplay and story that this game brings to the table. This game is an absolute classic and if you have an N64 you must have this game in your library.
Gameplay: 10
Story: 10
Replay Value: 10
Graphics: 10
Overall: 10
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