Star Fox Review: Old Fox, Same Old Tricks
▼ Summary
– The remake of Star Fox 64 features gorgeous environments and photorealistic animals but is criticized for its $50–$60 price tag.
– The campaign includes fully animated mini-movie mission briefings, but Fox’s character model received fan backlash, and the cockpit lighting gives a green glow.
– The main story takes one to two hours to complete, though finding secret paths for the true ending can quadruple that time.
– Multiplayer Battle Mode supports 4v4 matches with capture point or meteorite collection objectives, but cannot be played on the same system.
– The game has modern production values but feels antiquated like a 1990s arcade game, making it skippable for those without friends for multiplayer or tolerance for odd co-op.
A slick remake of Star Fox 64 has arrived, but it arrives without the “64” and without much innovation. This nearly three-decade-old rail-shooter has been polished with gorgeous environments and unsettlingly photorealistic animals, yet a modern game only flickers through the haze of nostalgia. For a $50 price tag ($60 for a physical cartridge), the experience feels hardly worth the investment.
The campaign kicks off with a cinematic dramatization of the original game’s opening text crawl, depicting the betrayal of Fox McCloud’s father by an ally to the evil Dr. Andross. Three years later, Fox commands his dad’s mercenary band against Andross. Each mission briefing has been transformed from clipped dialogue into fully animated mini-movies, a clear upgrade in presentation.
However, the visuals are a mixed bag. While planets and ships boast impressive detail, fans have objected to Fox’s unflattering appearance since the trailer dropped. His original character designer, who wasn’t involved in this remake, admitted to preferring the Super Mario Galaxy Movie version of Fox. For my money, the lighting is a bigger issue than the models. In nearly every scene, the cockpit bathes Fox in a gross green glow that undercuts the graphical fidelity.
The campaign itself is short, clocking in at one to two hours depending on how often you die and reload. To reach the true ending, you’ll have to restart and hunt for secret paths, which can easily quadruple the runtime. Cooperative play is possible on two systems in the same room, or you can split your Joy-Cons to have one player steer and the other use mouse controls to fire lasers. This feels like Nintendo sacrificing ease for a new gimmick. I would have preferred a mode where the second player aims with a joystick, as in Donkey Kong Bananza.
Battle Mode offers a more entertaining multiplayer experience, but you can’t play it on the same system. I tried it through an online session Nintendo set up, diving and gunning through 4v4 matches that required capturing points or collecting energy from meteorites. If you’re hooked up to a webcam, you can use an augmented reality feature to puppet a character’s portrait in GameChat. The facetracking is impressive: raise your eyebrows, and your character mimics the motion. Open your mouth to speak, and they’ll do the same. Play as Slippy Toad and puff out your cheeks, and you’ll see him inflate his chin.
Despite these charming flourishes, Star Fox remains awkward. It boasts the production values of a modern blockbuster but retains the sensibility of a 1990s arcade game. The campaign feels particularly antiquated, even with its expanded script and cutscenes. Perhaps I shouldn’t have expected more. This story has already been reheated three times since the 1990s.
If you’ve got buddies to battle or a tolerance for odd co-op, go for it. Otherwise, you’re better off skipping this remake and saving up for an original game.
(Source: NPR)
