Customer Reviews

F-Zero GX

5 star:		(68)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

A little background. I love Nintendo games. There I said it. I am an adult gamer, 29 years old, and I feel Nintendo's current reputation of being just for kids is totally undeserved, and in fact is a buch of hogwash started by Sony & Microsoft fanatics. I have an XBox and enjoy playing games on both that system, the GameCube, PC, and my GameBoy Advance. No I don't own a PS2, and never have. That being said, anyone who discounts Nintendo's systems as systems for kids, is really cheating themselves out of option of playing some of the highest quality software on the market.

F-Zero GX is hardcore. This is no joke... if you don't believe me, read other reviews on Amazon, or critics reviews elsewhere. It is the hardest game I have played in the current generation, which in general has seen difficulty decline over the previous generation of consoles. As games have become more mainstream, developers have been making them easier in order to entice people that may have avoided playing games in the past because they thought they were too hard. Nintendo itself is guilty of this. "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker" was significanty less difficult than its Nintendo 64 counterparts. So was "Super Mario Sunshine." That being said, with the possible exception of "Metroid Prime," "F-Zero GX" is the purest form of vintage game difficulty available on GameCube. I really think that farming this franchise out to SEGA was the best possible choice. SEGA has a hardcore reputation for building frantic, visually stunning games with higher than average difficulty. Unfortunately for Sega, the hardcore percentage of the market used to be dominant, but as the industry grew, hardcore gamers now make up a relatively small portion of the overall gaming community.

If you like difficult games, or even think you might like to give one a try, "F-Zero GX" is an excellent choice. The graphics are absoulutely stunning all around. The play control is so tight, the player will never question that when a mistake is made, it was her/his fault. You will never blame the game because the control is flawless. Difficulty varies... and gets significantly tougher as gameplay progresses throughout. The game actually encourages lots of practice. Practice will help players increase their skills. The game is very fun and has extremely high replay value.

"F-Zero GX" is a masterpiece collaboration of Nintendo and Sega. This may be going out on a limb, but I enjoyed it more than any GameCube game of 2003, including "Mario Kart: Double Dash" for GameCube and "Burnout 2: Point of Impact Developers Cut" for Xbox, both of which are fabulous racing games too.

Bottom Line: If you like the "F-Zero franchise", racing games, arcade style games that you can play for a few minutes or several hours, or are looking for something a little less "kiddie" than other games for current consoles, look no farther than "F-Zero GX." A harcore gamers dream come true.

Jeff

Having been a *huge* fan of the original F-ZERO (released way back in the early 90s for the Super Nintendo), I was very excited to hear that Nintendo (in collaboration with Sega) was producing a new game in the series, and I picked it up last week just as it came out -- which I rarely do. (see also: Soul Calibur 2)

I can say now that Nintendo has produced an amazingly fun, fast-paced arcade racing title, certainly the best game of its type currently available. There is a huge variety of fantastically detailed tracks, 30 cars to unlock, and a challenging story mode to complete as you progress. The graphics are astoundingly detailed, especially considering there are often dozens of cars careening around (and off) the track at any given time. The game supports Progressive Scan (480p) if you have a TV that can display it.

The gameplay comes at you fast and furious, as the quicker cars regularly cruise in excess of 1200 km/h (about 900mph, or mach 1.5), and the game does an excellent job of conveying the sensation of speed. There is a new system of turbo boosters that allows you to get a boost of speed at any time after the completion of the first lap -- but using the turbo drains your vehicle's energy, risking a crash if you smack into too many walls or other cars. The tracks are brilliantly laid out (at least the ones I've seen -- I haven't unlocked all the hidden ones yet), ranging from a mobius strip cutting through a lush jungle, to a twisty road winding around crumbling egyptian-style ruins, to flat-out racetracks encircling floating casinos. Fans of the series will be happy to see a few classic tracks like Mute City rebuilt for the new game. The designs make excellent use of your car's ability to stick magnetically to the track surface -- many of them look more like rollercoasters than racetracks. One particularly memorable one has you racing on the outside of a giant set of metal pipes, while a raging pool of lava below sends gouts of flame leaping over the track.

