3.5/5 ★ – AvatarAang's review of Dinosaur Planet.

A little hard to rate. I'm giving it a low 7 but it could be more of a high 6. There are many aspects of Dinosaur Planet that are better than the final version (Star Fox Adventures). The locations are better and more interesting, and the story is more interesting, even if it only gets actually investing towards the end. The game's main gimmick is its dual protagonists, who you switch between to complete the game. It's a mixed bag here. On one hand, one of the two protagonists is Krystal, and she is much more fleshed out and likable here than in the final version. The other protagonist is Fox-lite, Sabre. He feels an awful lot like Fox, so I can see why Nintendo ultimately turned the game into a Star Fox game. However, Sabre's side of the story gets quite interesting toward the end as he makes some tough choices. Krystal has a cut companion, Princess Kyte, who is MILES better than Prince Tricky. However, honestly, there was little if any point to having dual protagonists. Krystal and Sabre play nearly identically, and the only meaningful difference across the entire game is the fact that Princess Kyte can fly (a straight upgrade from Tricky). The combat starts out very similar to Star Fox Adventures, but by Cloudrunner Fortress it may as well be non-existent. Enemies exist but they are not coded to fight so you just plow through them. Even some bosses are unfinished so you just beat them instantly, including a really important one. I was very surprised by how much cut content there was. Dinosaur Planet features multiple full areas that never made it to Star Fox Adventures. Many of them, like Discovery Falls and Diamond Bay, are complete and even feature entire races that were not in the final game! Other areas were clearly still under construction at the time that this version of Dinosaur Planet was made. It's disappointing to walk into an unfinished area and just be given the Spellstone that you were supposed to get by exploring, but I understand that that's just lost media at this point. Very interestingly, multiple songs from Star Fox Adventures appear in this game--in fact, I would wager that most of SFA's soundtrack is in this N64 game. Knowing that, it makes a lot more sense why SFA's soundtrack (while good) feels a little...dated for the Gamecube. It's really running on N64 samples. Some songs are in totally different locations, such as Cape Claw and the Ocean Force Point Temple, which is also cool to discover. As an unfinished game, there's very little guidance for the player on where to go. The early game is so similar to Star Fox Adventures that I knew everything to do, but the mid- to late-game has you flip-flopping regularly between Krystal and Sabre without ever telling you to do so. I'm skeptical that it was intended to be that way--there's nothing to do in the game other than progress the story, so I doubt we were supposed to mess around until we figure out what to do. Ultimately, I'm really glad I played through Dinosaur Planet. I would highly recommend it to anybody who is a fan of Star Fox Adventures. But, also, it is an unfinished beta. It is hard to call it anything more than "neat." In the end, the game reminded me more of my problems with SFA than its strengths. I wish we could see the finished story though--the worldbuilding is decent, and the twists and turns at the end left me wanting more!