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Topic: Spare a thought for... Star Fox: Assault

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Raylax

OK, so here's the deal. Provided the mods don't object, I'll be writing a few articles on the forums over the next couple of weeks about games which despite popular opinion, I believe are actually very definitely worth playing despite their flaws. These aren't reviews as such, I won't be adding a score on the end and I'm not going to trying to get you to decide whether or not to buy it. Just seeing if I can get people to view them in a better light. If you're sitting comfortably, then we'll begin.

So, Star Fox: Assault. Fox's Gamecube swansong and a return to Arwing-based blasting for the first time since Lylat Wars. And yeah, it has its problems. It's far too short, the controls can't make their mind up on which button is for shoot, the acting is shoddy, and the on-foot sections are... awful. And yet this is the only game in the series that made me really give a damn about Star Fox as a series. Don't get me wrong, Starwing is great fun, and so is Lylat Wars. But for me they were just that and little else. Neat, well-designed shooters, but I wouldn't be waiting for the E3 announcement of a new one. The characters held little charm for me and to be honest my opinion of the series as a whole was pretty much "it's Star Wars for furries." I had no opinion of them, they were just avatars in the Arwings, 3 of which were doing their damnedest to get shot down and complain at me when they flew straight into my bullets.
But then yesterday, with nothing else on my list of games to play, I decided to give Assault another shot. I was skeptical, I'd tried to complete it before and gotten frustrated by the on-foot bits and given up. I've owned this game for nearly two years and never gotten into it. So, into my Wii it went for one last shot at winning me over. A few hours later I was watching the closing credits, and yet despite its length I came away with the feeling that I'd just played a really good game.
The whole thing has a rare charm that shines through despite its gameplay shortcomings. The characters are fantastic, and now I really want to know more about them. In the space of a few hours, Falco has gone from "that Fox clone character in Brawl" to one of my favourite characters in the whole Nintendo canon. And telepath Krystal wasn't half as annoying as I expected. I probably wouldn't miss her if Nintendo decided to scrap the character, and given the official art I expected little more than furry fanservice, but Namco seem to have at least tried to make her not entirely one-dimensional. Fox's reaction when confronted on the issue of love is priceless, too. Y'know, Slippy isn't that bad either, given the sheer amount of bashing he recieves from the fandom. But maybe that's just me, I never had any particular issue with Navi either.
The Game Overthinker once likened Nintendo to a beloved childhood home, that 'a funny little Japanese man' would promise to preserve forever in exchange for about £200 every five or so years. And for me, Assault really does that. I loved the old Disney cartoons as a kid, and I spent quite a lot of my spare time watching them. Robin Hood was a particular favourite, and perhaps that's why I've been so easily hooked to the exploits of a fox and his friends. It's a nostalgic throwback and next E3 I'll definately be listening out for further adventures from Space Squad Furry.

So, if you've never played a Starfox game, or never really cared about the series, I definitely recommend giving Assault a shot. You might not like it, and you'll probably be disappointed by the gameplay by the end of it. But yet it'll hook you to the series like no other version will. See, this is why I'm not labelling these reviews and giving them scores. From one view, it's a 5/10 for a decent but not great. In the other view, it's big glowing 10/10 just for being what it is. Roll on Starfox for Wii.

Raylax

3DS Friend Code: 0173-1400-0117 | Nintendo Network ID: RaylaxKai

The_Fox

Will the mods lock this thread? Maybe...(the suspense is killing me!)

I actually hated Star Fox Assualt myself. Too sloppy on all counts.

"The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."

-President John Adams

Treaty of Tripoly, article 11

TanookiMike

Assault wasn't all that great, but it wasn't all that bad either.

TanookiMike

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