For some reason I was really looking forward to F-Zero X's release, even though I didn't like the original SNES F-Zero and I thought I wasn't a fan of the racing genre. Now I realise that I am quite a big fan of racing games and that Nintendo seem to churn out quite alot of them. Mario Kart, Waverace, Diddy Kong Racing and of course F-Zero. Nintendo has so many racing games, so what sets F-Zero apart?

The main apeal of F-Zero X to me was the 30 different racers on the track at the same time. On most racing games you either push far ahead or lag behind and you're basicly racing on your own, but in F-Zero X you're allways in the heat of the action with 29 other machines trying to smash their way to the front. This game can get pretty hectic!

Of course F-Zero is the original futuristic racer, so natually it has to bring all other games in the genre to shame to actually be considered on par with the original. Other games like Wipeout and Extreme G are going for speed and each sequal sees the two duking it out to see who can move those cars along the track fastest, but of course the consoles power limits them to how fast they can go and they have to make a trade in between the graphics and the framerate. What Nintendo have done is make the tracks extremely bland and dull and make all the racers out of low polygon models so that the game can run extremley fast, and it really does bring the competition to shame in the speed factor.

One thing you're going to notice in F-Zero X that you wouldn't have in the original is that you are extremley packed in by the 20-odd cars that suround you. Wouldn't it be useful if you could bash the crap out of them while keeping up with the pack? Oh yes. Double tap R or Z and you'll do a slam which you can use to slam other cars into walls or even off the track completley, but when things get a little too crouded you can hold Z and double tap R to spin in the middle of the track and deal some serious damage.

Of course in F-Zero X your car has an energy bar and you can only take so much damage before you blow the hell up, so the pink strips of energy are back from the original, strips of pink are on one part of each track and if you drive over them you will regain energy. After the first lap however, you can use a turbo which will give you a short burst of speed. When you use a turbo you will loose some energy though, so that's when you have to plan a stratagy of where and when you're going to use your turbos.

The 30 different cars in the game are all designed differently and even have their own pilots. Each car has three stats: Body, Boost and Grip. Each of these stats are given a grade from A to E on each car, so you can choose are car which is relevant to your style of play. A car with more grip will have a less chance of falling off the track, a car with more boost will gain more speed during a boost and a car with a better body will loose energy alot slower than other cars.

F-Zero X has alot of replay value. It has four different difficulty levels in the main championship, a four player mode, a time trial option and a mode called 'death race'. In death race you race along a small track and the aim is to see how quickly you can destroy all the other cars. Once you've completed the game however, you will unlock the X-Cup which randomly generates tracks so that you have a different track every time you play. Unlimited replay value!

Overall
Andy Robinson: If you simply can't play a game with bad graphics then F-Zero X is not for you. If you can enjoy a game that ranks gameplay over graphics then you simply must go out and find a copy of F-Zero X, these days you can find it dirt cheap and it's worth every penny.

Review written by Andy Robinson

<< Go Back to Miyamoto Shrine

Missed an Update? Click here!     Bored? Hit the Forums!