Star Fox Adventures
Encyclopedia
Star Fox Adventures is an action-adventure
video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo
for the Nintendo GameCube
as part of the Star Fox series. It was released in North America
on 23 September 2002, Japan
on 27 September 2002, Australia
on 15 November 2002 and Europe
on 22 November 2002. It was the final game developed by Rare for a Nintendo
home video game system, before the company was acquired as a first-party developer
for Microsoft
's Xbox
division. It is the third game in the series, succeeding Star Fox 64
.
The plot centers on the remote Dinosaur Planet (named "Sauria" in later games) of the Lylat System, where Fox McCloud
is dispatched by General Pepper to restore the planet after pieces of it have broken off and pose a risk to the system. After arriving, Fox discovers a mystical staff from Krystal (whom Fox does not know yet, at the time) and sets off to save the planet, with the assistance of it. Fox later finds out from a Krazoa that Krystal needs Krazoa spirits to be saved.
The response to the game was positive, with review scores ranging from 7.0 out of 10 to 9.0 out of 10. The visuals, including Fox's new character design, gained much praise. The Zelda
-like gameplay was also considered one of the game's strengths, but some argued that it was too much of a departure from previous Star Fox games.
. Its graphics were very sophisticated for its time, receiving particular attention for its real-time fur rendering. Like Ocarina of Time, Star Fox Adventures has a day-and-night phase, but a more accurate and gradual one. Also, a language called Dino (later known as Saurian) is used in concept similar to that of the Al Bhed language in Square Co.
's Final Fantasy X
, except that the letter Y is used only in proper nouns. The game also has a widescreen
mode, designed for widescreen television sets.
The gameplay mechanics themselves closely mirror those of Ocarina of Time, as Fox is on foot for most of the game and pilots his Arwing only to reach another piece of the planet. Similar to Link wielding his Master Sword, General Pepper forbids Fox from using any sort of blaster
, quoting "This mission is about saving the planet, not blowing it up" despite the dangers around him and instead relies on Krystal's staff which he discovers on the planet, in order to attack and defeat enemies as well as interact with the surrounding environment. While Fox uses the staff primarily for attacking enemies physically, he can later gain power-up
s for the staff which allow it to fire projectiles, freeze enemies, or help him reach high up areas that are normally inaccessible. Fox cannot jump unless he runs off the edge of an object or a cliff, and can roll after landing on the ground, in the same fashion as Link leaps off edges in Ocarina of Time. One key difference between the two games, however, is that Fox acquires his targets automatically when he approaches them, while the player has to manually trigger a lock-on when controlling Link. IGN called this new system "a beneficial addition", and GameSpot stated it "makes targeting a cinch".
, as Dinosaur Planet, a game unrelated to the Star Fox series. The plot concerned Sabre (who became Fox) and Krystal, along with their sidekicks Tricky and Kyte (who appears briefly at the beginning and near the end), and Randorn, a wizard who was Sabre's father and Krystal's adoptive father (who was dropped entirely). The SwapStone (which became the WarpStone) would let the player switch between Krystal and Sabre.
Shigeru Miyamoto
mentioned in an interview that, after reviewing content of Dinosaur Planet for the Nintendo 64, the similarities of Rare's anthropomorphic
designs to Nintendo's Fox McCloud
design were striking. The title was later changed to be a Star Fox-brand launch game for the Nintendo GameCube. Before this, Rare released MP3
s from the unreleased game, along with numerous trailers and screenshots of gameplay, many of which appeared in Star Fox Adventures.
The original title was Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet, but "Dinosaur Planet" was later removed. The game resulted in being Rare's final console video game released under Nintendo before the United Kingdom
-based studio was sold and became a first-party developer for Microsoft.
Since its release, Star Fox Adventures has been designated a Player's Choice
game by Nintendo
, recognizing it as a game that has sold many copies and was available at a reduced retail price.
appearing only at the game's end, as well as adding new characters, such as Krystal, Prince Tricky, the tyrannical
General Scales, and other dinosaurs. Krystal goes on to become a full-fledged member of the Star Fox team, while Tricky briefly appears in Star Fox: Assault
.
Along with the series regulars, Adventures features a numerous amount of dinosaur
s and prehistoric characters, all of them based on once living creatures. For example, the ruling EarthWalker tribe, featured prominently in the game, resemble Triceratops
, while the rival CloudRunner tribe approximate to Pteranodon
. The SharpClaw tribe, which are the major antagonists in Adventures, resemble humanoid Allosaurus
. One year later, during the events of Star Fox: Assault, these various dinosaur tribes are decimated by the Aparoid attack on Dinosaur Planet, and in-game dialogue suggests that the SharpClaw may have been driven to extinction.
