I knew instantly I had to have this game. I mean, did you see the kid in that commercial? He was driven insane by the overwhelming awesomeness the game offered. In fact, the game was obviously so intense that the kid couldn't even turn the game on without first being strapped into his chair and equipped with a pair of aviation goggles as if he were engaging in an astronaut G-force simulation. The commercial promised loads of fast-paced action, aerial acrobatics, exploding robots, and even something called the "rumble pack." That was all I needed. I didn't even care what a rumble pack was, I just knew that I needed to get my hands on one. I wanted this game so badly that I would have gladly sold one of my little brothers to the circus if that would have guaranteed me an advanced copy of this game. (Who am I kidding? I would have gladly sold one of my little brothers to the circus for half a bologna sandwich.)

It only took a few minutes of playing Star Fox 64 for it to become one of my all-time favorites.

Storyline:

The game takes place in a galaxy known as the Lylat System and you control Fox McCloud, the leader of Team Star Fox. Team Star Fox consists of Fox, Peppy Hare, Falco Lombardi, and Slippy Toad. An evil being known as Andross has been banished to a distant planet in the galaxy known as Venom and the game begins with Team Star Fox being dispatched across the Lylat System to see what Andross is up to. Keep in mind, prior to the events in Star Fox 64, Andross was responsible for the death of Fox's father, James McCloud, so we can reasonably assume that Fox holds a bit of a grudge against him.



Over the course of the game you (as Fox) are responsible for piloting aircrafts, driving tanks, and navigating submarines as you make your way across the galaxy toward Venom. The levels are full of all sorts of different enemy crafts to destroy and each level always concludes with a difficult, yet satisfying boss battle. The game is not rigidly linear so your score and course of action during each level decides which route across the galaxy you will take. Lower scores put you along easier paths while higher scores send you to more difficult levels.

Along the way you must occasionally do battle with the rival Star Wolf Team. Besides being a complete rip-off of Fox's team, Team Star Wolf serves Andross and does whatever it can to make your journey just a little more difficult. When you finally manage to reach Venom you have to fight through a few more waves of enemies before you reach Andross. The final battle with Andross has several different versions available and the one that you fight depends on which paths you took during the game to get there. If you took the easy path the whole way you will fight an Andross imposter. After he is defeated the credits will roll and you will hear Andross' omnimous laughter in the background, indicating that you have not really beat the game. It is then necessary to start from level one and try to work your way across the galaxy along the more difficults paths in order to reach the real final battle.

Gameplay:

You start the game with a basic weapon system that can be enhanced by picking up various upgrades scattered throughout the levels. Finding two upgrades boosts you from a weak single laser to a much stronger dual laser, both of which can be charged up to unleash a more powerful homing attack. Also available are Smart Bombs, which are missiles that can lock onto your enemy and be remotely detonated.

Star Fox 64 is a ton of fun regardless of which course of action you choose to take. The weapon schemes are simple enough to master early on so you waste less time learning and more time actually playing. The levels in the game are all incredibly detailed and gorgeous to look at, especially by the standards of its time. Each boss fight is relatively the same in concept - find the boss' weakness and blast the hell out of it - but they are all uniquely entertaining, whether it be because of their interesting attack patterns or simply because of their humorous dialogue. Speaking of the dialogue, that was one of the very pleasant surprises I got when I first played this game. Not only did the game display text while the characters spoke, the lines were actually voiced by real actors. This was the first game I ever played that offered this experience. Instead of having to take your eyes off the action to read Peppy's advice on doing a barrel roll, you would have the pleasure of actually hearing him berate you.


While I truly loved this game and still consider it to be one of my favorites, I would be doing you a disservice if I failed to point out one area of the game that I found pretty weak.

As the leader of Team Star Fox, I understand that I am responsible for the safety and well-being of my team and all that jazz, but good lord, could Slippy Toad be a bigger pain in the neck? He can't stay out of trouble for more than 5 seconds. He needs to be rescued from something like ten times every level. For God's sake, I'm his leader, not his freakin' babysitter. All this guy does is cry and whine about being in trouble. You can't get two minutes into a level without him calling out for help. And the worst thing is, most of the time it is his own fault! He is constantly flying off on his own to prove his value to the team, only to next be seen flying around wildly, frantically screaming for help.


It would usually get to the point where I would kill him myself at the beginning of the level to put him out of his misery and get him out of my hair. I actually found him to be a bigger nuisance than the guys who were trying to kill me.

Verdict:

On the whole, Star Fox 64 rocks my socks. I loved the game as a kid and I still love it to this day. There's no doubt in my mind that this game is one of the classics, and may be one of the best games ever released for any Nintendo console. In fact, if you don't love Star Fox 64 then I don't think we can be friends anymore.