Review NaN of 9
Price Paid:
$50.00
from Toys R Us Summary:
I finally picked this title up, being a long time fan of science fiction racing games. Overall, it's a great game, and it has quite a few surprises. And some are not so good.
There is a lot of game here, and it has been thoroughly reviewed both at this site and elsewhere, so I'm going to target my comments at some characteristics other reviewers have missed.
For starters, there is a deep custom vehicle creation capability within the game, and it even includes a bitmap editor so you can make your own decals. Outside of Nascar Thunder on the XBox, I've never seen anything quite like it. A lot of thought went into this part of the game, but the enclosed manual does not explain everything, which brings me to point number two.
This is a sci-fi racing game, and a full sized official strategy guide is available for it. I'm not sure if this is the first sci-fi racer with a big printed strategy guide or not, but I do know that it is needed, and after ten hours of playing wihout one, I intend to pick it up.
Another thing is the control. You can indeed use a standard GC controller to play this game, and it may be possible to get fairly far by doing so, but there is a high level of support for the Logiteck Force Feedback steering accessory built into the game. Two pages in the manual are dedicated to this option, and there is a special configuration screen within the game for it as well. I played a couple of hours with my Wavebird, and then went out and picked up the steering wheel. And it made all the difference in the world.
I do not know if other steering wheels are compatible or not, but my experience has been that there is lots of incompatibility in third party accessories for console games, and if you want one that works with the game you want to use it with, make sure it's compatible first before buying it. With the Logitech wheel, playing F-Zero becomes a whole new experience, one that helps to overcome the game's one sizeable shortcoming (see below). Laying out $80 for the wheel and it's companion accessory pack (footpedals and a lap mount) for a $50 game on a $100 console may be a little too much for many gamers, but the radical difference in gameplay (for the better) is amazing. With using the standard GC controller to steer, you will need an almost inhumanly deft touch on the control stick, given how fast this game is.
The one shortcoming that F-Zero has is that it is overly simplistic in it's physics, which is probably because there can be thirty racers on the track at once in single player mode. One of the great things about most science fiction racers is that the developers can run amok with the physics engine, and basically create their own rules of behavior for the vehicles and the environment. There is some of that in F-Zero, but not much. For instance, some tracks include long lengths of tubes, and when you are in the tube, gravity is meaningless, and you can go up and around the walls of the tube with no slowdown and no fear of falling. But when you exit the tube, gravity does indeed exist, and you can lose control, fly off and get killed. Having a single track that both has and does not have gravity and inertia figured into the physics is illogical.
The same weird phenomena is seen on tracks with a steep vertical climb in that there is no slowdown as you go upwards. This, to me, is counter intuitive and does detract from gameplay a bit.
Also, I was surprised to see an almost complete lack of combat options in F-Zero. In fact, the only way you can damage your opponents is by side swiping them. There are no missiles, and the only mines I have come across are a part of the track. There are a couple of variations like 'spin attack' and 'side attack' that are sideswiping options that allow you to deplete some of your opponent's health while pumping your own, but that's it. In truth, this is not a combat racer.
With twenty nine CPU opponents in single player mode, I did not expect any mind blowing A.I., and I was right. Though there is a lot of sideswiping from them, they are fairly easy to avoid. By simply choosing a vehicle that can take a lot of damage, you can nullify your opponent's sideswiping.
And, powerups are limited to momentary boosts that are placed along the track (these remain in place permanently even if used by your opponents) and lengths of colored track that replenish your boost meter (health).
All of this aside, there is a lot to do in F-Zero. With the vehicle editor, dozens of different preset vehicles, twenty plus tracks, and all the other unlockable stuff, it's a worthy game to have. But if you are looking for something a bit smarter, with some truly trick physics and formidable A.I., try Tube Sliders for the GC, if you can find it. And, Tube Sliders is tailored for the standard GC controller.
F-Zero does have web ranking, and the manual advised that you should have one entire memory card devoted to it. I agree with this, because you can fill up a card quickly with replays, rankings and custom vehicles. And, at some time in the future, there will be an F-Zero arcade game that allows you to bring in your memory card and race your own custom vehicle on the arcade machine. Report this review >>
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