Captain Falcon is at it again. A bounty hunter and a racer, Captain Falcon drives the Blue Falcon for justice! F-Zero GX is a fast-paced ride through multiple courses all over the universe. Racers travel at break neck speeds in hopes not to end up a burnt up pile of metal.

We thought that when the first Sonic game made its debut on the GameCube that Sega could never top that feat. Now Sega develops the F-Zero property in such a way that the game can be enjoyed both at home and in arcades. An additional thank you should go out to Namco for making their arcades available for F-Zero AX machines. To top that off, Nintendo, Sega and Namco are working on a next generation gaming system together, but that is another story!

If you have never played F-Zero in any of its previous incarnations before, then you have missed out. Watching the evolution of the game graphics has been educational. In the original F-Zero on the Super Nintendo the vehicles all seemed Jetson-like. Now in F-Zero GX the vehicles are streamlined and truly futuristic. The vehicles, drivers, backgrounds and most everything else in the game are perfectly designed. The images are crisp, clean and even at high velocities, retain their integrity.

The sounds in the game in relation to the vehicles are those expected when it comes to vehicles with jet engines. The voices of the characters are clear and easy to understand. The background and scenery noises add a nice atmosphere for realism.

The control of the vehicles varies based on size, weight and driver ability. A car that weighs a lot is slow. A car that is too long makes steering difficult. A driver that is too weak hurts the handling. If you customize your vehicle in the game, you must plan to buy parts and hire a driver from winnings you have made by completing the circuits. You also need money to open new levels of the story mode.

The ability to customize every aspect of your vehicle, choose a driver and more makes this game fun. If not for the need to buy story levels, this game would be a perfect ten. If you play racing games just for racing friends, this game is for you. Customize your vehicles and whip tail! If you want to play this game to defeat the story mode, expect some boredom when it comes to playing circuit races over and over again to pay to unlock levels.

The life of this game seems to fade quickly when you have other racing game choices with a bit more reality. Paying to advance in every aspect of the game becomes old quickly. While the customization, ability to play your saved vehicles at an arcade and the potential to play at tournaments sponsored by Nintendo is alluring; there is very little motivation to complete the game. You must truly love the F-Zero franchise and racing to complete this game.

If you are interested in 2004 arcade and tournament play with F-Zero GZ and AX, please visit the official game site .