Star Fox has been remade before for the Nintendo 3DS, so another remake for the Switch 2 might have felt unnecessary. However, it was important to bring the IP back into the spotlight, especially after the recent Mario movie, where Fox McCloud had one of the lead roles. While this remake of Star Fox 64 closely follows the gameplay design of the original, it also makes several changes to better suit both newcomers and longtime fans of the franchise.
The game’s story follows the same path as the original, taking place in the Lylat System with Andross returning as the main antagonist. The opening covers the infamous incident in which Fox McCloud’s father loses his life, while also introducing a new cast of characters. The new story cutscenes are beautifully animated and looked fantastic when I played the game in docked mode. The voice acting is also excellent. While most of the cutscenes do a great job of building the personalities of Fox McCloud and the supporting cast, including Peppy and Falco, some fans may be a little divided on a few of the new narrative additions. As someone who hasn’t played many Star Fox games, I really enjoyed how they gave the game a fresh presentation with high-quality cinematics.
Gameplay is where Star Fox still reigns supreme, and there is a lot to like here. First of all, the main campaign is split into a series of missions where the core gameplay revolves around on-rails shooting. Since this was my first proper introduction to Star Fox, I spent some time with the tutorial, which does a good job of teaching the game’s core mechanics. While the campaign itself is short if you’re only focused on completing the missions, there’s actually plenty of replay value thanks to the level design. Each mission features hidden objectives, challenges to complete, and medals to collect.
The game might offer a few branching paths, but the road to the ending is mostly linear. The controls are excellent and responsive, and even though I’ve never been a fan of on-rails shooters, this one was right up my alley. The character banter, the sense of speed, and the constant thrill all come together to create an experience that you don’t really find in many other games.
When it comes to gameplay modes, the game also adds a new Challenge Mode, where players can take on extra objectives based on stages they’ve already completed in the main campaign. These challenges are fun to work through, especially if you enjoy the on-rails shooting sections. They offer plenty of variety, including timed boss fights, weak-point challenges, and races against rival pilots. They also help players improve their skills and become more comfortable with the controls, which is a win-win in my book.
The game also adds an offline co-op mode, along with an online multiplayer mode where players can take part in 4v4 objective-based dogfights. It isn’t the strongest part of the remake and feels more like a mode added to showcase the Switch 2’s GameShare and multiplayer features. It also lacks stage variety, and the objectives become repetitive fairly quickly, making it difficult to see myself coming back to it in the long run. While the multiplayer still adds some value to the package, I would argue that the real appeal of the game is its single-player campaign, along with the challenges and optional objectives available in each mission.
The visuals are beautiful in this remake, and the character designs stay true to the original vision of the series rather than adopting the versions Nintendo created for the Mario movie. That works in the game’s favour, as the characters are wonderfully animated and the voice acting gives them a lot of personality. The game also runs exceptionally well on the Switch 2, delivering a sharp image and maintaining its 60 FPS target without any noticeable drops.
While Star Fox for Switch 2 is an exceptional remake and does a great job of bringing the franchise back into the spotlight, those who have already spent a considerable amount of time with the 3DS or original N64 version may not find much incentive to return. The undercooked multiplayer can be fun in short bursts, but I don’t see it maintaining a large player base for very long. The writing in some of the new cutscenes is also a little lacklustre, although I really enjoyed the fully voiced cinematics, so it’s easy to overlook that issue.
Overall, I feel this is the perfect game for Star Fox fans to own, and if it helps kickstart the franchise again, that’s only good news. The amount of replay value on offer also makes the price feel worthwhile, especially if you enjoy the gameplay as much as I did. That said, if you’ve already finished the original release and the 3DS remake, I find it hard to recommend picking this version up unless you’re simply looking for an excuse to revisit the game.
Star Fox Game Information
- Price: $59.99
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Developer: Velan Studios
- Platform: Switch 2 (Reviewed)
- Disclaimer: A review code was given by the publisher
