RPGamers Network > Reviews > Game Reviews > F-Zero: GP Legend
The game consists of 5 different modes of play: Story, Grand Prix, Time Trial, Training and the new mode, Zero Test. The story mode is quite different to the one on GX in that it is actually possible to finish without much practice. There are also eight different stories, with eight different characters, rather than just Captain Falcon's. The stories all tie in together throughout and each has 5 or 6 missions for you to complete, some very easy, and some making you throw the GBA through the window. The story also is also anime based when you're not racing, although it's really only interesting the first time, then it just gets annoying.
Grand Prix Mode is basically the same as it's ever been, except the fact that Master class has been scrapped (but Expert's difficult enough). You have the usual Bronze, Silver and Gold cups on the Novice, Standard and Expert difficulties. Playing Grand Prix unlocks tracks in the Time Trial and Training modes so it's worth completing. Finishing the cups on Standard difficulty unlocks the Platinum Cup, which contains 8 original tracks from F-Zero and F-Zero 2. The tracks are the same shape, except they look much better now. It's a great flashback actually, fun to play on.
Training and Time Trial modes are pretty much the same that they've ever been. However, Time Trial mode does not start off with the usual defaults. The staff have created times for you to beat that are more reasonable than 9'59'99", although they still aren't difficult to beat.
Zero Test is the new feature in F-Zero, and i hope it's here to stay and makes it to future 3-D F-Zero games (it made it to Climax, so here's hoping). It basically consists of 48 missions, arranged over 4 classes (12 a piece): C, B, A and S. Completing each class unlocks a new vehicle so it's useful to complete them all, even if some near the end are very difficult. The missions vary from cornering techniques to 1 lap time attacks and all require you to finish the mission within a certain time. Depending on what time you complete the mission within, you can receive a bronze, silver or gold trophy for your efforts. Gold trophies are about as difficult to obtain as Captain Falcon's Story on Very Hard mode, so don't worry about trying. I think this is a very good mode for F-Zero, and should be kept from now on.
I mentioned about unlocking racers in Zero Test. Well Nintendo have gone back to tradition by allowing you to unlock players by finishing cups in Grand Prix, finishing stories and of course, Zero Test classes...rather than purchasing them at the local shop like GX tried to incorporate. In many ways, GP Legend has returned to the F-Zero roots that X left behind all those years ago and it's great to see them back! Okay, onto the specs.
The graphics in the game are what is expected of a Gameboy Advance game, nothing more. However, the game plays very smoothly considering how fast the game is. It definitely tests the GBA's capabilities. The colours are perfectly done to suit the characters and stages. The tracks are also well designed, with detailed backgrounds. All-in-all the graphics for pretty much everything easily surpass F-Zero X and Maximum Velocity in terms of attention to detail.
The gameplay is pretty well organized, however it has some flaws. The controls take a little getting used to if you haven't played Maximum Velocity before. The drawback in the GBA F-Zero games is that the machines have the tenancy to slide around the place, meaning a grip of E is actually really bad, unlike in GX where it was the boost value that mattered most. Yes an inexperienced racer can easily go out of control in bad machine, and there's something else that really bugs me about the machine physics of the game. It seems that every wall has springs or something attached to them because if you run into a wall, you'll bounce right off it and most likely straight into another wall. This continues without you having to move the pad at all (especially in narrow areas, where you get a destructive pinball effect) and requires you to release the accelerator in order to control yourself from bouncing excessively off walls forever. Very annoying when it happens and trust me, it'll happen a lot. Another annoying part of the controls is that you have to press L and R together to boost. This is not always easy to do and since tapping L or R twice induces a side-attack that slows you down a bit, you can end up doing the opposite of what you intended to do...a lot of the time too. But enough gripe, there is a good point to the controls in that turning is made simpler by the use of what is called Blast Turns (which i just refer to as Side-Attack turns) where if you wish to make a hard right, you start turning and then tap R twice to do a side-attack and it swings you further around the corner. Very useful indeed.
