RSS
Review written by Vincent Del Vecchio.
December 20, 2003 | 10:00 PM PSTby: Donny Simpson
INTRODUCTION:
Nintendo and Sega’s Amusement Vision; sounds like a match made in heaven, doesn’t it? Well it is. Oh, don’t take my word for it. Just run down to the store and pick up a copy of F-Zero GX for the Nintendo GameCube and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. Of course, if that statement isn’t enough to warrant a purchase, read on and find out why exactly no one who even likes racing in the least should pass this one up.
F-Zero first raced came into being on the Super Nintendo. It brought to the table something special. First off - it had depth. It had great game play. Great graphics and with all else aside, it was just plain darn fun! Although I am very hard on games I review and it takes a lot to please me. Today, I’m happy to say that F-Zero GX for the Nintendo GameCube brings everything the first game had and more. In fact, it does it in spades.
PRESENTATION:
GX plays like your standard F-Zero game. Where as you race around a track, trying to beat the other racers or go head to head in multiplayer, story mode, or time trials. The game play has, of course, been updated to reflect the times and technology. GX takes full use of the GameCube controller with accelerate, brake, attack, and cornering buttons which all come into play as you race around the futuristic tracks of the various F-Zero cups to become 1st place champion.
Now, F-Zero GX isn’t your garden-variety racer. It’s no Gran Turismo and it’s definitely not your regular Indy Car Racer. The game is arcade style straight up. Races are fast and furious, the vehicles are capable of speeds in excess of 1800 k/ph, and knocking your rivals off the track is encouraged. This is the Long Island Iced Tea of racers my friends. There’s so much to do that when you thought you’ve done it all, something else presents itself to you.
With all that having been said, I’d just like to say something about the difficulty of the game. So without further adieu… It’s freaking hard! That’s right boys and girls; this isn’t your cakewalk around an oval track. With twenty-eight other racers ready to do whatever it takes to place first, you’ve got your work cut out for you. The game starts of simple enough. You race around the track at breakneck speed to see who can make it to the finish line first. Of course, that’s always the goal of a race but the later tracks can turn into a fight for your life. Falls, twists, loops, and the subtraction of the sidewalls will either hone your skills or lead your ship to a fiery destruction.
Of course, Grand Prix mode isn’t all there is here. We’ve also got Story Mode. Again, starts of easy enough. As you progress through the chapters, it can get quite hard, quite fast. Only the truly skilled player will be able to get through all the chapters on a hard difficulty. As they always say, practice makes perfect and that certainly holds true in this circumstance. Cinematic FMV sequences carry the story mode along and do a good job (albeit campy voice acting) of portraying the challenges set before you. Also, you’ll often finding yourself playing Grand Prix mode in order to earn the cash to open up each chapter of Story Mode, thus furthering the challenge and game play.
GAMEPLAY:
Anyone who is familiar with the F-Zero style of game play should be able to pick up the game and get a feel for it rather quickly. Your analog stick maneuvers your racer while the A button provides acceleration, Y button activates your boost, Z trigger does a 360 degree spin, L and R buttons enable sharper turning, and the X button is used to smash into other cars to knock them off course (best case scenario). The whole control scheme is set up very nicely and feels natural. An hour or two into the game and the controls will feel like second nature. All these maneuverability options do come into play on particular parts of different courses when split second thinking and precision handling are a must.
The courses in GX will throw you for a loop. Ranging from high-speed ovals to 200-foot drops of doom, some tracks are not for the week of heart. Twists, jumps, drops, loops, are just some of what make up the tracks. Speed jumps are something any F-Zero fan knows about as you can literally launch yourself over turns and drops and land in 1st place in the blink of an eye. Each track has its own style and you’ll need to adjust yours in order to keep up. Depending on the line you take, it could either mean gold or doom.
There are also other options like the garage, in which you can customize and build your own super machine or your own death trap, depending on how good your mechanic skills are.
