Intense: this is how F-Zero GX feels from the moment you start to the moment you stop. The new king of futuristic racers is indeed here, making the past games pale in comparison. GX finishes what F-Zero began on the SNES and N64, adding great graphics, exciting music, and bringing the speed to a whole new level. Tons of games modes bring the series to a new depth, including story, championship, vehicle editor, multiplayer, time trial, and practice. Online gaming is sorely lacking, but throw 45 racers and 25 courses into the mix and forgiving the shortcomings suddenly isn’t so hard.
Speed, the core of F-Zero, is faster than ever. The racing gameplay is similar to that of F-Zero X, but it is now much faster and more exciting. Each race pits you against 29 rival racers, most of who won’t hesitate to bash you off the course. Your side attacks and spin are the only attacks you have, but they are easy to use once you get a handle on the combat. Boost arrows and turbo both make comebacks, along with the famous ramps. Using turbo depletes your health, so the health spots are scattered around the courses to regain some health. Levels are similar in design to those of F-Zero X, tossing corkscrews, hills, tunnels, and upside-down tracks at you, sometimes in the same course. The insane speed and crazy level design make if feel as though you are zooming through roller coasters.
The absolute sense of speed is greatly aided by the superb graphics. A constant frame-rate accompanies the gameplay and never drops. This was a great strength in F-Zero X, but it came at the cost of poor visuals. The Gamecube corrects this problem by providing GX with awesome visuals, such as beautiful levels, realistic ships, and FMV cut-scenes for the story mode. A lot of effort obviously went into designing not only the physics of each level, but also the scenery. Slow down once in a while and you just might have enough time to notice the beautiful scenery.
As mentioned earlier, F-Zero GX lacks an online mode. This can be depressing at first, but it is quite forgivable after having a blast with the rest of the game for two months. There is a four player mode that provides mediocre fun, but it’s obvious that this mode was rushed. Almost all Nintendo games have excellent multiplayer games, and it would seem that Nintendo would know by now that gamers want good multiplayer action. However, the multi-player gaming in GX is simply not up-to-par with what gamers want these days. Amazingly enough, the single player game makes up for this problem by offering five cups of five courses each, five insane difficulties (this game is hard), dozens of unlockable vehicles parts, 45 characters and vehicles to buy, a lengthy story mode complete with movies, time trial, practice, and more. It takes weeks to buy everything, finish all of the courses, and beat all of the staff ghosts in time trial, and the experience is fun the entire trip.
Just like the graphics, the music, sound, and controls are all very well done. You can customize your controls to fit your tastes, even though there are not many buttons to use. Maneuvering your ship is easy or hard depending on the ship you choose, but some of the ships are really tough to control. The majority of the music is fast and exciting, some pieces being the expected remixes of old favorites. The amount of music in the game is impressive, considering that each character and each course has unique theme music. Rounding it out are the sound effects and voice acting, both worthy of being in the game. The characters speak human, unlike the mush that is spoken in other Nintendo games as of late.
F-Zero GX is definitely a step up from the previous installments of the series. It isn’t revolutionary in the same sense that the past games were during the times of their release, but it manages to bring a level of gaming quality that is rare these days. Other than the absent online play and dull multiplayer, the only thing people can find to complain about is the level of difficulty. Some people think that it’s more frustrating that fun. Yes, the game is very hard, and losing can be a really big pain, but with enough time and practice the game gets much easier. It took a while to start enjoying GX, but the end payoff is very satisfying.
-Shay O’Neil
GameRatio review by Shay
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