Aye! Aye! Captain Falcon
F-Zero has always been about racing at absolutely obscene speeds. Amusement Vision have gone one better, and made this the fastest racing game we've ever seen. GX is packing the best sense of speed in any game to date - it's faster than Regis Philburn on amphetamines. The heightened sense of speed greatly adds to both the game's overall experience and its difficulty. They haven't stopped there, however, as F-Zero GX is packing a heck of a lot more style and depth than its previous incarnations. Each character now has a back story, a distinctive personality and advantages and disadvantages, rather than just being a pretty portrait that is attached to a vehicle.
If you've not played an F-Zero game before, here's a brief rundown - there are 30 competitors in each race, and your goal is to win at any cost - this means taking out your opponent with devious spin moves and ramming attacks (rather than weapons). In the second lap of each race, your car will have a turbo meter activated, which allows you to use some of your shield energy to gain a turbo boost. Shield energy can be replenished by running over energy fields. There are also various obstacles throughout the track such as rocks and ice, as well as things such as jump pads and turbo pads used to advantage the player. Tracks start off quite easy, but quickly become hard by producing things such as 90 degree turned, pipes, loop the loops, corkscrews and more. You will find that you need to practice on the earlier tracks to get the hang of things such as leaning and taking tight turns before you can really dig into the game's later tracks.
There are a lot of new modes in features in F-Zero GX. The Story mode is the main addition to the single player mode. Players gain control of Captain Falcon, and guide him through 9 chapters in his quest to win back to back F-Zero championships. These chapters are essentially mission based races, requiring you to complete certain tasks during the course of a race - bloody hard, too. New chapters are unlocked via tickets - the game's currency. These tickets are earned for the successful completion of story mode chapters and placing first in the various cups. Tickets can also be used to unlock other competitor's cars, and much more. There are four cups this time, each increasingly faster and more challenging than the last. Each cup can be played on novice, intermediate or expert difficulties. The best racers will also be able to unlock the entire catalog of F-Zero AX tracks.
Customisation is the other big addition in F-Zero GX. You can design a car from scratch using custom parts you can purchase with tickets from the Garage. After designing the shape, you can pick a driver and apply some emblems to the craft to make it a little more personal. When you're happy with your design, you can save it onto your memory card, and take it over to a friends place, or even to an F-Zero AX machine, and use your custom built car there. You can also design your own emblems via the emblem editor, though we must warn audiences that this can lead to immature people drawing rude pictures, and then saving them onto your ships when you're not looking.
F-Zero GX provides plenty of things to do, all of which should last you quite some time, especially when taking into consideration the sheer difficulty of the game. On top of this, one could expect to get a lot of enjoyment out of GX's multiplayer mode. Multiplayer may only be limited to 4 players, but it's really quite good, regardless of whether your friends are novices or veterans.
Visual Treats
F-Zero GX's visuals really show what the Gamecube is capable of - Amusement Vision should be commended. Think massive futuristic cities with neon lights, holographic signs and massive high rise buildings, with breathtaking track architecture and design, not to mention natural effects such as rain, lightning and lava pools. Then throw in 30 sleekly designed race cars, complete with special effects such as lighting and reflection AND have the game run at an absolutely rocky solid 60 frames per second. Quite an achievement, no? The game also features some very nice pre-rendered cutscenes - an unexpected surprise. GX also supports 16:9 modes - and it looks bloody beautiful. 60 Hz modes are also in there for those seeking the full speed experience.
Look at me, Mum!
The soundtrack used in F-Zero GX is comprised of both new tunes and reworks of classic F-Zero tunes, though the Big Blue theme has been somehow forgotten amongst all of this - absolutely criminal. Most of the new tunes are based in the techno genre, as opposed to the guitar rock foundation of the original music. Voice acting is cheesy and over the top, but I couldn't see it being any other way given the nature of the story.
Alright! First place!
Amusement Vision has really exceeded our expectations with F-Zero GX. It's a very accessible, enjoyable and quite a good looking game. Some people may be concerned with the sheer difficulty of the game, but a player's skills are sure to build over time, and they will likely overcome this obstacle in the end. That said, it can still be quite frustrating for a player in the mean time - this is probably the game's biggest flaw, as everything else is really bloody good.
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