You wouldn't see all the levels for Starfox and Starfox 64 in a single sitting. Getting on to the branching paths was a matter of discovering secrets and such. Not to mention that a "single sitting" playthrough wasn't something immediately accomplished with the first two games -- you generally had to take time to get good with them. OTOH, I blazed through Starfox Assault on the first night.
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Star Fox Assault sucks shit
- Thread starter Go Go Ackman!
- Start date
evilromero said:This is an injustice to the game. And I would say that the single player is great for what it offers; a short fantastic warm-up to the tremendous multiplayer. Think Smash Bros. Melee meets Star Fox and you'll have an idea of how the mechanics behind the multi works. VERY dense and very rewarding and fun. Possibly the last great multiplayer title on the Cube. I am very impressed with the sheer scope and depth of the arenas. Nothing compares to the brilliant Corneria level.
Well, I'm not big on multiplayer gaming anyway. Good to hear that it rocks, however.
evilromero
Member
I think Assault would've been better received had it been touted for its multiplayer.
Error Macro
Member
border said:You wouldn't see all the levels for Starfox and Starfox 64 in a single sitting. Getting on to the branching paths was a matter of discovering secrets and such. Not to mention that a "single sitting" playthrough wasn't something immediately accomplished with the first two games -- you generally had to take time to get good with them. OTOH, I blazed through Starfox Assault on the first night.
Hmm, that's slightly concerning. I had SFA pre-ordered for a month, and it's been sitting on my shelf in it's shrink wrap for a couple of weeks now. I'm just too lazy to hook the GC back up to play it.
border said:You wouldn't see all the levels for Starfox and Starfox 64 in a single sitting. Getting on to the branching paths was a matter of discovering secrets and such. Not to mention that a "single sitting" playthrough wasn't something immediately accomplished with the first two games -- you generally had to take time to get good with them. OTOH, I blazed through Starfox Assault on the first night.
What difficulty level did you play SF:A in, out of curiosity.
evilromero
Member
As expected you've ignored what I've laid out in great detail that the game's truly developed feature is its multiplayer. I don't have the exact number of arenas but it goes pretty high, and easily rivals those levels found in other multi-shooters.Error Macro said:Hmm, that's slightly concerning. I had SFA pre-ordered for a month, and it's been sitting on my shelf in it's shrink wrap for a couple of weeks now. I'm just too lazy to hook the GC back up to play it.
And come to think of it, if someone made a topic titled "GTA: SA SUCKS SHIT" or something along those lines there would be heavy backlash from the mods.
People love Starfox because it's a kick ass arcade style shooter, not because of its multiplayer. Fantastic MP in no way makes up for a weaker single player experience.
I enjoy SF:A, but I've played it through exactly once. I used to play SF and SF64 again and again for MONTHS. That won't be happening with SF:A. Namco failed. It was a valiant effort, and not a bad game by ANY means, imho, easily trouncing the farce that was SF Adventures, but it isn't a resounding success either.
I enjoy SF:A, but I've played it through exactly once. I used to play SF and SF64 again and again for MONTHS. That won't be happening with SF:A. Namco failed. It was a valiant effort, and not a bad game by ANY means, imho, easily trouncing the farce that was SF Adventures, but it isn't a resounding success either.
Error Macro
Member
evilromero said:As expected you've ignored what I've laid out in great detail that the game's truly developed feature is its multiplayer. I don't have the exact number of arenas but it goes pretty high, and easily rivals those levels found in other multi-shooters.
And come to think of it, if someone made a topic titled "GTA: SA SUCKS SHIT" or something along those lines there would be heavy backlash from the mods.
Did you quote the wrong person when you wrote that reply?
Many (okay, most) people were expecting a ton more aerial action than what's presented in Assault. And who can blame them? Namco makes the Ace Combat series, which is the console gold standard nowadays, and Rare's ground-pounding effort in StarFox Adventures was blasted from here to hell and back again. Surely their marketers and product analysts have seen and studied consumer reactions to SFAdventures compared to the raving approval of the previous SF series and their own flight series. Common sense would lead us to believe that they would factor in all of this and give us one of the best rail/all-range shooters yet (with Slippy).
