When it comes to video game sequels for well-known games, none
has taken longer to appear than a sequel to F-Zero. The original
game debuted for the Super NES in Japan in 1990. Guess what?
It's now 1998 -- eight years later! So how does the sequel to one
of the most popular and beloved games of the 16-bit era stack
up? Very well. F-Zero X is a worthy successor to one of the
all-time classics.
From the onset, Miyamoto and his EAD team decided to make the
game fast and furious. In order to achieve this, even on a system
as powerful as the N64, the designers had to go with a simplistic
polygon engine that would permit the game to move at 60 fps (i.e., very
fast) and have up to 30 cars on the screen at once. That means the
game looks like crap at times, but the result is a feeling unlike no
other in the video game world.
The first few times you play F-Zero X there's a very good chance
you won't be all that impressed with the game. I'll admit it. The
first times I played F-Zero X I was less than impressed. But as I
started to play the game more and more, getting further into
cups and playing at higher levels of difficulty, I began to truly
appreciate what Miyamoto was aiming for when he designed the game.
F-Zero X is an adrenaline-pumping, vertigo-inducing experience
that will continually challenge you as you make your way through
the numerous cups and difficulty levels.
As with any other game that comes from Nintendo out of Japan,
the control in F-Zero X is fabulous -- responsive, easy to learn,
not overly complicated, yet filled with technique. First of all,
Rumble Pak support in the game is pretty good. It's probably one
of the top five or seven best uses for it on the system. Since the
game doesn't need the Controller Pak, you'll be even more
inclined to use it. As expected, the Control Stick is used to move
your machine. When going off of jumps, pressing forward will
cause you to descend more quickly and pick up speed. If you press
back, then you'll slowly float in the air, but you'll go farther. So
you need to find a median between those two depending on the
jump you're going off. The A button is the accelerator. The
B button activates your turbo boost. The Bottom C button is
your air brake.
Finally, the Z and R buttons are used to drift and slide. For the
most part, you'll just want to slide around bends, but drifting
can be helpful, too. In order to slide to the right, you must hold
down R and press to the right on the Control Stick. In order to
slide to the left, you must hold down Z and press to the left on
the Control Stick. Drifting is accomplished by holding down a
button and pressing the opposite direction on the Control Stick.
So to drift right, you would hold down Z while pressing Right on
the Control Stick. To drift left, you would hold down R while
pressing Left on the Control Stick.
New to the F-Zero series is the inclusion of attacks. Yes, there
are actually limited attacks in F-Zero X. Fortunately, they aren't
anything of the Mario Kart variety and are actually a decent
addition. There are two types of attacks you can perform: the
side attack and the spin attack. The side attack is done by merely
pressing Z or R twice. Pressing Z twice will obviously send you
to the left while pressing R twice will send you to the right.
This move is effective for finishing off weak opponents and for
sending them off portions of tracks without boundaries. A more
powerful, though harder-to-control, attack is the spin attack.
You can pull this off by holding Z and pressing R twice (or
holding R and pressing Z twice).
Before talking about F-Zero X's modes and gameplay, it should
be noted that there's an unfathomable number of cars to choose
from -- 30! Like the original, each machine is different and has
its own driver who has a little story. Unfortunately, the cool
character design and story take a backseat to the racing action.
At the Machine Select screen, there are five rows that contain
six machines each. Only the first row, which includes all four
cars from the original plus two more, is available when you first
play. Each time you win a circuit on a different level of difficulty,
you'll earn an "X" that appears above the cup's name. For every
three X's you earn, you'll open up another row of cars.
Each of the machines is rated in three categories: Body, Boost,
and Grip. The categories are given letter grades from A to E. So
if a machine is given an E for Body, then that means it's very
weak and can't take much damage. If its grip is given a B, then
it handles pretty well. You get the picture. Additionally, after
selecting your machine, you're given the opportunity to tweak your
Machine Setting for each track. The only tweaking you can do,
though, is to balance your car between Acceleration (to the left)
and Top Speed (to the right). Just in case you're wondering, I
personally use the Fire Stingray, which is the pink one that was
in the original, and set the balance to a three-fourths speed
setting on every track.
