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North America

Star Fox Adventures

by David Trammell - May 23, 2002, 11:12 am EDT

Star Fox Adventures has been at so many E3’s in one form or another that it’s easy to overlook on the show floor. This is a grave mistake though. SFA is looking better than ever.

The most immediately striking feature of Star Fox Adventures is definitely the graphics. Every significant surface (especially character models) are covered with extremely detailed textures. The fur shading effect is not only present in cut-scenes, but it’s also present in normal gameplay as well (although it’s difficult to see it when the camera is far away). Explosions and the like have a unique look that is simply fantastic and not easily captured with words. Animation is superb as well. In one part of the demo Fox is chasing after two enemies on small vehicles. At the end of the chase there’s a cut-scene where you can see Fox’s ears flapping in the wind. When you climb down a ladder, you can grab the poles on the ends and simply slide down (although you still have to climb up the hard way). The graphics in the Arwing levels are just as good. The same visual style used in the Space World 2001 demo video (and the same music) were in effect. Hopefully later Arwing stages will have different looks. The only mark against the graphics is the water. It’s not bad, but it’s not as good as the water in Mario Sunshine. Every other visual in the game is just stunning.

Much of the classic Dinosaur Planet music is still in the game (this is a good thing since this music was excellent). I still have a few mp3’s that Rare made available back when the game was an N64 title. The instrumentation is the same, but the quality is worlds better. There’s also some new bits that seem to have been inspired by the music in previous Star Fox games.

This year, to allow us to get a feel for the actual game I suppose, you can check out the first fifteen minutes of the game. It begins with a large airship flying over Dinosaur Planet. You must take over the control of Krystal as she fights to bring down the ship. She speaks in some language that isn’t English, and it sounds very good. Other voice acting is excellent as well. Even Slippy’s annoying voice is admittedly well acted. My favorite is the giant stone monster, the Warp Stone, who speaks with a Scottish accent. Even the simple shop keepers are well done. The demo shows off the basic play mechanics of the game allowing you to run around and solve puzzles while fending off a few enemies. The control is good and the puzzles make sense. My overall impression of the game is that it better be done soon because it looks brilliant, and I can’t wait to play it.

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Genre Adventure
Developer Rare
Players1

Worldwide Releases

na: Star Fox Adventures
Release Sep 22, 2002
PublisherNintendo
RatingTeen
jpn: Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet
Release Sep 27, 2002
PublisherNintendo

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