Then they gave us StarFox Assault. Which to most was like expecting a nice Fuddruckers burger where you could customize a sandwich to be as bland or as exciting as you want (SF64 level select) and being presented a thick greasy ghetto burger betwixt two slices of WonderBread. It's still good, and you can add to it, but for most, the excess grease (foot missions) made it fall apart somewhat.
Then they gave us StarFox Assault. Which to most was like expecting a nice Fuddruckers burger where you could customize a sandwich to be as bland or as exciting as you want (SF64 level select) and being presented a thick greasy ghetto burger betwixt two slices of WonderBread. It's still good, and you can add to it, but for most, the excess grease (foot missions) made it fall apart somewhat.
Error Macro
Member
Deepthroat said:No buy! Why? It's Namco. After the lousy treatment I got with Katamari and Xenosaga they will never get my money.
/bitter European
Spoken with Austrian accent:
"Why deny yourself the pleasure?"
-Colonel John Matrix
Whatever the default one is, most likely. It's been nearly a month since then, though. Playing the good stages on higher difficulties is fun, though I thought it made the bad ones even more of a chore..Mejilan said:What difficulty level did you play SF:A in, out of curiosity.
TheTurtleTitan
Member
Is it true that Falco calls Fox by "Foxie" in this game? If so, lame.
TheTurtleTitan said:Is it true that Falco calls Fox by "Foxie" in this game? If so, lame.
Errmm. Don't remember. If so, it was probably only an isolated incident, and definitely not all the time.
Error Macro said:But... Star Fox and Star Fox 64 were easily beaten in a single sitting. Unless, like the last time I played SF64, you took the path that caused you to fight the Star Wolf team for the 2nd time, with no wingmen left, and no twin blasters. That was bullshit. It makes that level impossible.
Are we talking about the hard mode? I could beat SF64 in the normal game on any path without dying once. The hard is just cheap, I beat it only a few times since they made Venom a bitch to play through; either the normal rail stage or the Star Wolf encounter before Andross. The hardest part was escaping after Andross is defeated and StarFox fight just prior.. well not just Venom, the hard mode was pretty difficult on all the stages. Ins't that if you get medals on the hard mode it opened up rocket for multiplayer?
Dark Dragon said:Are we talking about the hard mode? I could beat SF64 in the normal game on any path without dying once. The hard is just cheap, I beat it only a few times since they made Venom a bitch to play through; either the normal rail stage or the Star Wolf encounter before Andross. The hardest part was escaping after Andross is defeated and StarFox fight just prior.. well not just Venom, the hard mode was pretty difficult on all the stages. Ins't that if you get medals on the hard mode it opened up rocket for multiplayer?
Are you kidding me? Once I unlocked expert mode in SF64, that was ALL I played, even after I acquired all of the expert medals. It was so freakin' awesome.
Starfox 64 was a fantastic shooter back in its days the large number of levels and branching path gameplay meant hours of fun and replaying the game to find the hardest and or best routes.
I gave up on assualt in the 4 seconds it took me to pick up the controller and find that the level which loaded at the EB kiosk did not involving flying in an arwing. I'm sorry but on foot missions simply don't belong in a game like this and I refuse to even acknowledge the game really exists becuase of that fact.
I gave up on assualt in the 4 seconds it took me to pick up the controller and find that the level which loaded at the EB kiosk did not involving flying in an arwing. I'm sorry but on foot missions simply don't belong in a game like this and I refuse to even acknowledge the game really exists becuase of that fact.
I just bought it and beat it a few days ago. Thought it was decent, but not nearly as awesome as 64. The early on foot missions were decent,but they got worse as it went on. Should have been like 8 flying missions and 2 on foot missions. Those missions where you were on their wing shooting were cool for like 1 minute then got old.
My biggest problem was the level design. In the flying stages you were basically just flying in open space shooting other ships. Everything in the background was just there to look good. In 64 there were more objects you could fly under or through or into. It seemed so much more exciting, like you were doing some really daring manuvers.
My biggest problem was the level design. In the flying stages you were basically just flying in open space shooting other ships. Everything in the background was just there to look good. In 64 there were more objects you could fly under or through or into. It seemed so much more exciting, like you were doing some really daring manuvers.
:lolLil' Dice said:I saw some kid playing it at Fry's, it looks like shit.
Not a bad way to make a game-buying decision...
shantyman said:I can't believe this thread isn't 300+ posts already...