F-Zero X contains quite a few more modes of play than its
predecessor. You can choose from GP Race, Time Attack, Death
Race, VS Battle, Practice, and Options. The "GP Race" mode is the
main method of play. It consists of exhilarating grand prix-style
races for one player against 29 other computer opponents. And,
believe it or not, the computer doesn't even cheat. There are
four different cups with six tracks per cup plus a special fifth
cup. There are also four levels of difficulty, which means even
the most seasoned F-Zero X veteran will be challenged. What's
pretty cool is that machines can drop out of the race -- either by
falling off the track or by blowing up. If they blow up on the track,
then the remains of their machine might still be around, so you
have to be careful not to hit them! Of course, if any computer
driver doesn't finish a race, then it will get zero points for that
race! Speaking of which, the designers opted to go with a very odd
point scheme for the GP Race:
Place Points Place Points Place Points
1. 100 11. 50 21. 25
2. 93 12. 47 22. 23
3. 87 13. 44 23. 22
4. 81 14. 41 24. 21
5. 76 15. 38 25. 20
6. 71 16. 35 26. 19
7. 66 17. 33 27. 18
8. 62 18. 31 28. 17
9. 58 19. 29 29. 16
10. 54 20. 27 30. 15
As you go through the GP Race, there's a good chance (especially
on the higher difficulty levels) that you either won't finish a
race or need to finish much higher as you near the end of the cup
(you have to pause and pick restart before you cross the finish
line). Fortunately, F-Zero X is forgiving yet fair in this respect.
On the Novice level, you get six lives. On the Standard level, you
get five lives. On the Expert level, you get four lives. On the Master
level, you get three lives. By falling off, blowing up, or picking
restart, you'll get a chance to play the track over again. It won't
cost you anything in the points standings, but it will cost you a
life. You might be thinking to yourself that it would make the
game easier, but trust me, you need those few extra chances on
the two highest levels of difficulty.
Moving on, let's talk about the "Time Attack" mode. F-Zero X
undeniably has one of the best time trial modes ever. First of all,
your track and lap times are not saved from the GP Race. The only
way to save times is through the Time Attack mode. At first I was
a little disappointed in this, but I realized it was for the better
in the end. Second, it plays the same as the GP Race. That means
you can only use your manual turbo boost once the second lap starts.
You can also play any level that you've opened up from any of the
first four cups -- but not from the special fifth cup. It saves your
top five overall times, your single best lap time, and your maximum
speed. It also lets you enter your initials and shows which machine
and which balance setting were used to achieve that time. Nice.
The coolest thing, though, is how the game can put up to three
ghosts on the track along with you. Say, for example, you're
trying to shave a few precious hundreds of a second on Mute City.
You're probably going to race the board over and over. As long as
you play the same level without switching to a different one,
the game will put multiple ghosts on the track with you. It will
keep track and make ghosts of your three best times -- as long
as you don't switch levels or turn off the power. It's great to be
able to see multiple ghosts of your best times to let you gauge
your performance even more accurately.
A novel addition to F-Zero X is the "Death Race" mode. At first I
didn't even bother with it. But after a while, I decided to give it a
shot and immediately got hooked. The object of the Death Race mode
is to get rid of all 29 computer opponents as quickly as you can (it
will take a few minutes). In line with the other modes, you can
either try knocking them off or you can try blowing them up. The
Death Race has its own short track that is 100% straight with a
jump, a loop, and an energy pit. Also, parts of the track have
boundaries while other parts are open. It's surprisingly fun.
The most important addition to F-Zero X is the best and worst
part of the game -- the "VS Battle" mode. It's the mode in which
two to four players can compete against each other. If only two
players are participating, then the computer will take control of
the two other machines. If three players are playing, the computer
will take control of the fourth machine. You get five points for finishing
first, three points for second, one point for third, and zero points for
fourth. There are also three options you can switch between in the
Options mode from the main screen. You can turn the following on
or off: Vs. Computer, which is when the computer takes control of
remaining machines when only two or three players are playing; Vs.
Slot, which is a lame feature that lets people who retire from the
race early try to screw the others by matching three slots of the same
kind; and Vs. Handicap, which means the game will use computer
assistance to keep the players close together when turned on.
Here's the good news: You can pick any level you opened up in the GP
Race, and all of the multi-player modes run nearly as quickly as
the one-player mode. Here's more good news: Three-and four-player
racing is an absolute blast -- one of the best multi-player games
on the system. Here's the bad news: A maximum of four cars can
be on the track at once, even in the two-player mode. I find it
absolutely appalling that the two-player mode doesn't have more
computer competition. With such a simple graphics engine, I don't
see why more computer cars couldn't be added to put like 8 or 12
or 16 cars on the track. Even Mario Kart 64 had 8 racers on the
track at once.
As far as the other two choices from the main screen go, "Practice"
and "Options," there's not much to say. In the Practice mode, you pick
a track and you race on it for as long as you like. You also get your
turbo boost from the start. And most of the options are for the
multi-player mode and were mentioned above. The only other options
are to switch the sound between stereo and mono and to clear all data.
