SFA

[A Black Falcon]

I'd say that the part I'm probably most dissapointed about is the loss of the branching mission tree... it was a fantastic element in SF64 and greatly helped the replay value of the game.

The other thing I'm concerned about is length. SF64 is a classic shooter -- short, but you can't save during the game and there is a lot of replay value. In this game it seems like the game is longer but there's no branching tree... the lack of a branching tree is a mistake for a Star Fox game. As for length, that depiction makes it sound like it's longer than any one playthrough of SF64 but not long enough to be fully satisfying when you finish it once. If that's true it'd really be too bad, because SF64 is about the right length and challenge. It really is a very, very good game (excepting the bad multiplayer, but this one doesn't sound like a big improvement there) and I'd have liked to see something that doesn't change the formula as much as this... the scrolling ship-based shooter is a very simplistic but consistently fun genre that doesn't get enough titles these days. Adding some ground-based missions is fine, but forward-scrolling areas should be the mainstay of the game. This change is not for the better. And especially not when the ground parts are not done in a way that lives up to the level of quality shown in the flying areas...