Star Fox Adventures

STORY / GAMEPLAY
The game's story takes place eight years after the Star Fox 64 events at the ancient world of Dinosaur Planet that's located on the boundaries of the Lylat System, just opposite to planet Corneria. Krystal, a vixen looking for answers regarding the destruction of her home planet Cerinia and the murder of her parents, is spawned at Krazoa Palace, after receiving a distress call. She discovers that the planet is being attacked by General Scales and his Sharp Claw army and decides to help by collecting all Krazoa Spirits and returning them to the palace to stop Scales' attack. Star Fox Adventures brings nothing new to the gaming table. Rather than being able to explore a large portion of the world from the start, you're set on a fairly linear path of where to go and what to get. Getting a new item opens up some new areas though not many. In fact, the only way to open up most of the game's other areas is to fly to them with your airship.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The game enjoyed many laurels for its amazingly realistic (and stunning) graphics! The water effects rival anything ever seen before, locations such as Thorntail Hollow and Dragon Rock stretch unbelievable distances with no fog or character "fade-outs", and the game's engine manages to do this at 60 frames per second. Moreover, Rare illustrated their revolutionary "fur shading" technology as a huge leap in history of gaming graphics! Nevertheless, there are some occasional drops in frame rate while the game loads the next huge location inside Gamecube's memory. Although Rare decided to use generic environments like volcanoes, icy mountains and swamps, they're all surprisingly unique. The environments are stunning, with sharp textures and dozens of little details like leaves falling from the trees or Fox's reflection in the water! The game features stunning musical scores, great sound effects and various ambient goodies that accompany you in every area. Starfox Adventures is really a state-of-the-art game for the Gamecube's library. Don't miss it!