It was great fun while it lasted.
racing, and a fairly advanced fighting system, all put together for a game.
Story: Only in Story Mode, and it depends on your character. Captain Falcon's out to (Legally) collect bounties. Rick Wheeler's doing undercover work for a police type force,
as well as continue his years old duel with Zoda. Jody Summer's also on the force, and does her best to clean up after Rick Wheeler. Jack Levin's more level-headed then
Wheeler, and mainly appears in the background of other people's stories. Dr. Stuart isn't playable, but provides advice as the oldest of the members of the force. Samurai
Goroh's out to find out who poisoned him and receive the antidote. Lisa Brilliant wants to find her memory. Zoda wants to create chaos on the racetrack. And Black Shadow
wants to conquer the universe. All stories are just an excuse to take part in various racing missions, usually involving beating someone, beating the clock, or winning a race.
Gameplay: Fast. Race along the track at high speeds in an effort to win (Or complete your mission in story/mission mode). Use a few various attacks to damage your opponents
and watch your health/boost meter to make sure you don't end up dead. There are 33 racers to unlock and race on 41 tracks, also to be unlocked.
Characters: 33 total, five you start with and the rest to unlock in various ways, from beating stories, maxing out money in story mode, beating mission levels, and winning grand
prixs. All have unique vehicles that operate better or worse then each other, but apart from those that appear in story none have distinct personalities in this game, they just
race.
Racing modes: Grand Prix is the mode used to unlock all tracks, a grand prix consists of (Usually) five courses raced on in order against 30 opponents, placing higher in races
gets you more points, and the winner is the one with the most. You have limited lives in Grand Prixs, each time you fly off the course or lose all health (Armor) you lose a life,
and losing all lives causes you to drop out of the Grand Prix. CPUs don't lose lives when they die, they just get no points at the end of the race. Unlock many other F-Zeroes,
you can place as low as 30th in a race and still win.
Story Mode is nothing more then missions with an excuse for completing them. Mission Mode itself is similar to Story, except you race as any character rather then just the
story character, and the missions are all against the clock. Many are rather tough, and while beating them all is possible, it's likely not possible to get gold trophies in all of
them. Time Trial is the way to practice on courses, where you race against no one but the clock. Unfortunately you cannot get courses until you race on them in Grand Prix, so
you're usually good enough at the course by the time you need to practice. Practice mode is like time trial, except you can set the number of laps, (Or set it to infinite laps),
number of CPUs (1-29), and records aren't saved.
Weapons/Power-Ups: You get one weapon to use at any time, the slide attack (Press R or L twice rapidly by default), which can be used to knock opponents around, destroying
them in some cases. You also get one power-up that kicks in only after the first lap, the boost (Press R and L at the same time by default), which gives you a short speed boost
temporarily at the cost of handling. Unlike past boosts, these ones aren't limited to one per lap, instead you can use them as much as you want based on your health, you lose
a small portion of health every time you boost, and if your health is too low you can't boost. Health can be recovered at recovery pads located on every course.
Courses: 11 different course styles based on the planets they take place on, from Mute City's simple city style to Big Blue's often slippery ocean to Sand Ocean's multiple floor
types that somewhat (Just barely) replicate wind resistance. Quite a bit of variety, even if most courses are simply sequels to old courses made harder (Caterpillar 1 and 2,
Flower 1 and 2, etc.).
Unlockables: All 41 courses and 28 of the characters. Three mission levels. All but one of the Grand Prixs. All stories except for Captain Falcon's. The game starts as basic as
you get, almost everything must be unlocked, you can't even do some of the modes until you beat your first Grand Prix.
Difficulty: Not too hard, even three difficulty levels don't make the opponents too hard. Some missions (Both in Story Mode and Mission Mode) will get exceedingly difficult, but
even they're not impossible, they just require near perfection.
Technical Details: Graphics look like a somewhat updated SNES game, not quite as good as an excellent GBA game but not too shabby either. Music fits perfectly with the
courses somehow, but sound effects are limited to bangs, booms, and crashes (And boosts). The only voice work is by the announcer, who only says two things (He counts
down at the start of the race and alerts you to unlocking your boost).
Multiplayer: Single card is racing on one course as one character, not sure which one. Multicard is racing on all courses as any character. Never been able to test how well
either perform.
Replay Value: Unlocking every single thing will take a while, but using them is another matter since you might just not feel like it. The game's fun enough, but it's rather simple
at the core.
Final score breakdown:
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sounds and Music: 9/10
Fun: 9/10
Replay Value: 5/10
Pros
Great racing
Excellent sense of speed
All fits together rather nicely
Cons
Just a little too simple
Graphics are slightly below average
Game gets old eventually
Overall: 7.8/10 It's great fun while it lasts, but unless you can play multiplayer it'll not last forever. You might just play it to unlock everything, and then be done. Still, it was a
great ride.