“This is Peppy, all systems go!” “Fox, get this guy of my tail!” These are phrases that might take you on a nostalgia filled trip back to the Lylat Wars that were the stage of the classic video game Star Fox. In Star Fighters Rapid Fire, players take on the role of a beastly and boastful fighter pilot to send the other players into eternal space with their tails between their legs.
Background
Thanks to the Nintendo 64, I was introduced to the game Star Fox 64. Well, with Lylat Wars as this was how the game Star Fox 64 was actually called in much of Europe. Star Fox 64 was the sequel to the game Star Fox on the Super Nintendo. This game went by the name Starwing in parts of Europe. Probably this had to do with a trademark issues? During the GameCube era, Star Fox returned to its proper title in Europe as well.
There were different games released in the Star Fox series, but generally they involved anthropomorphic animals, including Fox, who take the helm of star fighters: spaceships that allow players to partake in dogfights in space. Players blast their way through various levels and often have to compete against similarly fast-paced star fighters.
So the inspiration for the game Star Fighters: Rapid Fire, in which anthropomorphic animals compete against each other in these spaceships, is clear to me. In this game, players can take on the roles of a fox-like cat, a wolf, an owl and a red panda. This game does not include a big polygon face as the final boss, but it does include a varied solo mode that allows even a single space dogfighter to have a beastly time. Star Fighters Rapid Fire does what Nintendon’t?
Goal and game design
Star Fighters Rapid Fire is a lightning-fast game where players will roll and allocate dice like crazy to various systems on their spaceship to move, fire lasers and torpedoes, repair their shields or activate special abilities. Players must use their systems to take out enemy ships. With 2 or 3 players, the player who manages to take down an enemy ship first, wins. With 4 players (the team variant), the team shares a victory and have to take down ships together.
Each player receives a set of dice (1 yellow, 4 red and 4 blue), a player board to depict their ship’s systems and a set of torpedos and a plastic ship in their color (and any other items in the more advanced asymmetric game variant with unique ships).
In the center of the table, the spacious battlefield consisting of a game board with multiple hexagonal squares and two wormholes is placed in between the players. The participating players’ ships are placed on this battlefield and players are ready to roll the dice. Do a dice roll!
Gameplay
Players first roll dice during the game to prepare systems and then, starting with the player who has ended the dice phase, take turns performing actions from their activated systems.
During the dice phase, players all roll simultaneously, and they may roll dice as many times as they wish. Dice often depict two different types of symbols. Players can allocate dice showing such symbols to systems on their game board to activate systems. Dice must also be placed in the H.U.D. In order to actually activate a system.
The systems state which color die to use and which symbol. The command symbol can also be used as a substitute for the other symbol and the yellow dice acts as a wild.
Once a player has finished allocating dice or if this player just wants to end the dice, this player shouts “fire!” After this, players take turns performing an action from a correctly activated system. Moving allows players to move toward or away from other players. Possibly also to dodge torpedoes. “Do a barrel roll!”
With lasers and torpedoes, players can inflict damage. With lasers, they must be near other players or by allocating dice to a specific sector of the system to increase their targeting range. They roll dice to see how much damage they do. A torpedo acts as a kind of homing missile and flies towards the nearest enemy target but slowly: 1 square each round.
When a player deals damage to another player, a check is made to see which side of the ship is taking damage and whether that side still has a shield. No shield present, then damage is done to the ship by removing a token from that player’s board. Too much damage? Then this player loses a die first and then the game….
Verdict
The subtitle of Star Fighters Rapid Fire clearly conveys its gameplay: players get to roll dice like crazy, but there’s more to it than that. The two phases of each round are in interesting contrast. During the dice roll, players are mostly focused on activating their systems, keeping in mind the actions during the action phase, but the action phase itself is a bit more calm and reactive. After all, you don’t know what your opponent will do. This contrast may take some players getting used to at first, but we liked it. First you have time pressure and then you can relax and experience the consequences calmly.
The aspect where players have to roll dice quickly will probably not be enjoyable for everyone (i.e. players that want to take things slowly) but they likely will not be the target audience. I personally am a fan of games of the same caliber such as Vengeance Roll & Fight and Rush Out! They are funny games that are perfect when you are in the mood for a more serious game with a less serious twist. Games that will re-energize you.
The variants with unique and asymmetrical ships (and associated unique actions and systems) and the extended solo variant also provide plenty of variety. After explaining the systems and gameplay, Star Fighters is essentially a simple to understand game. As a result, Star Fighters is an aggressive battle in space that is entertaining with plenty of surprises.
