Star Fox Assault

As Fox McCloud, use Arwings, tanks and weapons galore to defeat the aparoids!

NA release: 14th February 2005
JP release: 24th February 2005
EU release: 29th April 2005
Developer: Namco
Publisher: Nintendo
NGC Magazine Score: 73%
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

After Rare’s turn with Star Fox and turning Dinosaur Planet into Star Fox Adventures, Nintendo handed the franchise over to Namco to make a more traditional Star Fox game. Assault still has on foot sections, but they’re far more arcade-like and are often combined with Landmaster and Arwing sections.

These on-foot sections play like a third person shooter, using two sticks to move and aim. The maps you play on-foot are essentially all-range mode maps, and the Landmaster Tank is simply a vehicle for use in these levels, and is really awkward to control. Some of these also let you use the Arwing to get around quickly or shoot enemies in the sky if the “air superiority” meter goes up, although the levels are small enough that it’s not really needed. If this was a small part of the game, they would be more enjoyable, but these take up a lot of the game’s 10 levels.

For people that wanted to enjoy the fantastic on-rails shooter action Star Fox is known for, then they’ll be very disappointed as the game only has three of these levels – which is fewer than Star Fox Adventures. These are really good fun, though, there’s just not enough. There’s only one more Arwing only level, which is where you defend a dimensional gate from missiles, the other six feature on-foot/tank levels.

The game is over very quickly and, while there are difficulty modes and high scores to beat, it just doesn’t scratch the same replayability itch that Lylat Wars did. That had branching paths and different levels to find, which is done by completing hidden objectives, while Assault is just a single linear story, which isn’t that good anyway – Krystal joins the team but just becomes Dianna Troi, and anything interesting that happens is erased by a single sentence in the ending.

It’s fun to go though Star Fox Assault once, it’s just not really something to return to for one more go. Really, a lot of the game feels like Namco were trying to make an online multiplayer game, as the levels feel like they’d suit online play more, but that was not a focus for Nintendo.

Fun

There’s too much dead space to traverse and the abundance of weapon types, while nice in theory, don’t really serve enough of a purpose. The result is a collection of levels that lack the sense of arcade-like purity and tight, considered design (particularly in terms of enemy placement or the timing of attack waves) that the series demands.
Geraint Evans, NGC Magazine #104

Remake or remaster?

A remaster in a Star Fox collection would be good.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to get Star Fox Assault.