F-Zero GX

by Star Dingo
July 17, 2003 00:00 AM PST

GamePro recently got some extensive hands-on time with Captain Falcon. Hold on to your bird hat!

The New Red Bull Racing Challenge
What�s faster than light, smoother than creamery butter, and so over the top that even gravity can�t hold on? If you guessed F-Zero GX, then go get yourself a cookie! We recently had some extensive hands-on time with Nintendo�s latest reinvention, and found what could very well be the ultimate futuristic racing anti-sim�perhaps the next real successor to the PlayStation classic WipeOut�which was, in its own way, the successor to the original F-Zero for the SNES. Funny how things move in circles like that.

�Arcadey� doesn�t really begin to describe F-Zero GX. Shoulder-button lateral power slides cancel out the laws of inertia; tracks are ramp-loaded and set up like impossible roller-coasters; and some levels have you racing on cylinders that completely change the dynamics of driving hovercars as you know them; managing the �boost� button is absolutely critical to success. The game is set up so that your ship�s shield is directly tied in to the boost�overabusing the boost button results in you having to be extra careful not to hit walls or other vehicles lest you �splode in a fiery wreck.

The game�s extra stuff quotient seems especially high, with tons of unlockable aliens/robots/dogs and plenty of options to customize the look and handling of your racer, including a nifty emblem-crafting system that lets you paste textures pretty much anywhere on your driving machine. As you play through the various modes, you earn tickets which can be used to purchase any of the game�s 30 racers, parts for customizing your vehicle, or new chapters of the game�s surprisingly stout Story Mode. The Story Mode follows the wholesomely superheroic adventures of racer/thwarter Captain Falcon through CG cinemas, and sets you up with mortal enemies, weird goals, and interesting twists like boulders being rolled at you by thugs, or racing while packs of villainous scum desperately try to crush your fabulous hull.

Mode 11
F-Zero GX seems to make expert use of the GameCube hardware: the game moves at ridiculous speed, even with loads of cool effects turned on and 30 racers on screen at once, but there�s definitely a tradeoff. Simple Textures and crude models (especially of the aforementioned rolling boulders) become evident once you�re not racing at maximum velocity.

If you�re into the arcade scene, a single regular GameCube memory card can be used transfer data to and from the coin-op version�bring your custom racer from home to the arcade, bring arcade tracks back to your home. It�s an interesting sort of non-GBA twist on the �connectivity� that Nintendo�s been so up on lately�but will it be enough to inject some like into the fading American arcade scene?

While the buzz behind F-Zero GX hasn�t been nearly as loud as for some of Nintendo�s bigger names (Nintendo�s already played their Zelda, Metroid, and Mario cards) that doesn�t mean you shouldn�t be paying attention. F-Zero�s shaping up to be the game that could rekindle interest in the �WipeOut� genre, and there seems to be enough good stuff here to keep the replay value extremely high. F-Zero GX comes out August 26th, so stay tuned! We�ll have a full review by then.