With impressive production values and a good story, the gameplay is really where the game falters.
The Bad: Awkward item system can be annoying, boring Gameplay, combat is uninspired, feels more or less like a Zelda game with Fox instead of Link
Well, Star Fox Adventures puts you in the role as Fox McCloud, the leader of a team of mercenaries who fly around shooting up baddies in their Arwings. This time, he’s on foot and using a magical staff. Basically, this big bad dinosaur named General Scales removed the spell stones on Dinosaur Planet from their holding places. Because of this, the magical energy within Dinosaur Planet literally pushes the planet apart, and so four sections of the planet are forced into orbit. You must journey to all four sections (plus the planet, of course) to regain these spell stones and capture six Krazoa Spirits.
Gameplay is where the game lets down. It isn’t necessarily bad, but two things bug me about it. 1, it feels and controls just like a Zelda game, with a few minor differences, which is kind of just disappointing. 2, it’s essentially boring. The combat is basically button mashing with the occasional block, with a few combos depending on how you tilt the joystick. You can also use your staff powers in combat, but this drains the staff energy meter very quickly and your dino enemies can block just about anything you throw at them. Outside of combat, the Gameplay can be tedious and boring or just plain annoying. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t like you can barely stomach the Gameplay, but it’s just nothing we haven’t seen before.
Graphics are superb. Great fur effects for Fox. The level designs are flat out amazing, the water is nicely detailed and the locales themselves just have a nice feel to them. There really isn’t much to say about the graphics, other than they’re really, really, awesome.
Sound is nice as well. Music is great and fits the mood perfectly, great, great voice acting makes up the cut scenes you see every so often. Your enemies snarl at you when you enter their line of sight and you hear the unsheathing of your staff as you run to face them. Really good sound here.
Value is so-so. It lacks multiplayer of any kind, and traversing all the way through the single player sometimes feels like a chore more then anything else. However, it’s worth going through for the good parts.
Tilt is iffy. It feels like a Zelda game, which takes away the uniqueness, yet at the same time, it’s Fox, he’s using a cool staff, and the environments are smaller and more complex than most Zelda games. Also, the Arwing missions are cool, but few and far between.
Bottom line: Play it if you can find it cheap, otherwise rent it and call it a day.