Nintendo fans can finally breathe a sigh of relief: StarFox Armada is here and the unpleasant memories of the disappointingly bland StarFox Adventures can be forgotten forever. The original StarFox game (called StarWing in the UK) was the first ever 3D console game and Nintendo’s reinterpretation of classic 2D shoot ‘em-ups like R-Type and Gradius. Instead of flying sedately from left to right across the screen though in StarFox you zap through gargantuan space armadas and over bizarre alien worlds in what is undoubtely the best Star Wars game never made. This long awaited sequel, developed by arcade masters Namco (creators of Soulcalibur and Air Combat) features even more of the same, with all the expected improvements in graphics and detail. However the main thrust of the game is the innumerate multiplayer modes with a four player co-operative mode where everyone can pilot their own fighter or simply sit on the wing of someone else’s and take pot-shots with a laser gun. When you’d prefer to hurt your friends rather than help them there’s also a full-featured deathmatch mode, where you get to run around on foot using sniper rifles and rocket launchers or climb aboard one of the various spacecraft and tanks that litter the arenas. This more open style of gameplay adds a whole new to dimension to the game, almost turning it into a kind of mini sci-fi version of Battlefield 1942. So forget about all that tedious object collecting from Rare’s unsung swansong and experience StarFox the way it’s mean to be. --David Jenkins

Features:
- Platform: Nintendo GameCube
- ESRB Rating: Teen
- Genre: Action/Adventure