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REVIEWS - F-Zero GX::
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| YOU SHALL NOT PASS! |
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| Game Info. |
Genre
Racing |
Publisher/Developer
Nintendo/Amusement Vision |
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Peripherals
(none) |
Release
8/25/03 |
F-Zero GX
That OTHER GCN racer from last Fall...
Reviewed by Sam - March 2004
GameCube's F-Zero game was respected on all fronts as one of the finest racers of all time, and I'm not here to change that. I'd just like to point out what I thought worked and really didn't in this game that I wish I liked a whole lot more...
Gameplay
I know you've heard it about every good racing game ever, but GX is seriously the fastest game I've ever played. It really only strikes you once every few hours or so when you're spacing out or whatever, but it's impressive and challenging nonetheless.
On the topic of challenge, this game, well... offers up some. The grand prix are as hair-rippingly frustrating as they ever were in the series (in a good way, I mean), but the addition of a very difficult Story Mode adds even more to the infamous F-Zero experience. Oh and by the way, the level design in this game is spectacular. Seriously, some of the most amazing ideas I've seen put into a racing game, ever. If you thought loops and corkscrews were cool, just wait till you race on inverting halfpipes.
Perhaps my very favorite aspect of the game is the Garage, where you can customize your own F-Zero vehicles with parts you unlock in the single player modes. I know it doesn't sound like much, but they really went all out on designing some very cool-looking parts. And because weight is such an important factor in these games, you really have to control your urges to build the highest-performance vehicle in all aspects (that is, unless you've trained yourself to pilot a 26-hundred kilogram monster hovercraft - not much fun). My only qualm, and it's a minor one, is how easy it is to stop getting new parts. You'll find yourself unlocking parts basically every time you turn on the game the first week or so, then at a certain point it just runs out and you have to start trying your absolute hardest to get the most elusive parts. But still, there's nothing quite like customizing a vehicle, and once you've got one that you like, you can paint and decal it basically any way you want, provided you have the memory to store custom decals (which I'll get to later on).
It's almost a given that multiplayer is pretty fun, especially when all four players could ideally create and race in their very own custom vehicles. But the game also runs perfectly smooth at all times, even with four racers, which is nice, of course. However, most likely to allow for this, computer opponents only serve to occupy non-player-controlled slots in vs. mode, so a lot of the intensity from 1p mode's 30-pilot races can be missing (especially if you find your human opponents not all that much of a challenge). This could've used some fixing, but who knows, maybe it just wasn't possible.
8/10
Control
As is standard with F-Zero games, play control greatly differs between racers. Even racers with identical stats will control differently. In this game especially (though it may have been in F-Zero X, a game I'll admit I haven't played enough) it seems like they defined where the center of gravity is on each vehicle - y'know, like if the car is front-heavy, or rear-heavy, or if it's evenly distributed, allowing you to spin-attack more smoothly and things like that, all of which is very apparent and plays a big role in choosing which racer to play as. I really didn't expect 30-some racers to play so differently from eachother, but again Amusement Vision delivers in spades. Racing games with characters that mainly only look different are not the kind you should spend money on - seriously, the diversity makes the game about a hundred times more fun.
9/10
Graphics
What my loser friends and I sound like when we play this game...
"Holy jeez, the road textures are awesome, whoah, that rain looks real and the lighting's like, AMAZING on the lightning part, awesome textures on the cars, I don't think they can do that on the X-Box, hahaha, stupid lame-ass X-Box, hahaha, hey whoah, check out the framerate, WHOAH, it's really good, holy man, lots of racers that look cool, hey, crazy particle effects after the boosts, jeez, that's some real good bump-mapping, oh man, the draw distance is incredible, I can see a tree over there, oh wow, now the tree's behind me, this game is so fast, dude whoah, I better take some Bayer man, my chest is hurr! **flatline**"
But seriously, the graphics are really, ridiculously good-looking.
9/10
Sound
Every racer has his or her own theme song, which is something I really admire. Some of these are actually pretty enjoyable, too. The race music varies between planets, and it's generally just "alright". I don't know, I'm really not much of a dance/trance/whateverthehell music fan, so it's not my place to judge. I've got to say the game has style here, though.
This is one of those games where the sound effects are so undertoned that they don't even matter. Aside from the absence of any cool engine sounds, which I absolutely crave in racers, this doesn't bother me at all.
8/10
Replay Value
I don't understand why, but for some reason, you can't move the main game file at all. I kinda' learned that the hard way. It's just beyond me why game developers are doing this lately, especially with 251's becoming so popular and players wanting to move their stuff off of those crummy ol' 59's. I mean... jeez.
Aside from that, this game really tries to have a lot of replay value. No matter how skilled you think you're getting, or how much you think you've accomplished, GX almost always dishes out more for you to chew on. More racers, more tracks, another difficulty setting, and that's all BEFORE you've unlocked anything through the connection to F-Zero AX (coming sometime/never to a video arcade/nowhere near you). Perhaps the connection to the Triforce Board demanded file sizes to be so large and unmovable. Hmm, who knows.
8/10
Overall
I'm not gonna' say the absence of some very specific features ruins the game, cause really I just can't pinpoint it. Something about the experience is seriously lacking, and if I manage to figure it out, I'll get back to you. All I'm sure of is that I've lost a considerable ammount of interest in playing this game, even with my friends around, over the months since its release. If you're really into racers, I'm here to say this is one of the finest this generation. If you're just a casual Nintendo kid, like me, maybe now that other games are available, you should think twice about this one.
However, to close off the review, if you're really on the line about it, just go out and get it. I'm sure you'll find as I have that it's a great racer, to say the very least.
FINAL SCORE: 8/10
=Great=
Send feedback to: sam@ngeb.net
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