Sound:  
I still have the seven Dinosaur Planet music samples Rare released from the N64 version and I was disappointed that my two favorites didn't make the final cut. Perhaps it was Bill Gates singing in that African language and there were legal problems with keeping those songs in the game, but overall the music is very well-done.

I recognized two Dinosaur Planet themes in the final game but they didn't sound altered from the N64 (except for the smooth jazz rendition of the Cape Claw song (this time I'm not joking)).

The only music I didn't care for was action music when things were getting, um, actiony, and they needed... action music. Remind me to rewrite that sentence later. It sounded like the same bland action music in every videogame and movie for the past two decades or so. It would have helped to have some tribal drums or ANYTHING that went along with the Dinosaur Planet theme. Maybe they could have had the Tribals from Jet Force Gemini playing tribal drums, but only after you rescue every single one of them...

Control:  
The A button.



Seriously though, SFA attempted to have Zelda-like controls, but most buttons were unnecessary. Fighting henchmen is so easy that you forget that you can block (R) or roll (X). L and Z are just camera controls, and Y is a hot-button to which you can assign any action from the C menu.

After all the commotion about having to control the camera yourself in Mario, I was actually trying to use the C stick to give myself a better view. The best I could do without totally stopping to look around was to move Fox in the direction I wanted and then center the camera behind him with L.

Instead of moving the camera, pressing the C stick brings up a menu with all of your abilities- a task that could have been assigned to the directional pad or left in a pause menu like Zelda.

Gameplay:
Perhaps Rare didn't want you to have to pause the game very often though. Running from one huge area to the next is often done through a narrow passageway without a lot of stuff on the screen. You may notice a brief hiccup where it looks like Fox skips a step- THIS is the extent of the loading in SFA. The game is so seamless that it really draws you into the adventure.

If you've played an N64 Zelda game you already know exactly what kind of adventure awaits you. Pushing blocks, shooting targets, and no collecting items for the sake of collecting items.

Unfortunately, these puzzles are no longer taking much thought and I seriously hope the next Zelda game features different types of challenges. You begin to see patterns in these games such that you often know exactly what to do in any situation. If you saw a bunch of huge blocks sitting out in the open in the real world, would you push them around hoping for a secret door to open? Of course not, but it's second-nature in a videogame.

Of course, it wouldn't be fair to relegate SFA to just being a Zelda clone, since it features many gameplay styles. There are racing sections, Arwing shooting-missions, even a part where you have to keep a moving cursor in the middle of a bar like doing balancing tricks in a Tony Hawk game.

It's Tricky! It's Tricky Tricky Tricky Tricky! Too bad SFA's "Tricky" character has nothing to do with SSX Tricky. Even though you need your dinosaur sidekick to perform tasks and help drive the story, he's a real pain in the furry tail. He'll want to play in the middle of a boss fight, and yet if you through his ball into a pool of lava he'll refuse to go get it! Tricky can't keep up with Fox when he's climbing latters or otherwise out-foxing him, so he just appears in front of you when you turn a corner or something, often running into you like Dino on The Flintstones. Speaking of which, Rare should have included the cavemen from Conker's Bad Fur Day or at least SOME kind of reference to a previous game like they usually do.

Star Fox Adventures really lacked the general humour associated with most Rare games (catch the British spelling?). I guess they used it all up on Conker. They have a giant, Scottish, Neverending-Story-rip-off stone man who warps you to different places. You select your destination by getting in one of his hands, and then you simply disappear and see a cheesy movie of Fox spinning around in space until you get there. I was expecting his big "warp" trick to be just him throwing you really far, but we didn't even get any Scotty warp-speed jokes when they had the perfect oppurtunity.

Multiplayer:
No multiplayer, but how did you like my paragraph transitions in the Gameplay section? Transitions are kind of like puns, no one appreciates them except for the person who thinks of them.

OVERALL:
I had a great time playing Star Fox Adventures. The flaws I pointed out never truly hurt the game, they're just things that could have been better. I was planning on lacing this review with Tricky's annoying expressions, but I'm not that cruel. Just remember that when someone tells you to head to the Ocean Forcepoint Temple, and two seconds later Tricky yells "where are we going?," you are perfectly free to beat him with a stick- now THAT'S cruel!

I leave you with these immortal words first spoken by the Star Fox Team:

Fox: Bada bada bada badaba
Slippy: ibb ibb, ibb ibb
Peppy: ee aww ee, oo aww ee
Falco: buh buh Bah Bah buh

 

The Lowdown on  Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet Aesthetics: Awesome Control: Very Good Gameplay: Very Good Multiplayer: Sound: Awesome Innovation: 3/6 Lasting Appeal: 4/6 Rating Explanation Overall: Very Good! "A Must-Buy"