[0:00] There's a reason Nintendo keeps remaking
[0:02] Star Fox 64. The N64 iteration of the
[0:05] rail shooter, at the time the second
[0:07] Star Fox release, remains the apex of
[0:10] the franchise, a genuinely fantastic
[0:12] game that still holds up and stands the
[0:15] test of time. Subsequent sequels that
[0:18] have attempted to recapture the magic
[0:19] have floundered by comparison. This
[0:21] latest iteration, simply titled Star Fox
[0:24] for what I can only assume is meant to
[0:26] be a soft reboot, plays just as great as
[0:29] you remember and even looks better. But
[0:32] if you've already played Star Fox 64 in
[0:35] any iteration, it will be hard to shake
[0:37] the feeling of deja vu.
[0:46] Atmospheric entry complete. Extend the
[0:48] wings. For the uninitiated, or perhaps
[0:51] those who just learned about ultra cool
[0:53] guy Fox Mloud from his spotlight
[0:55] stealing cameo in the Mario Galaxy
[0:57] movie, Star Fox takes place in a galaxy
[1:00] called the Lilacat system, composed of
[1:03] anthropomorphic animals with futuristic
[1:05] space travel technology. Star Fox is a
[1:08] group of well-funded fighter jock
[1:10] mercenaries who are regularly called
[1:13] upon by a military general, a dog named
[1:16] Pepper, to assist their space combat
[1:19] operations. As established in an opening
[1:21] cutscene some years ago, Fox's father,
[1:24] James Mloud, was in route to investigate
[1:26] questionable activity on a planet named
[1:29] Venom when his wingmate Pigma betrayed
[1:31] him to the mad scientist Andros. James
[1:34] was lost. his trusty wingman Pepe
[1:37] escaped and Andros kept quietly
[1:39] assembling his army for an invasion of
[1:42] the rest of the Lilat system. That
[1:44] sequence establishes one of the major
[1:46] new features of this remake. Fully
[1:49] animated cutscenes, and to their credit,
[1:52] these are very well-made sequences. The
[1:54] aerial stunts look cool while staying
[1:56] true to the original spirit were needed,
[1:59] and the voice acting has been updated to
[2:01] facilitate the expanded scope. The more
[2:04] realistic character designs were
[2:05] divisive when shown off earlier this
[2:07] year, but I felt fine with them from the
[2:10] beginning, and after spending some time
[2:12] seeing them animated in cutscenes, I've
[2:14] come to really appreciate the look.
[2:17] Their faces are nicely expressive, and
[2:19] textures like fur give them a sense of
[2:21] realism while still staying in the
[2:23] fantastical world of space animals. The
[2:26] vast majority of the cut scenes take
[2:28] place aboard their docking ship, The
[2:30] Great Fox, as they discuss strategy, but
[2:32] the characters are still given lots of
[2:34] characterization in their movements and
[2:36] gestures to express their perspectives
[2:38] and personalities. For example, Falco
[2:41] rolls his eyes a lot because he is above
[2:44] all kind of a jerk.
[2:46] >> Some of your crew is worth it anyway. A
[2:49] similarly heightened level of visual
[2:50] fidelity is present in the stages
[2:52] themselves, which look recognizable to
[2:54] their N64 counterparts without feeling
[2:57] too beholden to their jagged edges and
[2:59] geometry. While all the stages look
[3:01] great, the upgraded style is most
[3:04] impressive when it shows off new
[3:05] flourishes that weren't available in the
[3:07] original, like the lighting effects of
[3:09] your lasers reflecting off the surfaces
[3:11] and illuminating dark caves. Star Fox 64
[3:14] always excelled at stage variety, but
[3:17] this remake accentuates it by making
[3:19] each stage appear vastly different from
[3:21] the rest. I especially loved revisiting
[3:24] the stages that are major departures
[3:25] from the others. Revisiting all the
[3:27] areas takes at least a few runs because
[3:29] of how the stage layout has worked since
[3:31] the original. One of the coolest aspects
[3:33] of Star Fox 64, and again here, is the
[3:36] ability to carve your way from one side
[3:38] of the galaxy to another in a relatively
[3:40] free form fashion, completing optional
[3:43] objectives. In broad terms, you can see
[3:45] the three paths as easy, medium, and
[3:48] hard, but you aren't limited to one
[3:50] track. If you know how to find your way,
[3:52] you can easily hop between paths
[3:54] throughout. So, you aren't committed to
[3:56] only staying on one difficulty track.
