Nintendo's most innovative and underrated games is Star Fox Assault.

 The design of Star Fox: Assault has long been criticized. However, under those lies one of Nintendo's most ambitious games.

It's no secret that Star Fox doesn't have the best of reputations. While both the original and the popular Star Fox 64 were important additions to their respective console collections, only the latter has lasted the test of time. To make matters worse, every game released following Star Fox 64 (with the exception of its Nintendo 3DS version) has been panned in some way. Nintendo had lost its way with the series, and fans could see it in the terrible design of the games. Namco's Star Fox: Assault, on the other hand, may not have deserved to be sucked into that vortex.

Star Fox: Assault was the first conventional Star Fox game since 1997's Star Fox 64, and it was released in 2005 on the GameCube. During that time, the interstitial Star Fox Adventures was published, though it was just a franchise title in the sense that it originated as Dinosaur Planet, a fresh Rare IP. As a result, fans yearned for more authentic Star Fox, and Nintendo teamed up with Namco to provide it.

Although, compared to its predecessors, Star Fox: Assault is a very different game. At its essence, it is still an anthropomorphized space opera with arcade gameplay. On the surface, Assault straddles the line between rail-shooter and third-person shooter, contextualized inside a linear cinematic storyline. Assault instantly abandoned 64's score-chasing, branching path architecture. While it still exists in certain ways, it has been pushed to the background in favor of something more simplified.

Star Fox: Assault seems like a product of its period rather than a revival of 90s arcade cliches, which is both a virtue and a disadvantage. To the former, the game appears to be genuinely magnificent. The fully narrated and animated cutscenes are a step above most other GameCube exclusives, offering the title an epic feel. While Star Fox has always paid respect to Star Wars, Assault is the first time the franchise has properly captured the magnitude of its sci-fi inspiration.

This also benefited Star Fox: Assault in establishing the series' blockbuster potential. Assault not only tells an intricate, engrossing tale but also modernizes its gameplay in significant ways. While Arwing space flights are few and far between, they are breathtaking. Within the context of a modern framework, they're dynamic, high-fidelity reminders of what made 64 tick. But, these are just a small part of the game's action, as the majority of Assault's campaign consists of third-person shooting and combined arms combat.

That part of Assault is where you can really feel the ambition. While the basic on-foot combat missions are adequate, the ground-to-air missions are outstanding. They completely deconstruct the premise of the 64's all-range missions. For third-person shooting, the player is granted access to a large armory of guns, as well as the Landmaster and an Arwing. This requires the player to mix ground fighting with the combat above, leaping in and out of vehicles to effortlessly shift between spheres. 

From a design standpoint, these missions are incredible, especially for the GameCube period. And, though they're already fantastic, this archetype performs much better in Assault's multiplayer mode, which also makes use of combined arms gaming. This option expands the package's dimension and replay value, going much beyond the pleasant but simple multiplayer seen in 64.

However, all of this begs the issue of why Star Fox: Assault has a Metacritic score of 67 and has been received with widespread criticism from the gaming community. In the end, not all of Assault's suggestions are carried out as well as they may be. On-foot missions can be difficult to handle and have a steep learning curve, and the balance between them and space missions is just off. Despite the game's ambition and scale, significant faults in its implementation stymie it.

What could've been a rebirth for Star Fox and a template for its future became yet another flop. Namco demonstrated that Star Fox did not require innovation, but rather linear progress and fresh concepts. And none of the new ideas in this game are horrible. They are merely the first iteration. Unfortunately, the team was not granted a second chance to fine-tune their concepts. A sequel may have dramatically changed the series' course if it had stronger on-foot mechanics and a more balanced task selection.

Nonetheless, gamers would be negligent if they did not try out what Namco has developed here. While it does have some flaws, they do not detract from what is otherwise a fantastic experience. In Star Fox: Assault, there's a lot to like and cling onto. Its ambition exceeds that of many of its counterparts, and the gameplay is nevertheless enjoyable at the moment. While its shortcomings prevent it from reaching Star Fox 64, it is a valuable addition to the series. Star Fox: Assault will hopefully get the recognition it deserves over time.

Source: CBR