Starfox: Assault

[Dr. V]

I read that this game was for rent at blockbuster before it was out to buy so I figured I'd give it a whirl. It had all the things that made starfox 64 good, but tons of other stuff just made it bad. For one it's WAY too short, I beat it in about 3-3 1/2 hours. Second the landmaster tank is so lame compared to the 64 version. The rate of fire is way down and it has no bomb capabilities. And the on foot portions made me want to kick the cube out the window. It's so tedious and all the enemies act and look the same. The missions have you running around areas that all look the same and the radar is pretty much unreliable. The control scheme was at best minimal. Run, shoot, jump. That’s about it. And the side step function was useless as well. Granted there are several weapons available for the ground, but the only one you really need is your blaster. The rest are flashy, yet unnecessary. Now as for the air portions, and I say portions because you can exit your arwing in some stages and attack on foot, were everything I was expecting. Fast paced, frantic, and full of baddies. I still have the game and I keep going back to play the air missions just for kicks. If Nintendo and Namco had scrapped everything but the air, this game would have been solid gold. There are even some missions where you get to ride Falco's wing and blast guys on the ground with a machine gun. Fun for a while, then it gets repetitive. As for the cinematics, they get the story across in a nice way. The voice acting is pretty lame but you get used to it. All and all, I'll have to say this is defiantly a "wait till your friend rents it" title.
I'll give it a 2...out of 5.