I'm sure many of you know that Blockbuster is renting this game two weeks before its intended launch date. I happened to swing by and find that the news was true and snapped up a copy. After a little bit of play I figure I'd share my initial impressions.
The presentation was pretty decent. It looks like the movies are using the game engine so that's a plus. Everything is clean and crisp. Nothing that will knock your socks off this far in this generation but it Assault isn't ugly by any stretch. Voice acting sounds decent. Nothing overly hammed up thus far. The dialog between Starfox members kinda reminds me of old anime shows like Battle of the Planets, almost to the point where you could almost transpose G-Force into the Arwings of Starfox. Maybe that's just me.
Anyway the first cinema brings us to a confrontation between Cornierian forces and an ex-Andross fleet. The combat shown is very reminisent of space combat from Robotech (arcing missles, laser barrages, etc.). When the Cornerian fleet, thinking they have the Andross forces on the ropes, get surprised by a special attack Starfox team comes in to save the day. This is where the game starts.
Basically, it's a graphical update of Starfox 64. Play is practically the same: hold a button to slow down, press a button to boost, click a trigger for a barrel roll, hold the fire button down for a "lock on", etc. However to me it seems as though the flying part has slown down some. I didn't get that sense of speed that SF64 gave me. I'll have to pull the cart out and give it a play to see if it's not awkward hindsight. There also seems to be a camera issue that I check to see if it's adjustable. The Arwing seemed to be way too close to the screen so that if I slowed down half the ship went off screen. Plus at that perspective it looked as though I was getting some cheap hits done on me (rocks banging into me, large power blasts I thought missed hit me, etc.). I'll hold off on my "cheap hits" verdict until I check that out.
To me this early in the games feels, well, uninspired. Beyond the graphical update and possibly different locales it's the same game. I must be spoiled on a full flyable world (like Crimson Skies) but the combination of lack of speed and rails feels awfully restrictive. But like many games these days you can't really judge the title by its first level so I'm going to forge ahead and play more this weekend.