Starfox, ready for takeoff! - My favorite video game ever and why

Starfox Adventures cover art from 2002

Made back in 2002, Starfox Adventures, to this very day, remains my favorite video game of all time. There are many reasons why this game is on the top of the list, and I will try to explain in the very best detail below, but first, I have to get something out of the way. Most hardcore fans really hated this title, for it had very little flying unlike the rest of the games in the series. However, where people saw walls, I saw beautiful works of art.

Originally suppose to be a totally third party game called "Dinosaur planet" Nintendo decided it was time for another Starfox game, so they combined dinosaur planet and many of its original existing elements, and integrated them into the Starfox franchise. While many fans thought of this as a negative move, for me, this made it even more interesting as a game. When playing a game, I want to feel emotionally attached to the story. This game does an excellent job of immersing the player into an entirely new world that many have never even dreamed of.

When I young, I was totally blown away by the graphics of the game. For a game in 2002 on the Nintendo Gamecube, this game took  the graphics card to the max. The amount of details in this game can bring many modern HD games to shame, and that is double for the plot twisted story line  Overall, I doubt that I will ever find such a well build and loved game ever again, but just for some extra details, here is a list of things I loved about this game:

My top reasons for loving this game:

1. Story: This game had an absolutely beautiful story line and always surprised the player and gave extra motivation to keep playing. Many elements were a suprise to see in the Starfox franchise  and gave an extra "punch' for a few times during the game where the player was blown away by a new plot twist.
2. Characture design: The creators of the game did a brilliant job with making the charactures seem, well, human. Even if they are foxes, dinosoars, etc... the personalities and actions of all the charactures stay true throughout the game, and seem so realistic. It does such a great job of telling the story and emotions of every character, yet at the same times, leaves extra room for the player to fill in some of the 'blanks.'
3. Graphics: For a Gamecube game in 2002, this game looked, and remains to look stunning. While still putting some modern games to shame with detail, the changing of the time of day, weather, and even Fox's fur interacting with the environment all brought that extra scene of realism to the game, and made the experience an enjoyable one.
4. Fun and interesting game play: The game mechanics and controls were beautiful and simple. The game also had a very wide diverse of different moments of game play  From exploring dinosaur planet on foot, to flying your Arwing, narrowly dodging asteroids on your way to the next place, to riding a mammoth to break into a prisoner camp, the game play was always enjoyable, and used the story line as much as it could to keep the player playing the game, and happy at the same time.
5. Sound: The game utilized both brilliant and enjoyable voice acting, to the most beautiful and realistic ambiance the industry could offer. Also to give kudos to the amazing classic soundtrack by David Wise, the game was absolute extacy to the humans, or Fox's ears. Also, while some sound effects were industry standard, all the elements fitted perfectly with the game.
6. Prepared and full of love and life: unlike most modern games that are with the entire idea of "quantity over quality" Starfox Adventures was FULLY completed, and had hundreds of elements that had to be cut from the final release due to the space available, and changes in the plot (Hackers can get the extra scenes and recordings that are hidden on the game disk that were left behind as a 'cookie' by the game developers) This just shows how games used to be loved so much by their creators. Today, we never see this amount of love or work put into a game anymore. When I bought Adventures, I KNEW I was getting the full experience, but today, games are plagued with bugs, DLC (Downloadable content) and other little things that really piss players off. Adventures, however loved the players that plated it.

7. Imagination overload: This game actually encouraged the use of the players imagination  The game never forces ideas down the players throat  and gives the player a sense of freedom and allows their own personal sense of perception to certain events. As a young kid playing the game, I loved how the producers left a few holes here and there for the player to fill in with his or her own thoughts.

8. FUN! Lastly, this game is an overall fun game to play. With funny moments, streamlined design and a few 'memes' here and there, the game rewards playing with enjoyment.

Well, that's it for now! Comments bellow! ;^)