Ah the music. You may or may not know that i love my music and so i am critical on the music in a game when i review it. In GP Legend, the music is done, in my opinion, to the best of the GBA's ability. I love the new versions of the old classics like Big Blue and White Land. The attempts to replicate the guitar are however futile but only the GBA sound quality is to blame there, and it still sounds good anyway. All of the tracks are done very cleanly, and there's some great title and menu music in there as well. Some awesome non-track music includes the Story Theme B, Car Settings and Selection Menu for those with Zophar knowledge.
Finally, the lastability. I believe this game can keep you going for a while...but not for unbelievable lengths like GX did. The game is definitely much easier than a few of the previous games and as such, it won't take you too long to figure everything out and unlock everything too. I'd say from start to finish, it's easily possible to finish in no longer than a month. Unless you want to get all the gold cups in Zero Test, then it's probably like, years. Anyway you can go on it for a while before you'll get bored. Oh...if you do get bored, you could always link up your GBA to someone else's and race them in Link mode, but it's not really that great if nobody else has it.
I think this is definitely the best F-Zero game to come out in many years. Hats off to Nintendo for going back to what made the original F-Zero such a big success. I'm not sure whether everyone would like this if they'd only played GX before this, because they wouldn't appreciate the change, however the old-skool gamers and F-Zero fans will definitely enjoy this one!
| Game Stats | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Racing |
| Platform | Gameboy Advance |
| Format | Cartridge |
| # of Players | 2 |
| Released Jap | 11.28.2003 |
| Released US | 09.20.2004 |
| Released EU | 06.04.2004 |
| Aprox. Length | 25-30 hrs. |
| Reviewer Rankings | |
| Battle System | 8.0 |
| Gameplay | 7.0 |
| Music | 10.0 |
| Originality | 8.0 |
| Plot | 9.0 |
| Replay Value | 8.0 |
| Sound | 10.0 |
| Visuals | 9.0 |
| Difficulty | Medium |
| Overall | |
| 8.6 | |
F-Zero: GP Legend
By: NintendoReviewed By: Kie
F-Zero GP Legend is the second newest F-Zero game to be released up to now, and the newest to be released in the US (as climax has not been translated yet). The game follows a terrible start to the Gameboy Advance series of F-Zero, which began with Maximum Velocity...a game that had no trace of any of the normal characters, tracks or anything that fans were used to. Thankfully, Nintendo turned their heads back on correctly and created this little gem. Of course, if you're not a fan of the old-skool graphics, you probably won't be too interested, however graphics mean little in the overall quality of this game. Nintendo have brought back all of the racers you know well plus a few extras. There are loads of new tracks, plus a few classics as you'll soon see, and even a new mode of play! Let's take a look.The game consists of 5 different modes of play: Story, Grand Prix, Time Trial, Training and the new mode, Zero Test. The story mode is quite different to the one on GX in that it is actually possible to finish without much practice. There are also eight different stories, with eight different characters, rather than just Captain Falcon's. The stories all tie in together throughout and each has 5 or 6 missions for you to complete, some very easy, and some making you throw the GBA through the window. The story also is also anime based when you're not racing, although it's really only interesting the first time, then it just gets annoying.
Grand Prix Mode is basically the same as it's ever been, except the fact that Master class has been scrapped (but Expert's difficult enough). You have the usual Bronze, Silver and Gold cups on the Novice, Standard and Expert difficulties. Playing Grand Prix unlocks tracks in the Time Trial and Training modes so it's worth completing. Finishing the cups on Standard difficulty unlocks the Platinum Cup, which contains 8 original tracks from F-Zero and F-Zero 2. The tracks are the same shape, except they look much better now. It's a great flashback actually, fun to play on.
Training and Time Trial modes are pretty much the same that they've ever been. However, Time Trial mode does not start off with the usual defaults. The staff have created times for you to beat that are more reasonable than 9'59'99", although they still aren't difficult to beat.