Finally, the multiplayer supports four player split screen racing. Unfortunately, there was no LAN play implemented into the game, as this would have been a great title to show off the whole multi system link idea. Overall, it plays extremely well and for that, we are thankful.
GRAPHICS:
The graphics in the game are top notch; especially considering the speed it runs at. Backgrounds are detailed and crisp and the ships are well designed and look “realistic”. The characters are now more lifelike than ever, which helps in the overall story mode as you get a more personal “feel” for each character. With 28 other racers on the track at once, it can get quite crowded quickly. The game doesn’t let up though, even with all the racers on screen at one time. Every engine afterburner effect is nicely detailed as each craft has a slightly different shade of colored plasma erupting from the exhaust holes on its back. The games speed stays constant and with progressive scan support and support for 16x9 widescreen, F-Zero has never looked better than this!
SOUND:
Ah, the audio! The sound effects... The rage of the engine! We’re pleased to announce that it’s all there. All the speech, the bumps, the grinds, and boosts of nitro are all pulled off nicely. While the engine sounds seem rather week at times, the music definitely makes up for it. The techno beats in the background one up the standard fare found in many futuristic racers. Each stage has its own tune and some are just really catchy. While the voices are akin to B-Movie, it’s a racing game so it can be forgiven. Overall, the sound is on the up side and there’s nothing really disappointing to report besides the lack of detailed engine noises. Good stuff here.
CONCLUSION:
All in all, I believe Nintendo and Amusement Vision have a winner on their hands. I’m sure many people were wary about Nintendo handing over such a beloved franchise to someone else but after playing this game, all doubts should be put to rest. In fact, if Nintendo were to do the same thing with the next F-Zero, I’m sure they’d have a lot of people’s blessings. So there you have it folks. Looks like another winner in the GameCube lineup. What we have here is a racer worthy of the hype and something that lives up to expectations. While the difficulty may turn some people off and the lack of LAN play could be considered a negative factor, I believe the good things about this game, such as the overall game experience, outweigh the bad. So get ready all you speed freaks, because F-Zero GX is putting it down!
Nintendo and Sega’s Amusement Vision; sounds like a match made in heaven, doesn’t it? Well it is. Oh, don’t take my word for it. Just run down to the store and pick up a copy of F-Zero GX for the Nintendo GameCube and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. Of course, if that statement isn’t enough to warrant a purchase, read on and find out why exactly no one who even likes racing in the least should pass this one up.
F-Zero first raced came into being on the Super Nintendo. It brought to the table something special. First off - it had depth. It had great game play. Great graphics and with all else aside, it was just plain darn fun! Although I am very hard on games I review and it takes a lot to please me. Today, I’m happy to say that F-Zero GX for the Nintendo GameCube brings everything the first game had and more. In fact, it does it in spades.
PRESENTATION:
GX plays like your standard F-Zero game. Where as you race around a track, trying to beat the other racers or go head to head in multiplayer, story mode, or time trials. The game play has, of course, been updated to reflect the times and technology. GX takes full use of the GameCube controller with accelerate, brake, attack, and cornering buttons which all come into play as you race around the futuristic tracks of the various F-Zero cups to become 1st place champion.
Now, F-Zero GX isn’t your garden-variety racer. It’s no Gran Turismo and it’s definitely not your regular Indy Car Racer. The game is arcade style straight up. Races are fast and furious, the vehicles are capable of speeds in excess of 1800 k/ph, and knocking your rivals off the track is encouraged. This is the Long Island Iced Tea of racers my friends. There’s so much to do that when you thought you’ve done it all, something else presents itself to you.
With all that having been said, I’d just like to say something about the difficulty of the game. So without further adieu… It’s freaking hard! That’s right boys and girls; this isn’t your cakewalk around an oval track. With twenty-eight other racers ready to do whatever it takes to place first, you’ve got your work cut out for you. The game starts of simple enough. You race around the track at breakneck speed to see who can make it to the finish line first. Of course, that’s always the goal of a race but the later tracks can turn into a fight for your life. Falls, twists, loops, and the subtraction of the sidewalls will either hone your skills or lead your ship to a fiery destruction.
