Genre: Action
Perspective: 1st-person, Behind view
Gameplay: Shooter
Interface: Direct Control
Vehicular: Flight / Aviation, Space Flight
Setting: Sci-Fi / Futuristic
Published by: Nintendo Co.
Developed by: Nintendo EAD
Released: 1997
Platform: Nintendo 64 (N64)
Fox McCloud is one of the key mascots of Nintendo, and this fact is unlikely to be denied by anyone, especially since the series of games with his participation, called Star Fox, is known no less than Metroid, The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario. Despite the fact that the franchise is more than 20 years old, it can not boast of a huge number of games, although they came out on many large N platforms. It is noteworthy that the Japanese giant focused mainly on home systems, while portable platforms acquired only a couple of projects, one of which - the re-release of Star Fox 64 in 3D. And what about the original game? She appeared on Nintendo 64, becoming the second game in the series and the direct sequel to the first part of Star Fox, debuting on SNES. Warm words, both from critics and from the side of players, automatically made it a canon and concurrently the most highly valued game of the series. On the eve of the release of Star Fox Zero on Wii U, Nintendo decided to make a gift to fans and released in Star Fox 64 as a virtual console for the eShop service. And today we will talk about this project.
Those who do not know anything about Fox and his adventures can start acquaintance with the series with this game without any problems. The plot Star Fox 64 tells how in the star system Lylet flared serious passions because of the mad scientist Andross, who, being banished to the planet Venom, did not give up hopes to subjugate everything and everything. It was at Venome that Fox's father, James McCloud, leader of the Star Fox mercenaries, parted ways with his life. The fox commander was instructed to investigate the strange activity at Venome, which appeared five years after the reference to Andrrosse on this planet. James and Pippi (a rabbit, a friend of James and Fox) were captured by an evil scientist because of the betrayal of one of the team members, but Pippi managed to escape from captivity. He managed to get to Fox and tell him about James's death. Who, if not the son, should continue the work of his father? That's why Fox forms a new team, which included - Falco, Peppy and Slippy. Together they set out on their journey to reach the planet Venom and destroy Androsse.
To get to the insidious scientist, you need to go through a certain number of stages. The player himself chooses which way he will go, since the level structure in Star Fox 64 is not quite linear. From some events during the game depends on what level will be next. Before Fox and his team, the entire Lylet system was open. Having started on the planet of Cornenria, they can get to Venom in any convenient way. For example, if at the first level Fox rescues Falco from attacking his enemies, the team will go one way, and if the star fox still lets opponents bring down Arwing Falko (Arwing team aircraft), a completely different level will be launched. Such an unusual system, Mr. Miyamoto came up with in the 90's, thus diluting a certain lack of a railroad shooter. It is to representatives of this genre that the game is the closest thing, although there are also battles in open arenas of small size, which also has a good effect on diversity and dynamics.
Fox together with the team, advancing in various locations, shoots enemies, collecting bombs and rings - gold increases the scale of health, and silver simply restores it. "Arwing" hero is able to get up various tricks. Firstly, you can make a "barrel", rotating quickly and changing the position, secondly, slowing down or accelerating, letting the opponents go ahead, or vice versa, trying to hide from them, and thirdly, the steel bird of Fox is able to fly by turning the body perpendicular to the ground. Attack "Arwing" can not only the aforementioned bombs, in its active conventional shooting bursts and self-guided charges. The presence of the latter is not something overwhelmingly powerful, because first you need to aim at the enemy and accumulate a charge. The game allows you to switch to the view from the cockpit during battles, but getting used to fighting in such a mode is extremely difficult. In the course of the plot, we are given a "Lendmaster" tank, which is quite convenient and has virtually the same capabilities as Arwing. While Fox is covering it from the ground, his friends are doing pirouettes in the air.
By the way, buddies in Star Fox 64 are a separate story. On the one hand, we see their activity, they fly and even shoot at enemies, and on the other, no help from them is felt, rather the opposite. As soon as the enemies sit down on their tail, they begin to hysterically squeal through the video link, asking them to destroy the pursuers. Did not have time to help your friend? You can not wait for him on the next mission, since he will be busy repairing the ship. Another interesting solution from Miyamoto, motivating to protect their friends. There is a sort of spirit of unity. Frankly, we are a bit crooked, saying that there is no help from friends. Still, there are, but only during the battles on the arena maps. They, excuse me, perfectly play the role of cannon fodder, distracting the fire.
You probably thought that it is not humane to use them in this way, however, why should they then be constantly saved? After all, even in very exciting battles with bosses, they just hover against the background, giving useless advice. And glasgady in Star Fox 64 is not so simple, each of them needs a special approach. The number of attempts is limited to lives that can be earned by exterminating enemy flying objects. And even more opponents are destroyed by the end, the higher the player is in the high scores table. At the end of the plot in the game will still have something to do, as it can boast not only the story mode. In Star Fox 64 there is still a training that introduces the basics of the gameplay, and a local multiplayer supporting battles involving up to 4 players at a time. You can measure your strength with friends in 3 modes:
For a while - players fight for points, but the battle takes a certain amount of time;
For glasses - there is no time limit, but there is a limit on points;
Royal battle - a battle without limits on points and time.
Release for Wii U could not remain without a number of improvements. First, the game supports Off-TV mode. It can be easily played using the controller display. Secondly, as is usually the case with games in Virtual Console - added the ability to create restore points or, more simply, one slot to save the game anywhere. In the original, it was impossible to change the control settings, here such a function appeared.