Starfox 64

Didn't do too terribly much today, just worked, took a walk, messed around the internet, and watched some TV. Since I don't have any game I'm working on that I'm far enough into to give a review, I'm gonna grab an old game I've beaten. As you can see by the title of this post, I'm going with Star Fox 64. Now this is my first "old" game I'm reviewing and thus brings up a question of do I review it as I would when it came out or do I do it holding it to the same standard of today's games? If I hold it to today's games that doesn't seem terribly fair (and technically current-gen games getting reviewed today aren't gonna be held to future game's abilities, I'm not gonna go back and change old game scores when the current stuff gets outdated). Though reviewing them according to the standards of their day can be hard because it can be sorta hard to remember exactly what the graphics/audio/gameplay standards were when the game came out. In the end I'm gonna lean towards reviewing it taking into account it's age but ultimately say fuck it and review it the way that feels natural. Also I'm calling No Furry.

Star Fox 64

Overall:

This is the sequel to the SNES classic, Star Fox. The two stories aren't really connected (there is a cameo boss from the first one) and future Star Fox games seem to start here as far as "canon" goes. You play as Fox McCloud, a mercenary who has been hired to stop Andross, an evil monkey genius who has returned from exile to wage war on the world that banished him. It plays as an on rails shooter that has "All-Range Mode" flight simulator levels and sections (though obviously not being ultra realistic or anything).

Pros:

This game was actually the birth of modern rumble on consoles as it was the first game to come packed with the rumble pack and while some debate the merits of rumble I find it to be a net gain as long as it's not used excessively. It was also one of the earlier console games to be fully voiced (though I'm sure you could find others that came before this one that did it). The game is fun and controls well without being complicated. All of your flying and tank abilities and moves (lasers, bombs, boost, decelerate, somersault, and U-Turn (in all range mode) have frequent uses throughout the game and aren't tacked on for one specialty level that uses it constantly. The tank is also a fun vehicle and while only appearing on two levels is fun on both and controls well without being boring. The game also has three branching paths that you can jump to depending on how well you do and whether you do certain things in a level and this adds a lot of replay value to the game. The boss battles all have interesting and different ways to beat them with specific weak points. All of the characters that help you are rather useless in combat but have specific uses in game, such as Slippy displaying boss's health, Peppy hinting at the boss's weakness after a while if you're not getting it, and Falco opening some secret paths to get to different planets. The music does a good job, especially for an N64 game, of being appropriate and memorable. The graphics, obviously aged by today's standards, were pretty good back then and still do a good job of conveying enemies and their weaknesses/

Cons:

The sub level is ok the first time or two, but on subsequent playthroughs is one of the most boring levels of the game mostly due to the slow speed and infinite torpedoes. The plot isn't exactly a strong point of the series and this one has just enough to keep you moving to the next stage. Also Slippy is annoying and the naming scheme for the characters is a bit lame (but that's pretty easy to overlook). The game is a bit easy for some people's tastes though a harder expert mode is unlocked once you get all the medals. Lastly the multiplayer is a bit tacked on.

Overall Rating:9.5/10

Closing Remarks:

A very high rank for one of my favorite games and easily the most played N64 game I own. Nearly all of the cons mentioned are very small problems (some of them are a stretch I just added to have the con section not be too short) of which the only one of any significant mentioning is the sub level and it's skippable depending on the path you take. Even today I enjoy replaying it and have a good time. There are a few levels that fall somewhere between "meh and average" but the majority are very fun and at worst you'll hit maybe one bad level on a playthrough. It's short but you have to play it a couple times to get everything so that helps make up for it. And while all the characters are furries, they don't sexualize it until later games with Krystal so I don't consider that a problem in this game. Overall a great game I recommend.