It’s always exciting to get your hands on a gaming project brought to gamers by the collaboration of two or more industry giants. It’s happened throughout the years amongst many of the BIG GUNS such as Nintendo, Squaresoft, and Capcom and this is a practice continues to this very day. In this case, the gaming gurus at Nintendo and SEGA, have come together to deliver the newest installment in Nintendo’s beloved F-ZERO racing franchise for the GameCube.
When Nintendo, Namco, and SEGA came together to develop the GameCube-based arcade platform called the TriForce, many were hoping that good things would come from this announcement. And slowly they did. Nintendo and SEGA would soon announce the existence of F-ZERO (a franchise of Nintendo’s), shockingly being developed by SEGA’s Amusement Vision of Daytona USA fame. Amusement Vision’s F-ZERO would not only appear in the arcades as F-ZERO AX, but also on Nintendo’s home console the GameCube with F-ZERO GX. Immediately, the announcement of Amusement Vision’s F-ZERO earned mixed feelings from Nintendo fans. Many believed that SEGA could not do the series justice but others had some well placed faith in SEGA’s Amusement Vision.
Amusement Vision was given big shoes to fill, will they satisfy the cravings of the crazed Nintendo fans, or suffer their wrath?
The answers lie within this review…
Presentation:
Nintendo’s F-ZERO has always been an arcade racer in nature and with Amusement Vision at the helm of F-ZERO GX, things are more arcade-like than ever before. From the in-race announcer to the style of the menus, F-ZERO GX feels as if you’re playing an arcade game. Perhaps, this was meant to be, seeing how F-ZERO GX can link or “connect” to the arcade’s F-ZERO AX.
From a technical standpoint, F-ZERO GX is way above the standard fare on the GameCube. The FMV sequences are some of the best ever featured in a GameCube title. These cinematic sequences (exclusive to the game’s Story Mode) feature the beautiful Blade Runner-esque world of F-ZERO, rendered with such great detail that it rivals Squaresoft’s best. Usually compression would be an issue with GameCube games featuring some type of FMV, but this isn’t even an issue with F-ZERO GX. The quality of the FMV in the game is amazing, and on top of it F-ZERO GX is jam packed with a nice amount of them, as well as an incredible amount of high quality audio tracks. It’s great to see what can be done on the GCN when developer’s use their tools properly. Oh, let’s not forget to mention the fact that load times are non-existent.
Gameplay:
As mentioned earlier, F-ZERO GX is a racer of an arcade-like nature. To most this would mean that the game is a bit simpler than most sim racers found on other consoles, such as Gran Turismo and Rallisport. While this is true in certain respects, the game can still seem far more complicated than any racer you’ve ever put your hands on. The game is fast, too fast. And as you blast your way through one of the game’s obstacle consumed tracks you’ll realize that the only way to rank at a decent position is to hone your video game skills to a level which only few games these days demand.
At first, when playing on the “easier” difficulty settings in Grand Prix mode, things won’t seem too difficult. At that point the only thing that will become evident about the game is the fact that the course design is a bit unbalanced so to speak. Of course, there are a handful of courses, such as the Big Blue tracks, which will really blow you away, but most are a bit uninspired and often feel as if you’re piloting your hovercraft on a simple straightway, with a few fancy loops here and there. Because of these simple track designs, when playing Grand Prix mode on the Novice and Standard difficulty levels, things may seem a bit easy. Since the memorization of the track’s layout won’t be too hard for someone to learn. However the very moment you attempt to play either Expert or Master difficulty settings, the biggest obstacles aren’t the layout of tracks anymore. No, now the other 29 racers on screen become the biggest road block you must overcome. They’ll run over you, knock you off course, and even perform flawlessly on each track, running over all the boost markers and hitting all the right turns. It was once easy too rank 1st in one of the game’s cups, but now you’ll have to use every technique in the game and consider yourself lucky just to finish in the top ten. Thankfully, these Grand Prix tournaments are never lopsided, meaning the same 4 or 5 racers won’t always be found in a track’s top ten. Just like your own performance, the CPU’s ranking varies from track to track, with every pilot having the potential to finish in 1st place. That’s a very refreshing sense of realism, often not found in any racer, so in theory you could finish in sixth place every race, in one of the game’s tournaments, and still be on top of the rankings because another competitor may rank 1st in one race and finish 22nd in the next because each and every racer has the potential to finish in 1st.
