Star Fox review – Top Gun in space with talking animals

Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare, Slippy Toad, and the whole gang are back with Star Fox for the Nintendo Switch 2, and it’s a worthwhile ride. Star Fox’s reintroduction into the public eye began earlier this year with Fox’s appearance in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and his big PR push continues with this Star Fox 64 reimagining that feels built for hardcore franchise fans and younger newcomers alike. Highway to the danger zonehttps://embeds.beehiiv.com/a8d62108-86ed-4039-bf49-44877ba62c15 Image via Nintendo Star Fox is indeed yet another remake of Star Fox 64, which has already been “reimagined” a few times (Star Fox 64 3D on the 3DS, and Star Fox Zero on the Wii U), and that’s its biggest downfall: if you’re a long-time fan, you’ve probably played something a lot like this already. The biggest improvements in Star Fox are its technological advancements. The game is just plain gorgeous, but the Switch 2 also allows for smoother gameplay and much better presentation with full-fledged cutscenes in between the action. There’s also a fair amount of lore to dive into with a Codex that you unlock by playing through the campaign several times over, and it feels like there’s more backstory than other entries have fit in before. I’ve never been a big fan of flight games, because the controls always end up feeling wonky and unnatural to me. Star Fox bucks the trend by making something that’s easy to pick up and very fun to master, and it will also be immediately familiar to those who’ve played before. The Switch 2 JoyCon mouse also adds a new way to control the action, and it’s genuinely pretty fun and challenging to play it in co-op with two players as one flies the Arwing and another fires weapons. Star Fox’s campaign is quite short and easy to complete, but it’s meant to be replayed several times over with its branching pathways that create unique dialogue, cutscenes, and boss fights while chasing down the “true ending.” There’s also a challenge mode where you can unlock more lore and cosmetics for multiplayer mode, which is surprisingly fun, so I think many will get their money’s worth despite being able to finish the campaign once in just a few short hours. Achievements and an unlockable Expert difficulty further lengthen the experience. While a lot of the campaign’s missions are on rails, the occasional switch to All Range Mode (the ability to fly in any direction) is where I had the most fun, and this is also how its multiplayer is based. Four-vs-four matches reward the most skilled pilots who can chase down foes, destroy PvE enemies to rack up points, and capture objectives, and it’s a challenging and hectic extension of the singleplayer component. Image via Nintendo One of the funniest inclusions this time around is a set of augmented reality models when using Switch 2’s GameChat and a USB camera. There are quite a few characters to unlock, but you can also find wearable accessories like Fox’s visor or General Pepper’s hat, and it’s pretty hilarious to see them in one-to-one action. Barrel rolling into a new era Image via Nintendo I had a pretty visceral initial reaction to the “realism” aesthetic that this entry went for with its anthropomorphic cast. After playing through the game, it doesn’t bother me nearly as much, but it is still a bit unsettling at times. Like, Slippy Toad is really, truly slimy-looking. And Falco looks like he could’ve been a cast member in the 1986 Howard the Duck film. Using The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and then this reboot to introduce Fox McCloud to a new generation of gamers and consumers makes a lot of sense. But the incongruency of the designs, along with going for a realistic approach rather than something more cartoonish, makes less sense to me, especially considering younger players feel like a demographic in Nintendo’s sights. I think designs more akin to Star Fox Zero or even what we got in the movie would’ve been great and easier on the eyes, but this new aesthetic certainly separates the game from its predecessors, so maybe that was the goal. Thankfully, the game is fun enough to look past most issues I have with the design choices, including the over-the-top, cartoonish voice acting that is distracting at times. In the end, the new Star Fox feels like a soft reboot of the franchise that will allow Nintendo to take it into a new generation and expand on what exists, similarly to how Capcom used the Resident Evil 2 remake to springboard into several more remakes that helped reshape and realign the canon. I wouldn’t be surprised to see new Star Fox games utilizing this kind of idea moving forward. Image via Nintendo I’m most excited for where Star Fox heads next. Will Nintendo continue down the remake path by re-telling Star Fox Adventures and Star Fox Assault, or Star Fox 2, or will it tell all-new and engaging stories with these characters? This relaunch feels like a strong baseline with a lot of potential, but some defined direction for the series would

Jun 24, 2026 - 21:15

Star Fox review – Top Gun in space with talking animals

Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare, Slippy Toad, and the whole gang are back with Star Fox for the Nintendo Switch 2, and it’s a worthwhile ride.