Zero Test is the new feature in F-Zero, and i hope it's here to stay and makes it to future 3-D F-Zero games (it made it to Climax, so here's hoping). It basically consists of 48 missions, arranged over 4 classes (12 a piece): C, B, A and S. Completing each class unlocks a new vehicle so it's useful to complete them all, even if some near the end are very difficult. The missions vary from cornering techniques to 1 lap time attacks and all require you to finish the mission within a certain time. Depending on what time you complete the mission within, you can receive a bronze, silver or gold trophy for your efforts. Gold trophies are about as difficult to obtain as Captain Falcon's Story on Very Hard mode, so don't worry about trying. I think this is a very good mode for F-Zero, and should be kept from now on.
I mentioned about unlocking racers in Zero Test. Well Nintendo have gone back to tradition by allowing you to unlock players by finishing cups in Grand Prix, finishing stories and of course, Zero Test classes...rather than purchasing them at the local shop like GX tried to incorporate. In many ways, GP Legend has returned to the F-Zero roots that X left behind all those years ago and it's great to see them back! Okay, onto the specs.
The graphics in the game are what is expected of a Gameboy Advance game, nothing more. However, the game plays very smoothly considering how fast the game is. It definitely tests the GBA's capabilities. The colours are perfectly done to suit the characters and stages. The tracks are also well designed, with detailed backgrounds. All-in-all the graphics for pretty much everything easily surpass F-Zero X and Maximum Velocity in terms of attention to detail.
The gameplay is pretty well organized, however it has some flaws. The controls take a little getting used to if you haven't played Maximum Velocity before. The drawback in the GBA F-Zero games is that the machines have the tenancy to slide around the place, meaning a grip of E is actually really bad, unlike in GX where it was the boost value that mattered most. Yes an inexperienced racer can easily go out of control in bad machine, and there's something else that really bugs me about the machine physics of the game. It seems that every wall has springs or something attached to them because if you run into a wall, you'll bounce right off it and most likely straight into another wall. This continues without you having to move the pad at all (especially in narrow areas, where you get a destructive pinball effect) and requires you to release the accelerator in order to control yourself from bouncing excessively off walls forever. Very annoying when it happens and trust me, it'll happen a lot. Another annoying part of the controls is that you have to press L and R together to boost. This is not always easy to do and since tapping L or R twice induces a side-attack that slows you down a bit, you can end up doing the opposite of what you intended to do...a lot of the time too. But enough gripe, there is a good point to the controls in that turning is made simpler by the use of what is called Blast Turns (which i just refer to as Side-Attack turns) where if you wish to make a hard right, you start turning and then tap R twice to do a side-attack and it swings you further around the corner. Very useful indeed.
Ah the music. You may or may not know that i love my music and so i am critical on the music in a game when i review it. In GP Legend, the music is done, in my opinion, to the best of the GBA's ability. I love the new versions of the old classics like Big Blue and White Land. The attempts to replicate the guitar are however futile but only the GBA sound quality is to blame there, and it still sounds good anyway. All of the tracks are done very cleanly, and there's some great title and menu music in there as well. Some awesome non-track music includes the Story Theme B, Car Settings and Selection Menu for those with Zophar knowledge.
Finally, the lastability. I believe this game can keep you going for a while...but not for unbelievable lengths like GX did. The game is definitely much easier than a few of the previous games and as such, it won't take you too long to figure everything out and unlock everything too. I'd say from start to finish, it's easily possible to finish in no longer than a month. Unless you want to get all the gold cups in Zero Test, then it's probably like, years. Anyway you can go on it for a while before you'll get bored. Oh...if you do get bored, you could always link up your GBA to someone else's and race them in Link mode, but it's not really that great if nobody else has it.
I think this is definitely the best F-Zero game to come out in many years. Hats off to Nintendo for going back to what made the original F-Zero such a big success. I'm not sure whether everyone would like this if they'd only played GX before this, because they wouldn't appreciate the change, however the old-skool gamers and F-Zero fans will definitely enjoy this one!
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