So what's the gameplay like in F-Zero X? The game has quite a few
subtle but important changes. As a matter of fact, there's a chance
some people may not like the game as much as the original. But most
gamers will enjoy the game just as much, if not more, than the original --
that is, as long as they play it long enough.
While the tracks in the original F-Zero were all flat, F-Zero X introduces
longer jumps, banked turns, tunnels, loops, and twists. Fortunately,
it won't make people who get motion sickness as nauseated as
Extreme-G. The races are also only three laps long while the original
had five-lap races. Expect a single lap to take anywhere from 20
seconds to 50 seconds. A three-lap race may take anywhere from
1 minute and 5 seconds to 2 minutes and 30 seconds to complete. The
"zippers" from the original have made a comeback, and they're more
prevalent than ever. You'll need to maximize their use on the
highest levels of difficulty. Jumps are mostly confined to going
between sections of the track (with a drop-off in between) and
are not just in the middle of the track for no reason. The
ever-important energy pits are around, too. They're not always in
the same place on each track, though, and there is sometimes
more than one place to pick up energy.
The two things Miyamoto and his team aimed for when developing
F-Zero X are really what separate the game from the original: speed
and intensity. F-Zero X is, well, fast. Just racing on a normal
balance setting without using boosts may not seem overwhelming.
But if you tweak your machine to give it a faster overall top
speed, combine it with hitting all of the zippers and strategically
using your boost, and pump up the difficulty level, then you'll
find that F-Zero X is unquestionably the fastest racing game
ever. Now imagine all that speed while racing against 29 other
cars who want to win as much as you do and will prove it to you.
This intense racing experience is simply unmatched.
Maybe the biggest difference between F-Zero and F-Zero X,
however, is when it comes to turbo boosts. In F-Zero X you
have to trade energy for an extra boost, and each machine is rated
differently in how much energy it takes for a boost. On top of
that, you cannot use your boost until the second lap. So once the
second lap starts, you'll have to strategically use your boost
as much as you can. And you better make sure you go through
every energy pit. As you become a more advanced F-Zero X player,
you'll realize that you'll have zero or almost zero energy before you
get to each energy pit or before you cross the finish line.
Maximizing turbo boosts -- both through the use of on-track
zippers and your manual turbo boost -- is the key ingredient
to victory on the higher levels of difficulty and the way to get
the best times in the Time Trial mode.
If you ask me, when it comes to graphics, F-Zero X looks dumb.
The only two things that make it look better than a 16-bit game are
the 3-D tracks and the non-pixelated graphics. But since the
developers made the graphics simple to make the game mind-bogglingly
fast, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Still, some jaded
gamers who need great graphics will undoubtedly be turned off.
Also, there's quite a bit of pop-up in the distance. We can forgive
it, but it does look odd from time to time.
The sound, on the other hand, is very intriguing. It's the best-sounding,
most realistic music on the system -- but it's in mono! The
reason for this is because the developers opted to use pre-recorded
digitized songs instead of the typical MIDI fare. Because of the
N64's cartridge format, stereo music wasn't possible because
of space. The pre-recorded music was used because it takes much
less processing power than MIDI, which freed up more cycles for
the graphics. The music is actually quite incredible. All of the
songs are hard rock, heavy metal, or death metal. Some of the levels
from the original that made it into the sequel even have remixed
music. The music generally falls into one of three categories: upbeat,
hard rockin' music; Yngwie Malmsteen-inspired heavy metal; or
death metal with "scary" voices and mumbling. And, yes, there is
music in the multi-player modes, though the sound effects get too
loud. The sound effects, interestingly enough, are actually in stereo.
There are different sound effects for boosting, colliding, blowing up,
jumping, landing, etc., which are all pretty decent. There's also some
voice in the game such as "Pour it on, you're way out in front!" or
"Watch your back!" or "You got boost power!"
F-Zero X is yet another N64 game from Nintendo's EAD group that's
very awesome but still falls short of "god-like status" because
it seems to be missing a little something and not everyone will
not find it as good as the original. The lackluster two-player
mode also brings it down a notch or two. But with a wonderfully
addicting and invigorating one-player mode, a very good four-player
mode, one of the best time trial modes around, a surprisingly
fun novelty mode, and lots of machines and tracks, it may also
have the most replay value of any N64 game. F-Zero X simply
should not be missed by any gamer.
Graphics: 3.0 out of 5
Sound: 4.6 out of 5
Control: 4.7 out of 5
Gameplay: 4.8 out of 5
Lastability: 4.8 out of 5
Overall: 4.7 out of 5