I can. There isn't much to say in its defense besides it having great multiplayer. The whole game is a case of Namco not getting it. Even the ads show this. Yeah the ad is shitty and rushed, but my problem with it is HOW do you make an ad that displays the vehicles (one of which you can't control), and NOT display the arbiter of StarFox, the (revamped, ass-kickingly designed) Arwing?
What would cause somebody to leave that out of the ad? Maybe that was a clue beforehand.
soundwave05
Member
I have a love-hate relationship with this game.
It's not as good as Star Fox 64.
But it is a solid game on its own merits and does bring some cool new things to the franchise.
The on foot missions actually aren't that bad, its when you get into the tank that I find the game slows down a bit. But when you're on foot and shooting around, its kinda cool.
Also the ability to be able to get into a fighter ship, tank, or go on foot into a enemey base all in one level is very cool.
The other thing is I haven't had a chance to try the multiplayer and Namco really put a lot of effort into the multi ... so I'd have to really get into that.
But one plus is I think now people are starting to realize really how great Star Fox 64. The control, the level design, the mix of free flowing and on-rails action, the voice acting, etc. was all incredible.
Star Fox 64 is definitely one of my favorite games on the N64, hell its one of my top games from the last gen period (N64/PSX/Saturn).
It's not as good as Star Fox 64.
But it is a solid game on its own merits and does bring some cool new things to the franchise.
The on foot missions actually aren't that bad, its when you get into the tank that I find the game slows down a bit. But when you're on foot and shooting around, its kinda cool.
Also the ability to be able to get into a fighter ship, tank, or go on foot into a enemey base all in one level is very cool.
The other thing is I haven't had a chance to try the multiplayer and Namco really put a lot of effort into the multi ... so I'd have to really get into that.
But one plus is I think now people are starting to realize really how great Star Fox 64. The control, the level design, the mix of free flowing and on-rails action, the voice acting, etc. was all incredible.
Star Fox 64 is definitely one of my favorite games on the N64, hell its one of my top games from the last gen period (N64/PSX/Saturn).
Blasphemy to the naysayers. I feel it's a rather good game whose reputation is hampered by expectations based on Starfox 64. But it's a largely different game! It's still very much a shooter with flying missions and submissions, but it has a lot more variety and non-linearity to the gameplay. I really appreciated the mixture of vehicles with foot-based battles. I love being able to walk around on foot, explore and shoot, then get into a vehicle for a new kind of exploration and shooting. The only problem with control is the tank, and the best tank control is in a different setting from the best on-foot control, which is what I use (dual stick mode).
Besides that, my only complaints would be rather insignificant ones: the sound effects of the ground enemies when they spawn or get shot are kind of weak and unsatisfying. They sort of fade in when they spawn, and when you shoot some things there isn't a sound effect other than your gun. They might fly in the air when they're killed and fade away with some cheap explosion effect, but no splat, crunch, or anything gratifying. In a shooter, this aspect is surprisingly muted. Even running the bugs over in your tank merely causes bump sounds rather than crunches and cracking shells or explosions. Really, it gives it somewhat cheap production values in a way, but you get used to it. And everything else, especially the music, is fantastic (kind of reminds me of Body Harvest for N64 in this way). A lot of the graphics are great, although the insects that appear on the grounds are admittedly simplistic with little animation. Also, the charge-up shots don't destroy nearby enemies as much as in Starfox 64, but it ends up evening out because taking out a group even without charging up still gives you combo points (something SF64 didn't do).
The positives heavily outweigh those negatives. You've got fantastic arwing-only missions in the beginning, middle and end, with highly enjoyable mixture missions in between. The fun part of the ground missions come from the mixture of on-foot and vehicular gameplay. The levels usually require you to switch between them, i.e. take out targets inside and outside of an environment and in the air. A few levels have sections with ground-only missions, then they'll throw the Arwing in for good measure, and in two or three cases you'll fly on someone's wing for a part of the level. These parts turn out to be surprisingly challenging and fun. So you're always shooting, but there's constant variety. The whole level is often a battlefield.
