Star Fox Assault is easily the worst game in the series by a long way.
The Bad: Really short story mode; WAY too focused on the ground levels; lame story; awful voice acting and music; ugly ground level graphics; questionable controls; overall lack of ambition.
Ah...Star Fox. With only a couple of entries, it became one of Nintendo's most popular series. And yet, here we are, several years into the latest generation and there have been two more Star Fox games, but...neither one lives up to the standard set by the older games. While Star Fox Adventures was a recommendable fun adventure, Star Fox Assault is a steaming pile of crap that should be avoided at all costs.
Like Rogue Squadron III before it, the developers of SF Assault felt they needed to add all sorts of lousy ground levels to the game. This is one of the most bizarre trends to occur, seeing as these are SPACE SHOOTER games meant to be in the skies. In fact, Star Fox Assault only has a few of those classic rail-shooter space levels, and instead the bulk of the game is spent fighting against the awful control scheme with the ground controls. The missions are stupid, the plot laughable, and none of it comes together right.
The space levels are the best things in the lot, and they're generally mediocre for the series. The first epic level that starts in space and moves down to the planet is actually pretty cool, but there's nothing else like it for the rest of the game.
The graphics and sound in SF Assault are obnoxious. The visuals can look good in some of the space levels, but as for the rest...well, let's just say that there are public bathrooms that look nicer than the ground levels. The voices sound like they were recorded into a tin can, kind of like Baten Kaitos. Really, really bad.
The only mildly redeeming quality about Star Fox Assault is the fact that the multiplayer can be fun for about ten minutes. That's about it. Go out and get Rogue Leader, or Ikaruga, or any other space shooter besides this. It reeks. Nintendo had better deliver something better in the future.