[3:58] Completing a hidden objective that opens
[4:01] the harder path will always let you
[4:02] switch to the easier one. But if you
[4:05] only complete the easier objective, you
[4:07] can't switch to the harder path. In the
[4:09] original Star Fox 64, this was presented
[4:12] rather plainly with a blue, yellow, or
[4:14] red line showing where you can go. In
[4:16] this version, it's given a good deal
[4:18] more panache, thanks again to the new
[4:20] extended cutscenes. Rather than simply
[4:23] present you with a choice of locations
[4:25] for your next mission, each mission
[4:27] starts with General Pepper debriefing
[4:29] from the last mission and explaining the
[4:31] strategic importance of both next
[4:33] possible locations. One might have a
[4:35] suspected bioweapon while the other is
[4:37] an outpost under attack. In each case,
[4:40] Pepper outlines why Star Fox is the best
[4:42] or perhaps only available force to
[4:44] complete this mission. And since there's
[4:47] some overlap as you could approach a
[4:49] planet from different directions, it's
[4:51] particularly impressive how these
[4:52] cutscenes stitch different pieces
[4:54] together without feeling noticeably
[4:56] disjointed.
[4:57] >> You should neutralize the facility and
[4:59] destroy that weapon before it's deployed
[5:01] against us.
[5:02] >> We'll take it under advisement, General.
[5:05] >> These all lead to the same outcome. Of
[5:07] course, you're ultimately headed toward
[5:09] Venom to take on Andros no matter what,
[5:12] and it doesn't make a difference in the
[5:13] end whether you went to Sector X or
[5:15] Solar, but it does a good job of tying
[5:18] the journey together and giving each
[5:19] mission an appropriate amount of weight.
[5:22] Sometimes I even felt bad abandoning one
[5:24] planet in Ne for another, even knowing
[5:26] that it doesn't have any impact. The
[5:28] extended cutscenes also help define the
[5:30] characters' relationships with each
[5:32] other and with General Pepper. Felco has
[5:35] always been portrayed as a cocky hot
[5:37] shot, but here we get to see him slowly
[5:40] warming to Fox's leadership. Pepe is the
[5:43] assured veteran who trusts Fox will come
[5:45] into his own as a leader. We even get
[5:48] some insight about why the team keeps
[5:50] Slippy around as the cut scenes sell him
[5:52] as a machinist wonder kind who's always
[5:55] two steps ahead in anticipating their
[5:57] equipment needs. I've been developing a
[6:00] prototype submersible. It's exactly what
[6:02] we need for this sort of mission.
[6:04] >> And Fox, for the most part, is played as
[6:07] the cool Han Solo type, a mercenary
[6:09] needing General Pepper to pay for their
[6:11] valuable services, even if he's
[6:13] obviously going to do the heroic thing
[6:15] regardless. Wayfinding to new paths is a
[6:18] little easier this time around, too.
[6:20] Dialogue will drop hints about what to
[6:22] do to open new paths without being
[6:24] overly on the nose or spelling it out
[6:26] for you. If you miss an optional
[6:27] objective, it's easier to restart a
[6:29] stage from the beginning or from your
[6:31] most recent checkpoint. And doing so
[6:33] doesn't even cost you a life or
[6:35] eliminate your laser upgrades or bombs.
[6:38] You can even entirely complete a stage,
[6:40] see where it leads, and then go back and
[6:42] do it again immediately to try for
[6:44] another way. That said, I was surprised
[6:46] that each run through the Lilat system
[6:49] is treated as its own distinct game
[6:51] progression, like the original. That
[6:53] means that once you finish the game,
[6:55] you'll need to start a new on Corneria
[6:57] and cut your path through from the
[6:59] beginning. This is true to the original,
[7:01] and I don't mind the faithfulness to a
[7:04] point, but for returning fans who
[7:06] already know their way around, it would
[7:08] have been nice to have the option to
[7:09] track which paths you've already opened
[7:12] and let you jump back to planets,
[7:14] eventually creating a fully filled out
[7:16] star map. And while the updated visuals
[7:18] are often gorgeous, they do come with
[7:20] some trade-offs that take getting used
[7:22] to. For one thing, your targets are a
[7:24] lot less obvious with much more
[7:26] happening on screen visually, so it's
[7:28] easier to miss a flyer who gets away. In
[7:31] boss battles, weak points are less
[7:33] obvious than the glowing vulnerabilities
[7:35] of the original, and they don't flash as
[7:37] brightly when you land a successful hit
[7:39] to let you know that you're doing
[7:41] damage. And with the higher fidelity
[7:43] making everything look much more like it
[7:45] has weight and bulk. It's a little
[7:46] strange when a capital warship in Area 6
[7:50] explodes like an empty cardboard box.
[7:53] >> Curse you, Star Fox.
[7:58] >> Star Fox is a remake, but also appears
[8:01] to be an attempt at a reset. The
[8:04] franchise has never really found its
[8:06] footing despite clearly having a lot of
[8:07] love from Nintendo. This story has
[8:10] always felt like a starting point,
[8:11] establishing the characters and hinting
[8:13] at their backstory. So altogether, this
[8:16] remake may be the best possible way to
[8:18] give the series a fresh start. At the
[8:21] same time, the original still holds up
[8:23] very well. And if you have Switch online
[8:26] with the expansion pass, you can already
[8:28] play it. That makes this hard to
[8:30] recommend, which is a shame. If Nintendo
[8:33] means this to be a new beginning for
[8:35] Star Fox, retreading familiar ground
[8:37] undermines the effort.