The entire game takes place on the world of Dinosaur Planet (in later games called "Sauria") and the pieces of the planet itself suspended in orbit. To transit to the pieces, Fox must use his Arwing and avoid enemies. These areas include various terrain and climates, such as the grassy hub of ThornTail Hollow, alien-like Moon Mountain Pass, the icy-terrain SnowHorn Wastes and seaside
Cape Claw.
defeats Andross and escapes Venom. Eight years following Andross' assumed defeat, Krystal, a mysterious fox looking for answers to the destruction of her home planet, Cerinia, and the murder of her parents, lands on Krazoa Palace after receiving a distress call from the planet. She discovers that the planet had been attacked by General Scales and his SharpClaw army, and is persuaded by a wounded EarthWalker in the Palace to help by collecting all of the Krazoa Spirits and returning them to the palace, which would supposedly tilt the war in the dinosaurs' favor and stop Scales. However, after releasing the first one, a mysterious being pushes Krystal into the spirit's path, thus she is trapped in a floating crystal atop the Krazoa Palace until all the spirits can be returned.
Meanwhile, General Pepper contacts the Star Fox Team and asks them to investigate a planet on the edge of the Lylat System called Dinosaur Planet, which is falling apart. Since the team is in desperate need of money for maintenance on the Great Fox, Fox agrees to take a look, arriving unarmed at Pepper's request to avoid trouble with the locals. On the surface, Fox comes across Krystal's magic staff, which Krystal had lost earlier when she was attacked by General Scales at the beginning of the game, and becomes his sole weapon in the game.
Fox learns from the Queen of the EarthWalker Tribe that General Scales has stolen the Spellstones from the planet's two Force Point Temples. To prevent the planet from breaking up further, Fox must restore the Spellstones to the temples, with the help of the Queen's son, Prince Tricky. As Fox retrieves the Spellstones, he discovers that he must also retrieve Krazoa Spirits to repair the planet and save Krystal's life.
When Fox finds the last of the Krazoa Spirits, he discovers that it is guarded by General Scales himself. However, just before Fox and Scales engage in combat, the voice of the Krazoa spirit orders Scales to surrender the spirit. Fox takes the spirit to the Krazoa Shrine, and frees Krystal from her prison. The spirits are forced into a Krazoa statue, which reveals itself to be Andross, the mastermind behind the spirit scheme, before flying off to conquer the Lylat System. As Andross flies off, Fox pursues him in his Arwing, and, with the help of Falco Lombardi
, who arrives during the battle, defeats Andross, restoring the Krazoa spirits to the planet and repairing it. After that, Falco rejoins the Star Fox team. Krystal flies to Great Fox to thank the team, particularly Fox, in person, subsequently joining the team.
Star Fox Adventures was generally well-received by the game critics. IGN said that the game is a "perfect companion" to The Legend of Zelda series, to which Adventures is often compared. The graphics were highly praised, with Electronic Gaming Monthly
noting "the game is a work of art", and the UK magazine Edge
wrote that the "visual splendour is immense". The game's combat system garnered some accolades, with EGM noting that it is similar to the fluid style of Kilik from the Soul Calibur
series of fighting games, and GameSpot adding that the combat is "simplistic, but it's good looking and it isn't frustrating". The voice acting
was criticized by some, with IGN remarking that it is "over the top" in some places, and EGM disliking the Dino (or Saurian) language used by some of the game's inhabitants. UK publication NGC magazine awarded the game 72%, which some speculated was due to bitterness over Rare's sale to Microsoft. Several issues later, NGC sarcastically published a score of 98%, which readers could cut out and place over the original if they chose to. This did not indicate a new score for the game.
Despite the mostly positive reviews, Star Fox Adventures is often criticized for its setting being too much of a departure from the other Star Fox games. IGN said that "Fans expecting a true Star Fox experience akin to the older games are in for a disappointment. The Star Fox license has been utilized sparingly -- to the point, in fact, where it feels totally out of place within the confines of this game universe. Fox is clearly only on this world at Nintendo's request, not because he belongs".
