| E3 2004 Coverage > Star Fox |
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| Star Fox |
Star Fox, quite simply, should not have been shown at last year's E3. The nature of the demo available and the archaic appearance of all related media left a horrifyingly sour taste in the mouths of many showgoers, myself included. I had almost unrealistically high hopes for the promised true sequel to Star Fox 64, and last year's showing felt like a punch in the gut. I came to this year's show with the plans of giving the game one more final shot before I utterly dismissed its very existence. Thankfully, my hopes were not dashed a second time. While still admittedly early in many respects, Star Fox is no longer the steaming pile it once was.
There are two main modes of play in the single player portion of the game, similar to the two in Star Fox 64. There are the traditional on-rails flight missions, as well as huge arenas that you can move about freely in 3D. While these 3D areas were staunchly Arwing-based in Star Fox 64, the new Star Fox takes a cue from the fully unlocked SF64 multiplayer mode and lets you fly your spaceship, drive your tank, and run around like a chicken with its head cut off on foot. The three-mode dynamic, however, has been hugely expanded upon in this sequel. While the Arwing held heartless dominion over the Landmaster tank and on-foot characters in Star Fox 64, the three play styles have been nicely balanced in the new Star Fox. The Arwing has the advantage of speed, the Landmaster is all about power, and the on-foot characters are about diversity and maneuverability.
Since I'm on the subject, I'll discuss the free-range mode before I talk about the more standard on-rails mode. First, though, let's have a look at the controls for the three transportation options. Do note, for the on-foot and Landmaster options, you can choose between several control options. While on foot, you can use the standard dual-stick controls (left stick moves forwards and backwards, right stick turns and aims), a somewhat more typical single stick control scheme, or a third control option where the R button makes you run, and you turn and aim with the left stick. The latter is most comparable to how you controlled the on-foot characters in the Star Fox 64 multiplayer. For the Landmaster, you can choose between dual and single stick modes.
| Button | On-Foot Controls | Landmaster Controls | Arwing Controls |
| Control Stick | Run forwards or backwards | Move forwards or backwards | Steer / Aim |
| A Button | Switch Weapons | N/A | Fires Blaster |
| B Button | Barrier | Smart Bomb | Smart Bomb |
| X Button | Sniper Scope | Boost | Land |
| Y Button | Jump | Hover | Boost |
| D-Pad | Show / Hide Radar | Show / Hide Radar | Show / Hide Radar |
| C-Stick | Turn / Aim | Turn / Aim | C-Down: U-Turn C-Up: Loop |
| Z Button | Enter Vehicle / Taunt | Exit Landmaster | Exit Arwing |
| L Trigger | L + Left or Right Rolls | L + Left or Right Rolls | Roll |
| R Trigger | Fire Weapon | Fire Cannon | Brake |
Control schematic assumes dual stick setup for on-foot and Landmaster modes.
Free-Range Mode
In a free-range level, you start on foot with nothing but a blaster. The standard blaster can be charged if you hold the R button, and you'll see a little gauge increasing next to your aiming reticule as you build up power. A significantly charged shot can take out whole groupings of weak enemies, or hurt enemies that can't be damaged by other attacks. Other weapons include a rapid-fire machine gun, a sniper rifle, a lock-on rocket launcher, long-range grenades, and proximity mines. These weapons can be found scattered throughout a level, and aside from the standard blaster, all consume ammunition. Picking up multiple weapons of the same type is effectively the same as picking up ammunition packs.
Controlling Fox while on foot isn't even passingly reminiscent of Star Fox Adventures, which will likely please many Star Fox veterans. Fox controls like the protagonist of an action-shooter should, very tightly and quickly. I was actually quite surprised by how enjoyable the on-foot segments of the game were, since Fox's reactions and movements were so fast and precise. You're often attacked by huge swarms of enemies, and they all fall quite readily to the right elements of your arsenal. The machine gun is best for taking down swarms of peons, while the grenades and rocket launcher decimate larger enemies with surprisingly satisfying fireballs of death. The free-range portion of the E3 demo had a combo meter in the corner of the screen, which served as an incentive to keep the action as intense as possible. As you kill enemies, a gauge will count down in an attempt to end your combo. Every enemy you kill refills the gauge, so killing things in an endless stream is the best way to build up your point total.
Vehicles can be entered and exited whenever you come across them with a simple tap of the Z button. When you hop in a Landmaster or an Arwing, damage that you take is reflected in a vehicle-specific health bar. Accumulate enough damage, and your conveyance will be destroyed. This doesn't kill Fox, though. It does a good chunk of damage to him, but you can go jump in another machine if you come across one, or find a health powerup and keep fighting while on foot. The only way to truly lose a life is if Fox's personal health bar is expended. A good strategy is to bail out of a machine with a low health bar before it is destroyed, so you don't get hurt when it eventually explodes, and hop in a fresh and undamaged vehicle to continue wreaking havoc while keeping Fox from personally accumulating damage.
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| The Landmaster kicking some Aparoid ass. |
The Landmaster tank has seen a significant upgrade in power from Star Fox 64. Enemies that require multiple hits from a rocket launcher while on foot fall to a single standard shot from the Landmaster. And if that weren't enough, you can charge your canon and lock on to enemies for additional damage. You can also crush smaller swarms of enemies beneath the weight of your tank by using the roll maneuver. Your other stock Landmaster moves have seen some significant changes since Star Fox 64, however. First off, since you're no longer being constantly propelled while in the tank, the retro brakes have been eliminated. The speed boost remains, but it comes out in a 1 second burst that's more useful for getting up steep ramps than actually accelerating after someone. And lastly, the hover move is now a toggle on/off move that keeps propelling you upwards until your boost gauge runs out or you push the button again. You don't move very far forward while hovering, so it's mostly useful as a climbing maneuver.
The Arwing wasn't present in the single player free-range level, but it's safe to assume that the experience is comparable to piloting one of the ships in a free-range multiplayer level. Since it wasn't in the single player level, however, its power in relation to the Landmaster and on-foot weaponry can only be guesstimated. Based on multiplayer matches, the Arwing isn't nearly as hardy as the Landmaster, which can quickly tear up an Arwing with only a couple locked-on canon shots. The Arwing is clearly faster and more maneuverable, though. The loop and u-turn moves from the all-range mode levels of Star Fox 64 have been retained, and are now mapped to up and down on the c-stick. Unfortunately, the Arwing controls still feel fairly loose and floaty in comparison to Star Fox 64. You don't move especially quickly, and your ship can't crash into buildings or walls - which detaches it a bit from the game world. Hopefully this will be tightened up before the game ships, though since it's an issue that was prevalent in the 2003 build as well, I'm not keeping my hopes up.
The demo itself starts with Fox arriving on Titania to investigate some suspicious activity. He's met with a swarm of "Aparoids", the buggy-looking aliens you can see him fighting in most of the on-foot screenshots. After taking out the initial swarm of scrubs, larger enemies start appearing that can only be damaged with charged shots from your standard blaster or other explosive weaponry. You have to find and destroy all of these larger Aparoids, which appear as red dots on your radar, in order to continue. At this point, Peppy radios you from the Great Fox and sends you down a Landmaster tank. After hopping in, the larger Aparoids that gave Fox so much trouble fall to a single cannon blast. Once you take all of them out, a wave of new enemies comes from the sky and starts leeching onto various parts of the base you're fighting around. They're all red on your radar, so they're your new objective. Some of them are in parts of the base, so you have to get out of the Landmaster and take them out while on foot.