Of course, Grand Prix mode isn’t all there is here. We’ve also got Story Mode. Again, starts of easy enough. As you progress through the chapters, it can get quite hard, quite fast. Only the truly skilled player will be able to get through all the chapters on a hard difficulty. As they always say, practice makes perfect and that certainly holds true in this circumstance. Cinematic FMV sequences carry the story mode along and do a good job (albeit campy voice acting) of portraying the challenges set before you. Also, you’ll often finding yourself playing Grand Prix mode in order to earn the cash to open up each chapter of Story Mode, thus furthering the challenge and game play.
GAMEPLAY:
Anyone who is familiar with the F-Zero style of game play should be able to pick up the game and get a feel for it rather quickly. Your analog stick maneuvers your racer while the A button provides acceleration, Y button activates your boost, Z trigger does a 360 degree spin, L and R buttons enable sharper turning, and the X button is used to smash into other cars to knock them off course (best case scenario). The whole control scheme is set up very nicely and feels natural. An hour or two into the game and the controls will feel like second nature. All these maneuverability options do come into play on particular parts of different courses when split second thinking and precision handling are a must.
The courses in GX will throw you for a loop. Ranging from high-speed ovals to 200-foot drops of doom, some tracks are not for the week of heart. Twists, jumps, drops, loops, are just some of what make up the tracks. Speed jumps are something any F-Zero fan knows about as you can literally launch yourself over turns and drops and land in 1st place in the blink of an eye. Each track has its own style and you’ll need to adjust yours in order to keep up. Depending on the line you take, it could either mean gold or doom.
There are also other options like the garage, in which you can customize and build your own super machine or your own death trap, depending on how good your mechanic skills are.
Finally, the multiplayer supports four player split screen racing. Unfortunately, there was no LAN play implemented into the game, as this would have been a great title to show off the whole multi system link idea. Overall, it plays extremely well and for that, we are thankful.
GRAPHICS:
The graphics in the game are top notch; especially considering the speed it runs at. Backgrounds are detailed and crisp and the ships are well designed and look “realistic”. The characters are now more lifelike than ever, which helps in the overall story mode as you get a more personal “feel” for each character. With 28 other racers on the track at once, it can get quite crowded quickly. The game doesn’t let up though, even with all the racers on screen at one time. Every engine afterburner effect is nicely detailed as each craft has a slightly different shade of colored plasma erupting from the exhaust holes on its back. The games speed stays constant and with progressive scan support and support for 16x9 widescreen, F-Zero has never looked better than this!
SOUND:
Ah, the audio! The sound effects... The rage of the engine! We’re pleased to announce that it’s all there. All the speech, the bumps, the grinds, and boosts of nitro are all pulled off nicely. While the engine sounds seem rather week at times, the music definitely makes up for it. The techno beats in the background one up the standard fare found in many futuristic racers. Each stage has its own tune and some are just really catchy. While the voices are akin to B-Movie, it’s a racing game so it can be forgiven. Overall, the sound is on the up side and there’s nothing really disappointing to report besides the lack of detailed engine noises. Good stuff here.
CONCLUSION:
All in all, I believe Nintendo and Amusement Vision have a winner on their hands. I’m sure many people were wary about Nintendo handing over such a beloved franchise to someone else but after playing this game, all doubts should be put to rest. In fact, if Nintendo were to do the same thing with the next F-Zero, I’m sure they’d have a lot of people’s blessings. So there you have it folks. Looks like another winner in the GameCube lineup. What we have here is a racer worthy of the hype and something that lives up to expectations. While the difficulty may turn some people off and the lack of LAN play could be considered a negative factor, I believe the good things about this game, such as the overall game experience, outweigh the bad. So get ready all you speed freaks, because F-Zero GX is putting it down!
November 20, 2009
