Star Fox Review

Review code used, with many thanks to Nintendo Europe.

The Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive Star Fox is a remake of the Nintendo 64 game Star Fox 64, also known as Lylat Wars. It follows the titular mercenary team as they free the Lylat System from the clutches of the evil, self-proclaimed emperor, Dr. Andross.

I’m new to the Star Fox franchise, so let’s see if this adventure is going to Pep-py me up, or whether I’ll let it Slip-py by.

In a Galaxy, Far, Far Away

Fox McCloud talking to General Pepper saying “But as it happens, my team's available to deploy immediately... for a price”. Published on LadiesGamers — No one else can afford us!

Star Fox starts with a prologue, giving background to the story where you play as the leader and ace pilot Fox McCloud. This opening sequence and subsequent cutscenes are cinematic masterpieces, immersing you in the world of the mercenary squad Star Fox. The fully voiced dialogue balances the charm and banter between the well-developed characters, making their interactions feel authentic. There is no denying how the Star Wars saga inspired the Star Fox franchise, from the asteroid belt of Meteo to the icy (Hoth-like) planet of Fichina. As I played through the game, I found myself muttering “use the Force” more than once!

Inside the training area, with a communication from Yaru De Pon giving instructions as to how to perform a somersault. The control is shown on screen. Published on LadiesGamers — Somersault = D-pad up… got it!

With the events of five years prior explained, you launch straight into a training exercise with the rest of the Star Fox team: Falco Lombardi, Slippy Toad, and Peppy Hare. The way the tutorial is woven into the story is excellent, and you can replay it at any time. Whilst I felt confident about the controls, learning them in a controlled space is different from putting them into practice during a chaotic battle. Luckily, Peppy will give helpful hints and strategies throughout the missions, including his famous “do a barrel roll”!

Once you are well-versed in the controls, you can head into the main game and save the Lylat System.

General Pepper Calling Star Fox

Map of the Lylat System, with a route highlighted between planets and locations. Published on LadiesGamers — Wonder what I’ll find at Sector X

The campaign mode tells the story of General Pepper’s request for help from the Star Fox squad to defeat Andross and his forces. It consists of seven missions, always starting at Corneria and finishing at Venom, the planet where Andross was exiled, and now serves as his stronghold. Cutscenes between the missions make the game feel like you are part of a movie, and bring a strong cohesion to the story. However, you can skip the dialogue if you’ve already heard it.

The squad at an icy, snow filled outpost, with Fox saying “We've got to take out Star Wolf first!”. Published on LadiesGamers — Where’s that Wolf?!

The Lylat System consists of more than just seven locations, with new routes opening up if certain criteria are met. For example, if you defeat the Star Wolf team at Fichina, then you open up the route to Solar; if not, you’ll head to Sector X. Once you’ve been to a location, you can view the criteria needed to open up any alternate route.

This means that you’ll play some of the missions multiple times to unlock the other options. The repetition can be annoying, but when you successfully unlock a different route, you’ll be treated to new cutscenes, expanding the story even more. In addition, if you look closely, you might just notice how previous missions influence the current graphics, like a defeated Star Wolf team having bandages, or missile damage on the side of the Star Fox mothership.

A large eight pointed star-shaped boss, shooting swirling pink beams from two of the points. Published on LadiesGamers — I think I’ll avoid the pink beams

The missions in Star Fox take place across the diverse environments of the Lylat System; you might need to avoid the molten surface of Solar or navigate through the murky depths of Aquas. Some missions use the linear, forward-scrolling Corridor Mode, with enemies appearing in front of you. Other missions use the All-Range Mode, a free-roaming dogfight within a battle arena. Nearly all of the missions end with some sort of boss battle.

I didn’t find the bosses overly difficult (on Normal mode), but I found fighting in the All-Range Mode quite tricky. Although the controls are responsive enough, I couldn’t grasp the U-turn option as a means of changing direction. Luckily, when you reach the arena limits, you are automatically flung back into the action. My squad also suffered from friendly fire; I would aim for the enemy, but somehow my shots would hit my team!

