Starfox Adventures, what's wrong with it?

[Lyris]

Hey there,

I've been playing this a little recently. It's hardly the best game ever, but I'd like to hear exactly what's wrong with it because I've never really played another Starfox game, and there seems to be a lot of hatred around these forums for it.

[Hodge]

I didn`t find nothing wrong with it really besides the ending which felt a little rushed as theres no going back to explore as theres no final game save. What it has got going for it, are the graphics which are very lovely and gameplay which i found very enjoyable with some well thought out puzzles and nice areas to explore. Most moaned about it not offering anything new, which it didn`t but it was still a highly enjoyable adventure game nether the less.

[Concept]

Starfox Adventures wasn't very inspired.

Definition of dullness really. Nice enough, but no real spark or bite from what I played of it.

Whereas in the other Starfox games there was always a very fast-paced momentum to the narrative. That was never going to carry completely across to a third person adventure/RPG.

But then again, Panzer Dragoon did the same kind of thing when the series introduced Saga, and the sense of awe, anticipation and sense of progression was reflected well in within a slower, unfolding dynamic.

I think, for me at least, it didn't feel like a Starfox game. It shared the name, characters and style, but the vitality which glued the series together previously was somehow missing.

[SharkAttack]

I just started playing recently - My initial impressions -

- The flying missions look better than the current build of Namco's Star Fox.

- The first level on the ship with Krystal seemed very pointless and I hated the "Investigate the voice" tip".

- The graphics are fab although I have spotted hidden slowdown at times.

- Its annoying not controlling the camera witht he C stick. Mario and Zelda have spoiled me.

It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I think I might play through this before finishing off Zelda so I can get over the camera (or lack of) control.

[jimtendo]

Personally i did not enjoy it much... here are a few choice reasons.

I felt no connection whatsoever with the characters/dinosaurs as i do with the characters in the Zelda series. I would've thought the character you start off with would have more of an input into the game considering her importance to the storyline - but is just resigned to a couple of cameo roles.

Lack of sub missions/quests and mini games to do.

Once you've completed the quest for that section of the world, there's no point going back to see what other secrets it holds, as there aren't any.

And worst of all, this game has the cardinal sin of games saves. Where if you save it on the section just before the last boss, you cannot go back to Dinosaur planet to explore more... not that there was much to explore.

What i did like...
[clutching at straws]
Some of the graphical effects.
Dinosaurs with varying accents.
[/clutching at straws]

[Lyris]

Yup, I see what you all mean now (and I definitely agree that the flying sections look better than Namco's efforts...)

As for the dinosaurs with different accents, I found those pretty annoying

I'll probably stick with this one, only I have to start from scratch again after I managed to wipe my memory card.

[nips]

Humm... What's wrong with Starfox Adventures...

Well, the Aesthetics hide a very weak game.

The game has some real problems with slowdown. Especially in the hub!

The game is pretty dull... just a collect-em-up. Really boring. Get this, get that, get this, do that...

While the game is quite enjoyable for a while. I liked it for the first 10 hours, but then it just peeters off and is really dull!

But that is my opinion!

[marcus]

Its doesnt do anything specifically wrong, if anything it bears the hallmarks required for it to be a great game, yet the problem I have with it is simply that it is just SO dull. Its a mildly entertaining gaming experience, I was drawn to play on mainly to see what more superb graphics the game held more than anything. Yet I found it all so safe, so repetitive and mundane that I really havent been bothered to getting round to finishing the game. I said from day one that I wished the two titles had been kept apart, Dinosaur Planet on its own looked pretty impressive back on the N64, but the fusion of the two diluted the overall game somewhat whereas individually, who knows what could of happened.

[Geoff D]

I found it an oddly relaxing experience - must have been the low difficulty & linear nature of the story/tasks at hand - usually that would be enough to turn me off, but I kept playing SFA for some reason - it was at least a highly polished affair, despite ultimately being fairly empty.

I wouldn't bother playing through it again, due to the fact that there's nothing new to experience a further time round, but as a one off piece of fluff I enjoyed it.

[Max M]

I honestly don't know... it was just so... empty and generic. The graphics were beautiful, as was some of the music, I really wanted to enjoy it, but I just couldn't.

Maybe one of the problems was that it really did still feel like an adventure game from the last generation? It was using a modified Zelda OOT engine after all. I always said that Rare should've just released this on the N64 as Dino Planet, then moved the fabulous Conkers Bad Fur Day over to the GameCube.

Only thing that stood out to me was the voice of the shop keeper. Probably the only instant of that trademark Rareware humour in the entire game.

[Lyris]

I found the Scottish stone thing was pretty funny too

[Gr0ver]

I got to some bit where you have to race some guy around a camp and push him in a pit or something.

It was a bit dull.

I quite liked it. Epic scope and stuff. Just a bit dull.

I might go back and try and finish it sometime.

[ryodi]

I have to say I quite enjoyed it. Apart from the shockingly poor flying sections which did not fit into the game at all, it was nice adventure. It has some beautiful graphics, some decent puzzles and some light sprinklings of humour(did you ever get the feeling in some of Fox's comments that he didn't want to be there?).

I restarted it a few weeks ago after getting bored with WW. The one thing I realised that I hadn't noticed in the first run through was that it has possibly one of the worst openings to a game. Ever. But once you get past that it is fan if untaxing adventure.

One last point. The one comment I always remember from a review in NGC was pointing out that every single puzzle in the game can be solved using a staff from a person who had never previously visited the planet.

[bowser123]

I hated it because it was so damn dull and uninspired.
I completed it on my first go, doing it in just over 10 hours with a 85% completion rating. And not one bit of the game stood out as memorable or exciting.
You could beat up all the enemies without even looking at the screen, just occasionally alternate between holding up/down whilst pressing A. I remember reading a review where they went on to say that they were all able to be feet away from the game with a wavebird, making a cup of tea and not even looking. Yet they were still able to beat the enemies.
And don't get me started on the bloody stupid voice acting ft:

[marcus]

This won NTSC-uk's Turkey of the Year award last year. I think it rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way, as for many (myself included) I wanted an out-and-out Starfox game on the Gamecube not this adventure hybrid. It wasnt a bad game, just not a particularly good one either.