New to the series is the addition of Story Mode, a gameplay mode which completely blew me away. No one could have ever expected Amusement Vision to make the universe of F-ZERO so exciting, as they tell a tale of Captain Falcon’s quest to stop his nemesis, the Batman look-a-like known as Black Shadow, from doing harm (excellently portrayed across nine chapters with beautifully rendered cinematic sequences). For the most part, Story Mode acts as a type of training mode, except on steroids. This mode is just so difficult that you’ll be coming back hundreds of times over just to complete one of the chapter’s missions, which often force you to learn one the game’s techniques, whether its using boosts or ram attacks. You’ll go back, failing time and time again, always thinking about what you did wrong, how to approach the situation again, and then refining the best way to go through the course with your trusty Blue Falcon. And just in case you’re aching for a harder challenge, once you complete the standard difficulty for each chapter’s mission, a harder task will be unlocked of the same nature. Also, in a sadistic twist, to unlock more chapters you’ll have to purchase them in the game’s shop for an increasing amount of tickets each time you purchase the next. At this shop you may also buy custom machine parts for your custom built F-ZERO racers, as well as other hovercrafts that you can play as in the game’s Grand Prix and Time Attack modes. Though, earning tickets is not the easiest of task since you’ll be forced to venture into the game’s Grand Prix mode, causing you to jump back and forth between gameplay modes, creating an evil balance of variation. Speaking of creating custom hovercrafts… In F-ZERO GX there are more than 30 racers to choose from. The game’s mascot and headliner Captain Falcon may be the most balanced of them all, but because everyone loves do it yourself type options in games, Amusement Vision has included a Garage option in F-ZERO GX, which basically lets you buy parts for a future F-ZERO racer and attempt to create a well balanced craft. Better parts become available in the game’s shop the more you play Grand Prix, whether it’s with different characters or on harder difficulty settings. Eventually, when you purchase the best parts, you’re custom racer will most likely become the best craft in the game. Another cool little addition to this Garage mode is the ability to create an emblem or logo for your racer. You can either choose from a nice amount of pre-created emblems, or do it yourself with a simple paint program, and trust me… you’ll want to create one, since most of the time the F-ZERO racers you build are hideous. So you’ll have to decorate them in the nicest way possible in order for it not to look like… well… crap.
Of course, one of the most important things in a game such as F-ZERO is the way it handles, which is does very smoothly. All of the physics applied to game are believable and depending on the stats of the hovercraft of your choice, some will handle better than others. Yet, all are balanced enough to be devastating competitors on the race track in the hands of the right player.
Lasting Appeal:
If you’re a gamer who can deal with the old school difficulty found in F-ZERO GX then, just like me, you’ll be addicted to F-ZERO GX like no other racer before it. The amount of gameplay modes alone is enough to keep you busy for days, but luckily there tons of unlockables waiting for you, such as new characters/pilot profiles and more garage parts.
Graphics:
With a game meant to be as fast as F-ZERO, the most important graphical feat for the developer would be to keep the game running at a solid 60 frames per second. Luckily, no matter if there are 30 racers on screen or a 4 player split screen multiplayer commencing, Amusement Vision manages to keep F-ZERO GX’s frame rate ROCK SOLID. Most would think that in order to do this on the GameCube, the game’s environments, polygon models and textures must be reduced to a low amount (or resolution in the case of textures) just to run the game. This isn’t exactly the case with F-Zero. The game’s environments are beautiful, whether it’s the colorful neon lights of the Casino area, or the highly detailed, skyscraper cluttered skies of Mute City. However, the hovercraft models and textures could use some work, since they can seem a bit jaded at times (usually after viewing one of those beautiful cutscenes in Story Mode). Also, the draw distance could use some work because there is a bit of pop up on most tracks. Yet, this is all forgivable. Only because from a technical standpoint, due to the fact that the game runs at 60fps at all times, F-ZERO GX is graphically amazing.
Sound:
If I were to make a suggestion on how to play F-ZERO GX, I would say to play it at a deafening volume.
F-ZERO GX features one of the most spectacular soundtracks I’ve ever heard in a video game. Every beat in there, whether it’s techno, pop, or heavy metal is (amazingly) ideal for the game. These tracks manage to get and keep your adrenaline pumping at all times, adding to the intensity and overall attitude of F-ZERO. And I’m not just talking about a few particular tracks. No, EVERYTHING! Personally, I found the character specific themes that you can listen to while reading the game’s Pilot Profiles to be the best, many of which (such as Bio Rex and Billy’s themes) being awesome heavy metal tracks reminiscent of bands like Slayer and Manowar, lyrics included!
While the music in the game is great, the same can’t be said about the other audio aspects. The voice acting featured is TERRIBLE! So bad that it’s funny. For, example whenever you rank 1st at the conclusion of a cup in Grand Prix mode, your character of choice will be interviewed by Mr. ZERO, a reporter from F-ZERO TV. Once, Mr. ZERO asked Captain Falcon if he had anything to say to his fans… Falcon paused for a second… raised one hand… made a fist… and then gave a big “YEAH!!!” This is definitely something you you’ll want to see for yourself.
Aside from the bad voice acting there’s not much too really complain about audio-wise. Many will mention that then engine noises are a bit subdued during races, but if you blast the music loud enough, which I did all the time, you won’t care for it at all. The music is just that damn good.
Final Thoughts:
F-ZERO GX is easily the most spectacular racer on the GameCube and easily one of the best titles available on the console no matter what genre you take into consideration. There are lots of things that Amusement Vision has pulled off extremely well with F-ZERO. However, there’s one thing that hinders the overall experience of the game, and that’s the design of the courses. I’m really disappointed by the fact that the course designs and layouts are a bit too simple for there own good. No matter how many half pipes and loops you add, it still feels as if your racing through a simple straightaway, and I really hope that the emphasis being put on the arcade’s F-ZERO AX wasn’t the cause of this. Nevertheless, the GameCube’s F-ZERO is a worthy addition to anyone’s gaming library and a game that will keep the hardcore gaming crowd in check for a long, long time.