However, the game is *extremely* challenging, particularly the story mode missions. This is sort of unusual: I expect the upper levels of the racing mode to be insanely hard, but normally you use a story mode to ease people into the game and *not* to make them pull their hair out! The first mission is a nice, easy introduction to the game, and then the second is ridiculously hard -- and the next few aren't much easier. In another strange move, you have to unlock the story mode chapters by earning "tickets", either by playing the racing mode or by getting good enough times in the Time Trial mode (you also get tickets by beating each story mission, but not enough to unlock the next one by itself :/). The same tickets are used to buy extra cars and parts to customize your vehicles -- which is annoying, since it means you have to choose between playing the story mode and unlocking new cars and parts to use in the GP (until you get good enough to tackle the higher difficulty settings, where the rewards are more plentiful.)

An interesting feature is that you can take a memory card from your GCN and plug it into the upcoming "F-ZERO AX" arcade machine, which will allow you to use your custom cars in the arcade, as well as unlocking various new tracks, cars, and upgrade parts when you return home (you can also unlock them by beating all the hidden tracks in the GCN version on the highest difficulty setting, but as you can imagine, that's quite difficult.) If one of them shows up anywhere near me, I'll be sure to give it a shot and report back. Several games have tried things like this in the past, but without too much success (at least in the states, where good video arcades are a dying breed).

In short, F-ZERO GX is a fast, challenging futuristic racing game that gets a strong recommendation for all racing and F-ZERO fans. However, be warned that it can be quite frustrating at points -- don't get this for anyone with a short attention span.

If you're a racing fan, and enjoyed Pod Racer, you'll really enjoy F-Zero GX! The tracks are great, the soundtrack fits the speed and you blast away at high speed!

I loved Pod Racer with its super-fast racing and great landscapes. While the landscapes in F-Zero GX aren't quite as fascinating in that Star Wars sort of way, they are definitely varied and interesting. You get giant worms leaping in the sandy desert and blinking neon in the casino.

Where in Pod Racer you had in essence a land speeder that could sometimes do jumps, in F-Zero GX you have a magnetic ship. Which means that you can in essence do any twist and turn the track can do - including spirals, loop-the-loops and MUCH more. It's like a super high speed roller coaster, and you can do the jumps too!

You can work your way through 20 different courses and unlock 30 different pilots. You can customize your ship as you go in many different ways. The multiplayer gameplay is tons of fun and we've spent many hours enjoying that. Best of all, if you have a real life arcade near you with F-Zero in it, bring along your memory card! You can fly your own custom-designed spaceship IN THE ARCADE complete with surround-sound and shaking seat!!

An amazing achievement that is great for single play, multi-play and arcade play. A must-have for any racing fan.

I played this game at E3 and it blew me away! the graphics are awsom and the gameplay is solid, and it very fast paced as people would come to expect of an F-Zero game. You can even use your memory card on an arcade version called F-Zero AX and download new racers, coarses and tune ups for your vehicle. This game is turning out to be one great game.

For over a decade, the F-Zero games have made up one of the most intense racing franchises around. Now, Nintendo has teamed up with Sega to bring fans F-Zero GX, the fourth and undoubtedly best incarnation of the series.

Rather than simply reincarnate the gameplay of old, F-Zero GX continues a story established in its predecessors (This takes place four years after the events of F-Zero 64), making it new in every retrospect save its racing style, which is as intense and addictive as always. F-Zero has always offered some of the most extreme courses ever, and GX is no exception. Every track offers its own unique challenge, whether its clearing a U-turn, hitting a series of turbo boosters, or flying a few hundred feet through the air onto one of two landing strips below. You can even attack and destroy other racers, which provides for some extra fun when passing to the front of the pack. If you've mastered one track, you're hardly prepared for the rest. You have a choice of 30 racers (Though you start with just the four featured on the cover), and as you complete races and challenges, you'll earn tickets with which to customize your racers, buy special items, and even purchase chapters to the game's Story Mode, a new feature that takes you inside the story that establishes GX as a sequel.

The sound department is a mixed bag. The effects are clear and befitting, while the music, which includes themes for all 30 racers, ranges from lame to catchy; More often the latter, but too often the former. Voice acting is well-done, but the dialogue often rivals Attack of the Clones, especially when it comes to the oddly-executed interviews at the end of a Grand Prix.