Action-adventure game
An action-adventure game is a video game that combines elements of the adventure game genre with various action game elements. It is perhaps the broadest and most diverse genre in gaming, and can include many games which might better be categorized under narrow genres...
video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
for the Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
as part of the Star Fox series. It was released in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
on 23 September 2002, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
on 27 September 2002, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on 15 November 2002 and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
on 22 November 2002. It was the final game developed by Rare for a Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
home video game system, before the company was acquired as a first-party developer
First-party developer
A video game development party can be one of two parties: a first-party or third-party developer.- First-party developer :In the video game industry, a first-party developer is a developer that is part of a company that manufactures a video game console, and develops exclusively for it...
for Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
division. It is the third game in the series, succeeding Star Fox 64
Star Fox 64
, known in Australia and Europe as Lylat Wars, is a scrolling shooter video game for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It is a reboot of the original Star Fox, and the only game in the Star Fox series to be released on the Nintendo 64....
.
The plot centers on the remote Dinosaur Planet (named "Sauria" in later games) of the Lylat System, where Fox McCloud
Fox McCloud
is an anthropomorphic video game character and the main protagonist of the Star Fox series. He was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and designed by Takaya Imamura. As his name implies, he is a red fox and the main player character of the series....
is dispatched by General Pepper to restore the planet after pieces of it have broken off and pose a risk to the system. After arriving, Fox discovers a mystical staff from Krystal (whom Fox does not know yet, at the time) and sets off to save the planet, with the assistance of it. Fox later finds out from a Krazoa that Krystal needs Krazoa spirits to be saved.
The response to the game was positive, with review scores ranging from 7.0 out of 10 to 9.0 out of 10. The visuals, including Fox's new character design, gained much praise. The Zelda
The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda, originally released as in Japan, is a video game developed and published by Nintendo, and designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. Set in the fantasy land of Hyrule, the plot centers on a boy named Link, the playable protagonist, who aims to collect the eight fragments...
-like gameplay was also considered one of the game's strengths, but some argued that it was too much of a departure from previous Star Fox games.
Gameplay
Star Fox Adventures uses a gameplay engine similar to that of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of TimeThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
is an action-adventure video game developed by Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development division for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It was released in Japan on November 21, 1998; in North America on November 23, 1998; and in Europe on December 11, 1998...
. Its graphics were very sophisticated for its time, receiving particular attention for its real-time fur rendering. Like Ocarina of Time, Star Fox Adventures has a day-and-night phase, but a more accurate and gradual one. Also, a language called Dino (later known as Saurian) is used in concept similar to that of the Al Bhed language in Square Co.
Square Co.
was a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It merged with Enix in 2003 and became part of Square Enix...
's Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square as the tenth title in the Final Fantasy series. It was released in 2001 for Sony's PlayStation 2, and will be re-released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in 2012...
, except that the letter Y is used only in proper nouns. The game also has a widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
mode, designed for widescreen television sets.
The gameplay mechanics themselves closely mirror those of Ocarina of Time, as Fox is on foot for most of the game and pilots his Arwing only to reach another piece of the planet. Similar to Link wielding his Master Sword, General Pepper forbids Fox from using any sort of blaster
Raygun
Rayguns are a type of fictional directed-energy weapon. They have various alternate names: ray gun, death ray, beam gun, blaster, laser gun, phaser, etc. They are a well-known feature of science fiction; for such stories they typically have the general function of guns...
, quoting "This mission is about saving the planet, not blowing it up" despite the dangers around him and instead relies on Krystal's staff which he discovers on the planet, in order to attack and defeat enemies as well as interact with the surrounding environment. While Fox uses the staff primarily for attacking enemies physically, he can later gain power-up
Power-up
In computer and video games, power-ups are objects that instantly benefit or add extra abilities to the game character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a benefit and can be used at a time chosen by the player...
s for the staff which allow it to fire projectiles, freeze enemies, or help him reach high up areas that are normally inaccessible. Fox cannot jump unless he runs off the edge of an object or a cliff, and can roll after landing on the ground, in the same fashion as Link leaps off edges in Ocarina of Time. One key difference between the two games, however, is that Fox acquires his targets automatically when he approaches them, while the player has to manually trigger a lock-on when controlling Link. IGN called this new system "a beneficial addition", and GameSpot stated it "makes targeting a cinch".
Development
Rare was originally going to plan Star Fox Adventures for the Nintendo 64Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
, as Dinosaur Planet, a game unrelated to the Star Fox series. The plot concerned Sabre (who became Fox) and Krystal, along with their sidekicks Tricky and Kyte (who appears briefly at the beginning and near the end), and Randorn, a wizard who was Sabre's father and Krystal's adoptive father (who was dropped entirely). The SwapStone (which became the WarpStone) would let the player switch between Krystal and Sabre.