Most of the missions are airborne, using the Arwing, although occasionally you will steer the Landmaster ground assault vehicle or pilot the Blue-Marine submersible. As long as your team members are active, you will receive communications from them, maybe asking for help, or making a comment about an enemy they have taken out. Unfortunately, there is limited dialogue, and soon you’ll hear the same comments; it’s especially noticeable when fighting against the Star Wolf team, and although you can turn down the voice volume, you can’t remove the on-screen messages.

You’ll receive a medal for achieving a certain number of hits and keeping the whole team active at each location. Gaining all the Normal difficulty medals unlocks the Expert difficulty. However, if Normal is proving too much of a challenge, there is an Easy option, albeit without the medals and high score rewards.

Challenges and Battles

List of challenges at Macbeth, including diverting the train, defeating 25 airborne enemies, and collecting 5 gold rings. Published on LadiesGamers — Which challenge shall I focus on?

As well as the campaign mode, each mission location has a set number of challenges. For example, you might need to defeat a specific type of enemy, complete the mission in a certain time, score a target number of hits, or perform a specific manoeuvre. It’s highly unlikely that you’ll complete all the challenges on one run, so you’ll need to make multiple attempts. It’s the repetition of the challenges which start to grate; hearing the same comments, originally funny, but now annoying. Obviously, repetition does mean you’ll learn enemy patterns and boss moves, so there are advantages. Completing all Normal challenges will unlock the Expert ones.

In battle mode, with team mates, enemies and pirate ships flying around. There is a score count and timer at the top of the screen. Published on LadiesGamers — I’ll try not to hit my teammates!

In addition to the campaign and challenges, there is a battle mode. A five-minute dogfight between the Star Fox and Star Wolf teams. You can select which character to play as, on either team, and with additional events to increase the scores. There are multiple settings for the battle mode, so you can increase the difficulty to suit your skill.

Battle mode can be played solo and offline, with bots filling the empty team slots. Alternatively, you can play online with friends, strangers or a combination. You can also use GameShare, playing locally with up to 3 other Nintendo Switch 2 or Nintendo Switch consoles (the graphics quality on the Switch is unsurprisingly reduced). You can also use GameShare via GameChat to play with up to 3 other Nintendo Switch 2 players.

There is a co-op option for both the campaign and challenge modes, although this relies on using the Joy-Con 2 controllers; one person using the Joy-Con 2 horizontally to pilot Fox’s vehicle, the other using the Joy-Con 2 mouse mode as gunner. This is the case for either local or GameShare via GameChat co-op. Although I admire the ambition and functionality, I did not find this co-op mode easy to use. I think I made a better pilot, but my gunner will probably disagree! What is very clever is the ability to change roles mid-mission, just by altering the Joy-Con 2 position.

Gameplay

The tutorial explains the controls clearly, and hints are given throughout the gameplay. If you need a reminder, though, you can refer to the options page during missions.

Star Fox plays smoothly in docked and handheld mode, with the text large enough to read. There is no touchscreen functionality, but you can use both Joy-Con 2 controllers in mouse mode for solo play.

There is no night or day cycle, but some of the missions are set in dark locations, especially the underwater world of Aquas.

Star Fox autosaves regularly, and you can resume campaigns at a later point if you haven’t got the time to finish in one sitting. It’s hard to give a time to play, as it depends on your abilities, but a mission would generally take 5 to 10 minutes to play. However, a couple of the missions took nearly an hour the first time, as I just couldn’t clear the objectives, but it improved significantly in future attempts.

Conclusion

I have a huge amount of admiration for Star Fox; the graphics and music are truly stunning and worthy of accolades. However, this is not a movie, and whilst some missions are good fun to blast through, the repetition eventually starts to feel draining. Ultimately, this is a game I will barrel roll into now and then for a quick shoot ’em up, rather than chill out with for a long, dedicated gaming session.

Final Verdict: I Like it