Star Fox 2

After providing gamers with a unique experience back on Dinosaur Island, the series returns to its roots for its second GameCube outing.

	Version GameCube	Developer Namco	Publisher Nintendo	Genre Action

By Joseph Jackson

As Fox McCloud states in the opening video, "Star Fox is back", and that they are. Fox McCloud and his band of goofy looking misfits are returning to engage in more intense combat as they battle a new threat by land, space and by air.

Back during the good old Super Nintendo days Star Fox was born as one of the prodigal offsprings of Nintendo's Super FX Chip. A chip that provided the SNES with some very limited, but still cool to see, 3D polygon pushing capabilities. Some might even be able to lay claim that the Super Nintendo in a way began the polygon manipulating revolution on the cartridge based console front.

The storyline of Star Fox 2 takes place a few years after the Dinosaur Planet incident. Lylat Central Command catches wind of some new threat spreading throughout the solar system and sends the Star Fox team out to engage this potentially new enemy. Eventually, what starts off as a straight-forward combat mission takes a drastic turn for the worst. And now it's up to players to take control of team Star Fox and help steer them to victory!

In Star Fox 2, classic Star Fox team members like Slippy Toad, Falco Lombardi, Fox McCloud, Peppy Hare, and a few new characters join together to form the Star Fox armada and ward off the evil that looms. The game features both single player and multi-player modes that let up to four-players participate in co-op missions and battles.

During the multi-player modes, the game displays all of the action via split screen, displaying as many screens as there are playable characters onscreen. Four player split-screen action provides each of the players with their own little playing card sized screens to watch as they try to manoeuvre their characters or vehicles through the various terrains during their missions.

The gameplay is very fast paced and features plenty of co-op missions players can participate in. You'll be switching between steering a Landmaster Tank, piloting an Arwing or battling through areas swarming with enemies while on foot. Players choose how they want to proceed through the missions by selecting their mode of transportation. Probably the coolest aspect of the multi-player mode of the game is the Wingman feature. Similar to the teamwork feature of Mario Kart Double Dash!!, Star Fox 2's Wingman feature allows two players to team up and run an aircraft or Landmaster Tank. One player takes control of the steering or flight controls, while the other mans the guns to dish out the offensive strikes while riding on the side panel of the Landmaster Tank or the wing of an Arwing.

During our time with Star Fox 2 we can say that the graphics show promise, and with Namco's track record, is likely going to look better in its final form.

Graphically Star Fox 2 was looking a bit early but still pretty dandy. What we found most impressive was the four player quad-view setup that had wickedly fast action taking place in all four of the split screens, all to a frame rate that amazingly enough remained very smooth with no signs of fluctuation.

While some of the ship designs were pretty cool, the characters and environments on the other hand didn't look anywhere near as impressive as the ones in Star Fox Adventures. Where Star Fox Adventures had lush environments and backdrops, Star Fox 2 had some pretty plain backgrounds by comparison.

The backgrounds had a flat shaded look to them as well as some of the ships in the game. The cut scenes we saw looked really good though. All in all, while initially unimpressive, the visuals scream potential. All elements are in place for Namco to craft a visually impressive game, so we'll have to reserve judgment.

When released, expect an assault on the aural senses as Star Fox 2 provides an orchestral soundtrack to compliment all of the intense on-screen action. If Namco's sound team is handling the game's soundtrack then fans can certainly expect some audio goodness from the game, as the track record of Namco's sound team speaks for itself.

Overall, Star Fox 2 looks promising, with room for improvement in certain areas. Fortunately Namco has plenty of time to polish up. Look for more on Star Fox 2 as development on the game continues.