Star Fox’s reintroduction into the public eye began earlier this year with Fox’s appearance in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and his big PR push continues with this Star Fox 64 reimagining that feels built for hardcore franchise fans and younger newcomers alike.

Highway to the danger zone

https://embeds.beehiiv.com/a8d62108-86ed-4039-bf49-44877ba62c15

Image via Nintendo Star Fox is indeed yet another remake of Star Fox 64, which has already been “reimagined” a few times (Star Fox 64 3D on the 3DS, and Star Fox Zero on the Wii U), and that’s its biggest downfall: if you’re a long-time fan, you’ve probably played something a lot like this already.

The biggest improvements in Star Fox are its technological advancements. The game is just plain gorgeous, but the Switch 2 also allows for smoother gameplay and much better presentation with full-fledged cutscenes in between the action. There’s also a fair amount of lore to dive into with a Codex that you unlock by playing through the campaign several times over, and it feels like there’s more backstory than other entries have fit in before.

I’ve never been a big fan of flight games, because the controls always end up feeling wonky and unnatural to me. Star Fox bucks the trend by making something that’s easy to pick up and very fun to master, and it will also be immediately familiar to those who’ve played before. The Switch 2 JoyCon mouse also adds a new way to control the action, and it’s genuinely pretty fun and challenging to play it in co-op with two players as one flies the Arwing and another fires weapons.

Star Fox’s campaign is quite short and easy to complete, but it’s meant to be replayed several times over with its branching pathways that create unique dialogue, cutscenes, and boss fights while chasing down the “true ending.” There’s also a challenge mode where you can unlock more lore and cosmetics for multiplayer mode, which is surprisingly fun, so I think many will get their money’s worth despite being able to finish the campaign once in just a few short hours. Achievements and an unlockable Expert difficulty further lengthen the experience.

While a lot of the campaign’s missions are on rails, the occasional switch to All Range Mode (the ability to fly in any direction) is where I had the most fun, and this is also how its multiplayer is based. Four-vs-four matches reward the most skilled pilots who can chase down foes, destroy PvE enemies to rack up points, and capture objectives, and it’s a challenging and hectic extension of the singleplayer component.

Image via Nintendo One of the funniest inclusions this time around is a set of augmented reality models when using Switch 2’s GameChat and a USB camera. There are quite a few characters to unlock, but you can also find wearable accessories like Fox’s visor or General Pepper’s hat, and it’s pretty hilarious to see them in one-to-one action.

Barrel rolling into a new era

Image via Nintendo I had a pretty visceral initial reaction to the “realism” aesthetic that this entry went for with its anthropomorphic cast. After playing through the game, it doesn’t bother me nearly as much, but it is still a bit unsettling at times. Like, Slippy Toad is really, truly slimy-looking. And Falco looks like he could’ve been a cast member in the 1986 Howard the Duck film.

Using The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and then this reboot to introduce Fox McCloud to a new generation of gamers and consumers makes a lot of sense. But the incongruency of the designs, along with going for a realistic approach rather than something more cartoonish, makes less sense to me, especially considering younger players feel like a demographic in Nintendo’s sights.

I think designs more akin to Star Fox Zero or even what we got in the movie would’ve been great and easier on the eyes, but this new aesthetic certainly separates the game from its predecessors, so maybe that was the goal. Thankfully, the game is fun enough to look past most issues I have with the design choices, including the over-the-top, cartoonish voice acting that is distracting at times.

In the end, the new Star Fox feels like a soft reboot of the franchise that will allow Nintendo to take it into a new generation and expand on what exists, similarly to how Capcom used the Resident Evil 2 remake to springboard into several more remakes that helped reshape and realign the canon. I wouldn’t be surprised to see new Star Fox games utilizing this kind of idea moving forward.

Image via Nintendo I’m most excited for where Star Fox heads next. Will Nintendo continue down the remake path by re-telling Star Fox Adventures and Star Fox Assault, or Star Fox 2, or will it tell all-new and engaging stories with these characters?

This relaunch feels like a strong baseline with a lot of potential, but some defined direction for the series would definitely be welcome.

The post Star Fox review – Top Gun in space with talking animals appeared first on Destructoid.

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