Oh No! We've got to save that marble from the attacking blob and flashing
butterflies! |
StarFox teaches us an important lesson: FROGS CAN'T FLY. |
Nintendo's StarFox ushered in the 3D
era. Waaaayyyy too early. The advent of the Super FX chip brought us
a glimpse of the 3D future, with such wonderful games as StarFox, and erhm, uh,
that bike game. StarFox has a lot going for it. It's relatively fast
paced, the controls are spot on, and the characters are loveable.
See, Nintendo went through a short 15 year "phase" where every game
that they did had a cute lovable character, EVEN if that character was horribly
out of place in the game. Witness the lovable Little Mac, who beat the tar
out of anyone that dared oppose him. I think the lovable tough guy thing
was a reflection of Nintendo's corporate culture at the time. Anyway, I
digress...
In StarFox, you are Fox McCloud, an adventurous fox who is partnered with a
rabbit, a frog (an INCOMPETENT frog), an Eagle, and a dog (your boss).
Your planet, and the planets around you are under attack, and you've got to stop
the attack at all costs. You'll make your way through asteroid belts,
different planets, and many rings. In the future, rings are everywhere,
and you fly through them. And you're a fox.
The
first thing that you'll notice about StarFox is how inept your colleagues
are. Half of StarFox is spent baby sitting Slippy the frog, and this
rabbit guy. If life were fair, the best strategy would be to kill off
these incompetent fools, but Nintendo will punish you for sacrificing your cute
buddies, so it's not really an option. Did I mention that not a single one
of your buddies speaks English? Don't worry, this won't stop them from
filling your intercom with such babble as "Wing, Wing, Wing Jammin!"
Please Hammer, don't hurt 'em.
Maneuvering is the real treat in StarFox - a few finger twitches on the
shoulder buttons will get you a barrel roll, and a deft hand on the D pad will
get you through many tight spots. A bit later in the game, you're rewarded
with better weaponry, which is great, as the beam that you start with is
terrible. Dodging and shooting are the two major play mechanics in this
game, and that's just fine by me. As you get to know me, you'll start to
realize that THIS is the type of game that I like to play. StarFox really
does earn it's wings as a classic in this regard. Good job, Nintendo.
Because of the solid control, because of the fact that I got a good laugh out
of this game after all these years, and because I'm in a good mood today, I
give StarFox a 9/10.