Shigeru Miyamoto
is a Japanese video game designer and producer. Miyamoto was born and raised in Kyoto Prefecture; the natural surroundings of Kyoto inspired much of Miyamoto's later work....
mentioned in an interview that, after reviewing content of Dinosaur Planet for the Nintendo 64, the similarities of Rare's anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
designs to Nintendo's Fox McCloud
Fox McCloud
is an anthropomorphic video game character and the main protagonist of the Star Fox series. He was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and designed by Takaya Imamura. As his name implies, he is a red fox and the main player character of the series....
design were striking. The title was later changed to be a Star Fox-brand launch game for the Nintendo GameCube. Before this, Rare released MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
s from the unreleased game, along with numerous trailers and screenshots of gameplay, many of which appeared in Star Fox Adventures.
The original title was Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet, but "Dinosaur Planet" was later removed. The game resulted in being Rare's final console video game released under Nintendo before the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-based studio was sold and became a first-party developer for Microsoft.
Since its release, Star Fox Adventures has been designated a Player's Choice
Player's Choice
Nintendo Selects is a marketing label used by Nintendo to promote video games on Nintendo game consoles which have sold well; Nintendo Selects titles are sold at a lower price point than other games...
game by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
, recognizing it as a game that has sold many copies and was available at a reduced retail price.
Plot
Characters and setting
Adventures features the core Star Fox team, with Falco LombardiFalco Lombardi
Falco Lombardi, known as in Japan, is an anthropomorphic falcon or pheasant character from the Star Fox series of video games. He was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and designed by Takaya Imamura. Falco acts as the wingman and friend of title character Fox McCloud for the majority of the...
appearing only at the game's end, as well as adding new characters, such as Krystal, Prince Tricky, the tyrannical
Tyrant
A tyrant was originally one who illegally seized and controlled a governmental power in a polis. Tyrants were a group of individuals who took over many Greek poleis during the uprising of the middle classes in the sixth and seventh centuries BC, ousting the aristocratic governments.Plato and...
General Scales, and other dinosaurs. Krystal goes on to become a full-fledged member of the Star Fox team, while Tricky briefly appears in Star Fox: Assault
Star Fox: Assault
Star Fox: Assault is a third-person shooter video game for the Nintendo GameCube developed by Namco and published by Nintendo. It is the fourth released title in the Star Fox series. It was released on February 14, 2005 in North America, on February 24, 2005 in Japan, on April 29, 2005 in Europe,...
.
Along with the series regulars, Adventures features a numerous amount of dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s and prehistoric characters, all of them based on once living creatures. For example, the ruling EarthWalker tribe, featured prominently in the game, resemble Triceratops
Triceratops
Triceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur which lived during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, around 68 to 65 million years ago in what is now North America. It was one of the last dinosaur genera to appear before the great Cretaceous–Paleogene...
, while the rival CloudRunner tribe approximate to Pteranodon
Pteranodon
Pteranodon , from the Late Cretaceous geological period of North America in present day Kansas, Alabama, Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota, was one of the largest pterosaur genera and had a maximum wingspan of over...
. The SharpClaw tribe, which are the major antagonists in Adventures, resemble humanoid Allosaurus
Allosaurus
Allosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period . The name Allosaurus means "different lizard". It is derived from the Greek /allos and /sauros...
. One year later, during the events of Star Fox: Assault, these various dinosaur tribes are decimated by the Aparoid attack on Dinosaur Planet, and in-game dialogue suggests that the SharpClaw may have been driven to extinction.
The entire game takes place on the world of Dinosaur Planet (in later games called "Sauria") and the pieces of the planet itself suspended in orbit. To transit to the pieces, Fox must use his Arwing and avoid enemies. These areas include various terrain and climates, such as the grassy hub of ThornTail Hollow, alien-like Moon Mountain Pass, the icy-terrain SnowHorn Wastes and seaside
Coast
A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...
Cape Claw.
Story
Following from where Star Fox 64 left off, Fox McCloudFox McCloud
is an anthropomorphic video game character and the main protagonist of the Star Fox series. He was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and designed by Takaya Imamura. As his name implies, he is a red fox and the main player character of the series....
defeats Andross and escapes Venom. Eight years following Andross' assumed defeat, Krystal, a mysterious fox looking for answers to the destruction of her home planet, Cerinia, and the murder of her parents, lands on Krazoa Palace after receiving a distress call from the planet. She discovers that the planet had been attacked by General Scales and his SharpClaw army, and is persuaded by a wounded EarthWalker in the Palace to help by collecting all of the Krazoa Spirits and returning them to the palace, which would supposedly tilt the war in the dinosaurs' favor and stop Scales. However, after releasing the first one, a mysterious being pushes Krystal into the spirit's path, thus she is trapped in a floating crystal atop the Krazoa Palace until all the spirits can be returned.