You've got better voice acting with better dialogue than Starfox 64. Not just better, but excellent. The characters feel tangible and less shallow (aka not all bad or all good). Yeah, they're furries, but in Starfox Assault I'll admit that I care about the characters. They were surprisingly good in 1997's Starfox 64, but in SFA they're surprisingly great. Even Slippy has some good lines, like "Why don't you just keep you beak shut for once, Falco, seriously!"
Then there's the multiplayer, which I haven't even mentioned yet. It's excellent. Being able to jump out of an arwing, turn around and shoot down a player-controlled rocket, then jump back into the arwing is a victory to behold. You can do everything but jump on someone's wing and shoot with the pulse cannon (as far as I know, at least). The unlockables are plentiful and constantly livening up multiplayer. I'll admit that at first the arwing-only levels in multi-player seemed difficult at best to play, but once I stopped relying on the break button to target people and started relying on my flying (this goes for the mixture levels, too), it cleared up any problems.
To be honest, I don't recommend this game if you're not willing to try a new direction for the Starfox series. The scope of Starfox 64 is definitely more limited than Starfox Assault, so I can appreciate the different direction they took. Really, who expected the series to stay as a flight-based shooter after Starfox 64? It introduced all-range mode, the tank, and the on-foot gameplay. This game expands on those premises greatly, but a different and slightly rough game it is. If you can't accept this, just rent it or play a friend's copy. If you're gonna play it, do so with an open mind.
Besides that, my only complaints would be rather insignificant ones: the sound effects of the ground enemies when they spawn or get shot are kind of weak and unsatisfying. They sort of fade in when they spawn, and when you shoot some things there isn't a sound effect other than your gun. They might fly in the air when they're killed and fade away with some cheap explosion effect, but no splat, crunch, or anything gratifying. In a shooter, this aspect is surprisingly muted. Even running the bugs over in your tank merely causes bump sounds rather than crunches and cracking shells or explosions. Really, it gives it somewhat cheap production values in a way, but you get used to it. And everything else, especially the music, is fantastic (kind of reminds me of Body Harvest for N64 in this way). A lot of the graphics are great, although the insects that appear on the grounds are admittedly simplistic with little animation. Also, the charge-up shots don't destroy nearby enemies as much as in Starfox 64, but it ends up evening out because taking out a group even without charging up still gives you combo points (something SF64 didn't do).
The positives heavily outweigh those negatives. You've got fantastic arwing-only missions in the beginning, middle and end, with highly enjoyable mixture missions in between. The fun part of the ground missions come from the mixture of on-foot and vehicular gameplay. The levels usually require you to switch between them, i.e. take out targets inside and outside of an environment and in the air. A few levels have sections with ground-only missions, then they'll throw the Arwing in for good measure, and in two or three cases you'll fly on someone's wing for a part of the level. These parts turn out to be surprisingly challenging and fun. So you're always shooting, but there's constant variety. The whole level is often a battlefield.
You've got better voice acting with better dialogue than Starfox 64. Not just better, but excellent. The characters feel tangible and less shallow (aka not all bad or all good). Yeah, they're furries, but in Starfox Assault I'll admit that I care about the characters. They were surprisingly good in 1997's Starfox 64, but in SFA they're surprisingly great. Even Slippy has some good lines, like "Why don't you just keep you beak shut for once, Falco, seriously!"
Then there's the multiplayer, which I haven't even mentioned yet. It's excellent. Being able to jump out of an arwing, turn around and shoot down a player-controlled rocket, then jump back into the arwing is a victory to behold. You can do everything but jump on someone's wing and shoot with the pulse cannon (as far as I know, at least). The unlockables are plentiful and constantly livening up multiplayer. I'll admit that at first the arwing-only levels in multi-player seemed difficult at best to play, but once I stopped relying on the break button to target people and started relying on my flying (this goes for the mixture levels, too), it cleared up any problems.
To be honest, I don't recommend this game if you're not willing to try a new direction for the Starfox series. The scope of Starfox 64 is definitely more limited than Starfox Assault, so I can appreciate the different direction they took. Really, who expected the series to stay as a flight-based shooter after Starfox 64? It introduced all-range mode, the tank, and the on-foot gameplay. This game expands on those premises greatly, but a different and slightly rough game it is. If you can't accept this, just rent it or play a friend's copy. If you're gonna play it, do so with an open mind.
evilromero
Member
There's no way around it- SFA is simply too good for people. It drinks the tears of GAFers.