GRAPHICS: At first I thought, no real improvements here. The environments look just as good as they did in Adventures. But looking more closely I had to think about almost everything else. Fox looks better then he did a few years ago. Less like a cuddly stuffed fox and more like a hero. Enemy movement looks better, no more bumbling Sharpclaws that reminded me more or less of Winnie the Pooh with a club and teeth. The new enemies crawl, roll, and fly in a very realistic manner. All of the action looks fine. Every movement from Fox, a vehicle, or any of the enemies looks natural and realistic. Everything is detailed nicely, from Sauria revisited to the signs that litter Corneria City. The various cutscenes all look great. At the debriefings in between each mission, which portrays the StarFox team speaking to one another, each member acts/looks the way they should. Fox has a determined air about him, Falco shows his rough and tough “no problem attitude.” Krystal looks quite realistically thoughtful and determined, Slippy is always antsy and ready for anything, and Peppy can easily make you believe that talking aging bunnies who know all about Aparoids do in fact exist. All in all, well done Namco. 9.7/10
MUSIC AND SOUND: Surprisingly, this was a fine game just to listen to. Don’t think I’m weird just yet. I was at Fierce’s house, watching him finish up a mission or seven, and I noticed that it was pleasing to hear how well the music, voices, and various sounds worked together harmoniously. The original theme for StarFox was brought back, but it didn’t make nearly enough appearances. The biggest use of this theme seems to be when there is only 1 minute left on multiplayer mode. But I guess one can argue that this gets the players pumped (which it does) and to get as many kills in as possible. A new theme that I thoroughly enjoyed was StarWolfs theme, this song was just plain cool to listen to. Now on to voice acting: very well done. Like the aforementioned personas of each of the characters in debriefing, they all sound like they were mentioned above. Falco sounds gruff, Krystal sounds thoughtful, etc… Another category well done. 9.8/10
CONTROLS: Starfox Assault varies from quite a few games when it comes to controls. When a player starts their file, the are given the choice between 3 different control schemes, then you can choose whether or not you would like to invert axis for the Arwing, Landmaster, and ground combat controls. This made me very happy indeed. I had no need to get used to a new fight system, I could create the ultimate controls that I myself was familiar and comfortable using. So I personally thank Namco for not just sticking us StarFox fans with one set of controls and require us to just get used to it. Now how responsive are these controls you ask? Well I’ll tell you. The ground controls are the quickest and extremely responsive. The Arwing is easy to pilot but I found that when it came to maneuvering around buildings, spaceships, and other various obstacles, that it was hard to see just how far you had to get your ship before clearing the obstacles previously listed. The Landmaster tank was a nifty little baby to ride around in. Obviously bulky and slow, but powerful, and being able to run over enemies and being rid of them that way was a nice touch. 9.5/10
MULTIPLAYER: This can be fun at first, what with finding unlockable characters, modes, and arenas. But I found that after 15 games or so, it got kind of boring. Now go ahead and call me a whiner, but if your buddy is in a tank and you are on foot, its not all that fair. Your buddy or buddies can keep running you over or shooting you before you can find a vehicle. But I found the different modes that are available were a nice little feature that shakes things up. Modes such as sniper mode and guided missile launcher mode can a little more entertaining that normal multi mode. 8.0/10
Tanooki’s Overall Rating: 8.2
If you're a fan of Starfox then by all means give it a go, can't be worse then Adventures right?