Meanwhile, General Pepper contacts the Star Fox Team and asks them to investigate a planet on the edge of the Lylat System called Dinosaur Planet, which is falling apart. Since the team is in desperate need of money for maintenance on the Great Fox, Fox agrees to take a look, arriving unarmed at Pepper's request to avoid trouble with the locals. On the surface, Fox comes across Krystal's magic staff, which Krystal had lost earlier when she was attacked by General Scales at the beginning of the game, and becomes his sole weapon in the game.
Fox learns from the Queen of the EarthWalker Tribe that General Scales has stolen the Spellstones from the planet's two Force Point Temples. To prevent the planet from breaking up further, Fox must restore the Spellstones to the temples, with the help of the Queen's son, Prince Tricky. As Fox retrieves the Spellstones, he discovers that he must also retrieve Krazoa Spirits to repair the planet and save Krystal's life.
When Fox finds the last of the Krazoa Spirits, he discovers that it is guarded by General Scales himself. However, just before Fox and Scales engage in combat, the voice of the Krazoa spirit orders Scales to surrender the spirit. Fox takes the spirit to the Krazoa Shrine, and frees Krystal from her prison. The spirits are forced into a Krazoa statue, which reveals itself to be Andross, the mastermind behind the spirit scheme, before flying off to conquer the Lylat System. As Andross flies off, Fox pursues him in his Arwing, and, with the help of Falco Lombardi
Falco Lombardi
Falco Lombardi, known as in Japan, is an anthropomorphic falcon or pheasant character from the Star Fox series of video games. He was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and designed by Takaya Imamura. Falco acts as the wingman and friend of title character Fox McCloud for the majority of the...
, who arrives during the battle, defeats Andross, restoring the Krazoa spirits to the planet and repairing it. After that, Falco rejoins the Star Fox team. Krystal flies to Great Fox to thank the team, particularly Fox, in person, subsequently joining the team.
Reception
Adventures sold over 200,000 copies in Japan following its release, and was the fastest-selling GameCube game at the time.Star Fox Adventures was generally well-received by the game critics. IGN said that the game is a "perfect companion" to The Legend of Zelda series, to which Adventures is often compared. The graphics were highly praised, with Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis...
noting "the game is a work of art", and the UK magazine Edge
Edge (magazine)
Edge is a multi-format computer and video game magazine published by Future Publishing in the United Kingdom. It is known for its industry contacts, editorial stance, distinctive anonymous third-person writing style, yearly awards and longevity....
wrote that the "visual splendour is immense". The game's combat system garnered some accolades, with EGM noting that it is similar to the fluid style of Kilik from the Soul Calibur
Soul Calibur
is a 3D, weapons-based fighting game developed by Project Soul and produced by Namco. It is the second game in the Soul series, preceeded by Soul Edge. It was released in arcades in 1998, and it ran on the Namco System 12 hardware. In 1999 it was ported to the Dreamcast with improved graphics and...
series of fighting games, and GameSpot adding that the combat is "simplistic, but it's good looking and it isn't frustrating". The voice acting
Voice acting
Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...
was criticized by some, with IGN remarking that it is "over the top" in some places, and EGM disliking the Dino (or Saurian) language used by some of the game's inhabitants. UK publication NGC magazine awarded the game 72%, which some speculated was due to bitterness over Rare's sale to Microsoft. Several issues later, NGC sarcastically published a score of 98%, which readers could cut out and place over the original if they chose to. This did not indicate a new score for the game.
Despite the mostly positive reviews, Star Fox Adventures is often criticized for its setting being too much of a departure from the other Star Fox games. IGN said that "Fans expecting a true Star Fox experience akin to the older games are in for a disappointment. The Star Fox license has been utilized sparingly -- to the point, in fact, where it feels totally out of place within the confines of this game universe. Fox is clearly only on this world at Nintendo's request, not because he belongs".
External links
(archive)- Star Fox Adventures - Dinosaur Planet - Rareware
- Dinosaur Planet - Rareware
- Dinosaur Planet - Nintendo