The Lylat Wars loom just over the horizon again, and tensions are high. It is once again up to Team Star Fox to stop Andross’ invasion. Initially, the people of Corneria were wary: “Really? Another war with Venom?”; “What is this, the fourth time? Fifth?”; “OH HEAVENS, WHY DO I LOOK SO REALISTIC?!” But, as the initial shock has settled down, most citizens have come around. This reporter has sat in the cockpit with Fox McCloud himself, tagging along on the team’s mission to Meteo, and I believe these four pilots really are the Lylat System’s best hope.
I’ll admit, I was also skeptical about the upcoming Star Fox game as well. The surprise Direct announcing the game and giving tons of details on it left me disappointed. The more I thought about it, though, the more I came around to the idea of the game. After the Super Mario Galaxy Movie, kids are actually talking about Fox McCloud again, not just in the context of Smash Bros. either. Those kids interested in the character will probably check out a new Star Fox game, and the best chance to cement the series in their minds is to give them the same legendary game a lot of people grew up on. You can hear more of my thoughts on that specific topic in the Bookmark below, because now that I’ve actually gotten my hands on the game through the demo, I just need to gush about it for a bit.
David Flynn
The demo has three main sections: Prologue, Training, and Meteo. Starting the demo for the first time, you’ll automatically be taken through the game’s opening minutes by watching the Prologue which leads directly into Training. Developer Velan Studios, previously known for Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit and Knockout City, has forgone the typical Star Wars style opening crawl to give you a more intimate perspective on James McCloud, Peppy Hare, and Pigma Dengar’s mission to Venom five years ago. I’m immediately struck by how cinematic it all feels. I know, I know, cinematic is a bit of a tired term in games these days, but it really works here. Dialogue and voice acting have moved from cheesy and campy in 64 to natural and serious… with a bit of cheese and camp still in there for good measure. Star Fox has never been super focused on story and characters, with even Assault and Command still squarely about their gameplay, but I, for one, have always wanted to go deeper into this space opera hidden just under the surface. It’s been there for a while, in manuals and manga like Farewell Beloved Falco, but it’s never been the center focus in one of the games before.
The Prologue is brief, but it still gives you more insight into the characters than previous interpretations. James is the cool-headed leader, Peppy is the loyal best friend, and Pigma… well, he still seems like the most obvious traitor ever, but we’ll have to see if the full game expands on his character a bit. Still, I really like what they’re doing here, and it leads directly into the game’s tutorial, with some big but subtle changes to Fox’s character right off the bat. Instead of being serious and something of a vessel for the player, he feels like he’s become a “cocky little freak”, which is a little jarring at first but is absolutely pitch-perfect. He’s still avenging his father, yes, but he’s also going to do it his own way and get that bag while he’s at it. I’d even go so far as to wager vengeance is more of a bonus to him here rather than his main goal, at least at the start of the story. With just his first line of dialogue, it feels like there are way more places for his character to go.
The Tutorial continues to set up the characters while teaching you the controls. You’ll come out of this not just knowing how to play, but also that Peppy is something of a worrier over Fox and is trying to mentor the group to take things more seriously. That Slippy is more interested in tech and gadgets than actually piloting his Arwing. And that Falco will take any risk if it means he can one-up Fox. It shows you this through dialogue, but also through gameplay. At the end of training, when Falco ups the difficulty and disengages the safety protocols, Slippy is downed almost immediately, while Peppy lasts just a bit longer, and Falco is competing with you to the end. You can really feel the love and vision for the franchise Velan Studios has; they’re not just remaking Star Fox 64, they’re reinterpreting it, like putting new flair and extra details into a story you’ve told your friends a thousand times.
This trend continues into the demo’s main attraction: the Meteo stage. To be honest, Meteo is far from my favorite in the original game, but it’s probably the perfect way to show off the game here, with two exits to see. Before we get into the gameplay, though, let’s talk a bit more about the story. You get more of all three characters here, further cementing their characterizations established in the tutorial. Slippy theorizes about how the tunnels formed in the big meteors, while Peppy warns that the whole system could look like this wasteland if the war keeps up. Falco gets the least amount of play here, but really, that tells you more about him than any constant chatter could.
The cutscenes after each exit are also filled with some wonderful detail, like Fox putting General Pepper on mute to hear some thoughts from the team, then goading him about the base on Fichina’s real purpose. The warp exit also contextualizes your choice of either heading to Fichina or Katina, which is really cool. It makes me want to see every possible exit and route because of all the little details and character moments.
OK, OK, let’s actually talk about the gameplay now. If you’ve played Star Fox 64, you’ll feel mostly at home here. Controls are smooth and comfortable, with all the buttons being where you’d think they are: fire on A, bombs on Y, Brake on B, Boost on X, tilt and barrel roll on the triggers and bumpers, and somersaults and U-Turns on the D-Pad. There’s also an option for mouse controls, which rearranges things to be more comfortable in that configuration. This mode gives you quicker and more precise aiming, but here it feels weirder to have aim and movement intertwined. An option for Star Fox Zero-like aiming (with or without mouse controls), would have been nice, though once you get used to it, you can still get high scores on the mouse. It’s not my preferred method of play, but I’ll probably do a run or two with them because the forced first-person makes the levels feel a bit more real and alive, even if it does heavily restrict what you can see.
Anyway, the game feels really good to play, and I was able to get the medal in Meteo fairly easily, having played 64 and its various iterations a ton. If you’re not intimately familiar with the original game, you’ll probably feel like it plays the same, but there are a few differences. For example, lock-on seems a lot faster here, and you can do the Star Fox Zero thing of locking on then aiming up to have your shot curve down towards an enemy in an arc. I need to spend more time directly comparing the two to spot all the differences, but I think most of the changes are for the better.
My biggest complaint here is actually about the sound effects: they lack the punch of the original game. Deflecting shots with a barrel roll doesn’t have that satisfying plink, getting hit isn’t as devastating of a boom, your lasers don’t feel as pew pew, stuff like that. It fits more with the realistic art style, but I do think it genuinely impacts gameplay, especially with barrel rolls. Instead of listening for the sound to see if I deflected at the right time, I need to look at my Arwing to watch the shots bounce off, because the current sound effect fades into the background. When the full game comes out, I think a Resident Evil-style DLC (preferably free) that replaces all the SFX with versions from previous games, including SNES, GameCube, and N64, would be appreciated. Speaking of DLC, I’d also love a Survival or Rogue-like mode that has you going through all the stages on one life and with limited resources.
My complaints are really nitpicks at the end of the day. I had a ton of fun with this demo, and have played it like 6 times in just a few days. I cannot wait to play the full thing when it finally launches on June 25th, and you can bet I’ll be playing it dozens of times to get all the high scores.
