One of Nintendo’s best loves franchises F-Zero has had surprisingly few games developed over the years. Three home console versions, two handheld, one arcade game and an add-on for a device that failed almost immediately are all to show for some of the most iconic characters, locations and music in the Nintendo arsenal. F-Zero X is the second game in the series but does it still hold up?
We’ll get the negativity out of the way right from the off.
The biggest criticism you can level at F-Zero X is how bland it looks. Though
this is the first time the series moved into 3D it lacks detail on both tracks
and crafts but when you spend a bit of time with it that quickly begins to
become an irrelevance.
There is arguably a very good reason for the lack of
graphical detail and that is that you have thirty unique craft hurtling around
roller coaster like tracks without the framerate dropping. Thirty unique
vehicles was (and still is), a very impressive number to race against and they
each have their own driver, strengths and weakness. This means there is more
than enough choice for any gamer to find their perfect match which makes losing
that little bit harder to deal with.
The game also has a large amount of tracks to get to grips
with. You get four standard cups containing six tracks each and then the X cup
which actually randomly generates tracks for you each time you play it. Some of
the most iconic versions of F-Zero tracks are found in the game with Big Blue
and Mute City among the highlights.
There isn’t a bad track here and each will test your driving
skills to the max. There are giant cylinders, upside down sections, half-pipes
and loops to get your head around. Once you finally think you’ve got it
mastered you’ll then come up against tracks like the dreaded ‘Big Hand’ (a
track shaped like a hand full of open curves), and then watch as you fly off
the track at 780mph.
F-Zero X is not easy and venturing past the Novice setting
will require good concentration and an understanding of the track design. The
learning curve is steep (though not as tough as F-Zero GX), and players may
well have to spend time trying out different craft to succeed. Crossing the
line ahead of twenty-nine other racers is a tough thrill to beat though and
it’s well worth the effort.
As well as the standard single player mode you get Time
Attack and Practice mode to sharpen your skills and the Death Race mode which
has you trying to wreck the other vehicles in as quickly a time as
possible. The VS mode allows for four
player split screen (and good luck seeing the corners in that), where any
player who has wrecked gets a continually spinning slot machine to play with
that adds penalties to the racers still in the race.
Unlike racers such as Wipeout and Mario Kart there aren’t
any weapons to pick up and use in the. Though you can perform a spinning attack
the core experience is about the thrill and speed of pure racing. Using the
left and right air brake and hitting the speed boosts on the track is the key
to success as is setting up your acceleration to high speed ratio before each
race starts. Once a lap has been completed you get access to boost power but
this needs to be used sensibly as it uses up the same meter that acts as your
health bar and when you blow up it is race over.
Overall, F-Zero X may not be pretty to look at but the
simple graphical style at least keeps things clear on the track. It’s in the
playing that the game still shines and the thrill of zooming around as the
music blares is still hard to find in other games. The track set is one of the
best ever and there is still so much to love about the game after all this
time. It remains a classic and a game that every N64 owner should hunt out.
Overall 8/10
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