Graphics are often what make or break a game in today's world of gaming, and even for the demands put forth by F-Zero GX's gameplay, the graphics here are truly stunning. Detailed vehicles, crisp visual effects, beautiful tracks and an excellent frame rate provide the smooth, stylish gameplay that's crucial to extreme racing. The cut scenes in Story Mode are beautifully rendered, almost giving you the feel of a CGI-animated film. The only strike against the graphics in F-Zero GX would be the character models, which are a still smooth, bit rigid and on the blocky side. The focus of the game is on racing, though, so its hardly anything to be concerned about.

If there's any one racing game to buy for the Gamecube, it's F-Zero GX. Even when the story mode is complete and the races have all been won, you can still go back for more, over and over again. The options are so endless, you could be playing the game for months before you've covered everything, and you'll still have plenty more to do. This is easily one of the greatest racing experiences to date.

As soon as this game was announced and I saw the first screenshots, I ran out to buy a gamecube. I purchased the game the first day it came out, and was definately NOT disappointed. The graphics are unbelievable, the gameplay is many times better than wipeout fusion, and the speed almost put me in shock.
Of course, the price was a little high (since it had just come out), but it was well worth the money I spent on it. I'd recommend this one to anyone even remotely interested in futuristic racing games.

Okay,,Now I have had GameCube for about 2 years now, and when i heard that a new F zero game was comin out,, I was exstatic! I immedaitly bought the game and was this game ever worth it!! The new cources are perfectly detailed, and also longer, giving you the chance for a comeback late in the race! The story mode allows you to see what your characters are eally like. And the graphics?? Could they possible be better, here is my review...

Game Play: 9.5/10- Almost perfect, the controls are almost perfect also.

Graphics: 10/10- Possible the best graphics I have ever seen.

Controls: 10/10- very easy to learn

Diffficulty: 9.5/10- Expert is challenging even for masters of the game, making it more fun.

Replay Value: 9/10- 25+ cources each about 5 mins long will keep u comin back for more!

Overall 10/10- BUY THIS GAME!!

I loved this game, but there are some problems.
pros:
+Really fast gameplay with challenging courses.
+Lots and lots of courses.
+31 carachters [not counting custom machines] to choose from.
+Multiplayer 1-4 people.
+Character bios.
cons:
-The voices are SO STUPID you can lauph at them.
-Can be way too hard some times to the point where you just quit.
-Story mode is IMPOSSILBE so practice up!
Overall, buy this game at all costs! I listed some really bad things in the review but the good things overpower the bad so much you wont care at all [maybe you wont notice!].
Customizing cars is pretty neat but you dont make the car, you pick from parts you buy [there really cheap too!] and slap it together hoping is dosn't explode in your face [wich can get pretty funny]. You can even design your own stickers or choose from some pretty neat ones they give you.
Overall, buy it cause its as fun as Super smash bros. meelee cause of the four player I mentioned earlier.

This is a fun game, but it's VERY, VERY hard. I recomend this game to an F-Zero series fan or a racing games fan, but not an average gamer. If you do get this game, you can enjoy the awesome graphics, the beautiful cinematics, and the lightning fast gameplay. There is a lot of replay value with a buch of characters to unlock and buy in the race shop. If you can beat this game, you have either had lots of practice, hve lightning fast reflexes, or a F-Zero addict.

the F-Zero series has come a long way since its Super Nintendo debut. F-Zero GX is by far the fastest,most action packed racer you could buy. This version is far more diverse than its previous outings. It still contains its Grand Prix mode where you fight you way against 29 other racers in 5 courses of various difficulties. The courses themselves are jaw dropping. With more loops, twists, and turns than most amusment parks, you are surprised at how seemless the transition from right side up to upside down is. many times you are unaware you have flipped. the AI is relentless forcing you to not only to battle the course but also its competitors. with 2 methods of attack you can destroy your rivals machine with ease. but be wary, your opponent won't hesitate to do the same to you. machine selection is huge with more than 30 machines you can pilot. the inclusion of the all new story mode offers new, and difficult challenges that couldn't happen in normal modes. some chapters require you to drag race your opponent while another has you keep above a speed limit so you won't detonate a bomb on your machine. over all this is the perfect game. it also features linkable capability to the F-Zero AX machines at arcades around the country, enabling you to unlock more courses, machines, and parts for the all new custom machine mode.