There's nothing like shooting down a tube at 1,300 kilometers per hour with 29 racers tailing you and could pass you at any moment.

F-Zero GX is the much awaited sequel to the Super Nintendo classic F-Zero and the great Nintendo 64 game, F-Zero X. The series is one of the only two established racing series that Nintendo actually develops (Mario Kart is the other, which is also getting another game in it's series this December; Mario Kart: Double Dash). Well, this time, Nintendo had a surprising partnership with another veteran company of the video game industry, Sega, help them develop the game. With a team-up between these two titans, how could anything go wrong?

The controls are extremely simple to learn, and are very responsive. You have a button for turbo boosters, to sort-of do a strafe-like move to the right or left, accelerate, decelerate, steer, and a button that makes you spin out, which is the only thing I haven't found a use for. Overall, the controls are great, and couldn't be better.

In the story mode, you play as Captain Falcon, an F-Zero racer that is trying to become the champion of the Grand Prix. You start off in training and doing missions like collecting a bunch of rings in a certain amount of time, but you will gradually work your way through the mode and start racing. Every pilot has a rival, too. Captain Falcon's in story mode is a Batman look-a-like called Black Bull. He's basically the egotistical badass that wants to have everything he wants. Overall, the story is pretty good, and it's refreshing to have a story in a racing game.

The gameplay is great. What sets this apart from all other racing games is the immense speed of the game, which will make you dizzy sometimes, and the fact that there are 29 people racing against you. The speeds that the cars can reach will be capable of maxing out at over 1,750 kilometers per hour. Plus, you can actually get a great sense of the speed on the screen. If you aren't on your toes during the race, you will either lose because of the track or because someone just passed you. There are things like in-the-ground boosters that you have to hit to speed you up. Also, there are a lot of hazards, which will range from mines to just going off of the track, which will cause you to automatically lose because you will crash. There is also the fact that if you use too much of your boosters and are in the red zone, your handling will decrease sharply and if you crash into a wall or something, you'll blow up your car.

The actual racing is very fun. It's basically like any other futuristic racer, but ten times as good and ten times as fast. When you first start a race, you will have to select a pilot. Then, you can change your color and then select your car settings, which is basically if you want your car to accelerate faster but have a lower top speed, or have a much higher top speed, but reach it much more slowly. After that, you start your race. Every race consists or more than one lap, and after the very first lap is done, you will gain the ability to use your boosters. Along each track is a rainbow-colored recharger that will increase your booster bar back to it's original state if you stay on it long enough. As I mentioned earlier, your booster bar also doubles as your life bar. If you have no more boosters left, you are very prone to dying.

There are 20 tracks in the game, and I enjoy racing on every single one of them except for two or three. The tracks I don't like are kind of crappy because with the great feeling of the speed of the game, it's hard to tell what you're doing in a few tracks and there will be way too many spur-of-the-moment decisions to guarantee that you keep your place and just stay on the track altogether. There are also 30 pilots who are all different and all have different racers, which will all be very different from each other.

Aside from all of the different racers, you can also customize your own racer. You pretty much just pick a pilot and then have his car, which you will warp into something that you like. After you do certain tasks in the game, you will get tickets, which are used to purchase new vehicles, items, and upgrades for your car.

The replayability is pretty damn good. It'll take a lot of racing to complete the game, unlock all of the vehicles, and buy all of the items. Plus, there is a great multiplayer option and the ability to design your own ride is pretty cool. Since we all know Nintendo loves it's GBA-GCN connectivity thing, it was kind of surprising that there wasn't any in this game. However, it was even more surprising when I learned that you could take your GCN memory card and stick it in the F-Zero AX arcade machine and upload your custom ride into it. This should be pretty fun, but I haven't tried it yet. Overall, the replayability is great and the gameplay is magnificent.

The graphics are absolutely amazing. The racers all look really great, but the thing that makes the game so kick ass looking is the great lighting effects and the spectacular designed tracks that look absolutely awesome. The sound is also very good. The soundtrack of the game is all right, but nothing that great. I'd much rather listen to a CD player. Overall, the sound effects and graphics are topnotch, while the soundtrack is just average.

To buy or to rent, you ask? I'm going to have to go with buy. This is a fantastic racing game and a must-have for all GameCube owners. It'll last you a long time and you'll have a blast with it. By the way, when you get it, look at the back of the case. See that thing about the flashing lights and people that get seizures shouldn't play this? Listen to them. Some of the races made me feel like I was getting motion sickness.

o_0

Yay for F-Zero GX!

- - THAguyINgta3