- Tested on Switch 2
- Game purchased in physical edition in Japan
- Home screenshots
- Finish standard mode with all gold medals
- Campaign in expert mode completed
- Online mode tested some parts
Since 2018, there have been persistent rumours about the imminent release of a certain Star Fox Grand Prix, a so-called racing game inspired by the universe of the series and cherries on the cake, developed by Retro Studio. Nothing will happen to texans, except a mediocre Metroid, which we would have done well. In the secret of the gods, supposed initiates swore that Nintendo was preparing a new, more classical episode, when other equally wise oracles were convinced that Star Fox Adventures preparing her comeback. The stars were aligned and yet nothing. When suddenly, on a beautiful spring day, a Nintendo direct surprise came up against all these beautiful predictions! Nintendo then showered all hope by announcing that Fox would return but in a simple remake of Lylat Wars. Directed by the Americans of Velan Studios, the title was supervised by the small artisan. In 2011, the game had already been given a splendid rereading, academic certainly, but sublimated by stereoscopic 3D. Fifteen years later, the French favorite fox asks us an existential question: is a remake of a remake a good remake? Or is it a disguised remaster?
We don't change a winning team
It was in 1997 that the happy owners of a Nintendo 64 travelled the space with the legendary mercenary troupe known as StarFox. At the time, little anecdote, it was the very first game to offer vibrations with the famous Rumble Pak which caused the cottages to fret. Note that for the sake of professionalism, the author of his lines played a part of the title above the clouds, in his plane for Japan, in order to transcribe the turbulences of the Airwing IRL. Sensations guaranteed! Erected to the rank of timeless classic, Star Fox So won several generations of players on Nintendo 64, on 3DS and now on Switch 2. You can perfectly make a family meal and that everyone played Star Fox once in their life!
With outings spaced about fifteen years after each return to the band, would the greedy fox have taken Corneria's accounts to pay for a nice early retirement? Unless Fox behaves more like an old rockstar who would go back on tour after finding out that the retirement savings plan had mostly wiped out a life train that was too cavalier. Like a star who makes her eternal return but still sings her same old songs, don't count on a comeback at the end of the concert. Even if you applaud him with all your strength, the one you've been waiting for years is already drinking his martini in the lodges. In short, you will have understood, the pin hunter of bounties and distant cousin of Han Solo remained under the radars of too long years to be forgiven to return to sing the same chorus as if nothing were. « We said we'd meet in 10 years. Same day, same time...»Stop, that's enough now! We haven't reached what we call in the jargon yet. « point F-Zero », a new open scale used to measure a publisher's contempt for his fans. But Nintendo tickles our nerves!
Sarcasms aside, what a shame not to seize more of the universe of Lylat Wars which owes a lot to Georges Lucas' saga. An exception to the crazy years of the Gamecube period, when Nintendo had (yet) the taste of risk, the fox's exits rely on the fingers of one hand. Present at the console line up, excellent Star Fox Adventures had made emulators, succeeding in making the shadow of Link. Star Fox Assault This brief parenthesis will end with an honest action game but whose ground phases had failed to enchant critics. Then nothing new to get under the tooth before this 3DS remake that certainly served as the basic material for this Switch 2 version.
Automatic driver enabled
Fifteen years later, you instantly regain your brands and the gameplay is always as pleasant. Like the famous B-52 Americans still in office since Vietnam, Airwing is a sure value that we proudly fly from father to son. One button is used to drop teleguided bombs, another button is used to fire in gust or lock and triggers allow us to adjust our trajectories in tight turns. In the open areas, we can also do aerial acrobatics with a simple push of a button, a technique of choice to lure our opponents who had taken us out and hit them in the back. A simple gameplay that did not move from one thread to another. As for the staging of the levels, it is still as dizzying thanks to a short but devilishly varied campaign.
Switch 2 forces, the game offers increased resolution and fluidity to any test whether it is docked or portable. We also wonder if the game could have been a candidate found everything to shoot at 120 fps. We feel that the developers have cared for the lighting and reflections that make the space particularly vibrant. When you push the accelerator, the sensation of speed is immediately exhilarating. On the HDR screen of the console, we take a lot of mirettes. Despite a very dirigist level of design, the game gives the impression of melting at all speeds towards the enemy, especially when choosing the muscular method by carefully avoiding achieving the objectives. Special mention for sectors X and Y, where Rob sends powerful laser rays to decimate mother ships. Simply playful!
The levels in space are always the most impressive. Apart from the aquatic world which still makes as much bailer and the rare terrestrial phases at Landmaster a weary tantinet by repeating the missions in loop, the construction of the levels is a model of rhythm. If bosses do not present any serious difficulties, each one of them has its own patterns and graphic identity that make each encounter a pleasure of (re)discovery. Argument marketing obliges, the staging of this remake is even closer to Star Wars, thanks to friendly kinematics that come to punctuate the adventure with briefings that sequence without loading time.
The Star Wars According to Nintendo
The new artistic direction of kinematics will not make everyone agree. Fox sometimes has mimics of old crooner from Cape Agde. A wise mix between Patrick Sebastien and Patrick Bruel who allegedly abused bourbon, will say the wrong languages. The choice of anthropomorphism and « realism » animalist may surprise at first sight but we do. Wonderful moment of grace when Fox starts running all engulfed in his suit, vomited like a cabossed grandmother! Nevertheless, these kinematics give a coating « strategic » Very cool together, especially when you have to choose between two tactical choices and to which planet our squadron is headed.
Apart from these questions of form, no surprise for initiates, since the game religiously follows the original game. If the artistic direction of the characters has done a lot of jazz on the internet, we feel that Nintendo is looking to expand its universe and that's so much better. After setting the stage with the last film Mario, who knows, maybe we'll finally get a new opus before 15 years? Another total success of this remake, the musical reorchestration of the original OST is a real candy for fans! A remarkable job that gives a crazy punch at the level.
So what's the best version? Certainly I would always have the heart that wraps up thinking about the 3D relief and the wonderful deep effects of the 3DS version. However, this Remake Switch 2 is to date the most beautiful entry door to the series. For those who missed the check in 1997 and 2011, it is an opportunity to discover a classic. For the novices, let us remember that the adventure sends at the speed light and that all the interest of the title lies in the discovery of alternative paths until defying Andross (nothing to do with the compote). A health course that becomes otherwise more demanding when trying to get the gold medals at each level.
If the title did not air cut for the scoring at first glance, the fault of a lack of combo meters in particular, it is however by trying to kill the maximum enemies that one exploits the true potential of the title. Without being impossible, this requires being demanding and persevering while using all the gameplay mechanics and the best connections, all the more so since the objective to be achieved leaves little room for error. It will also be necessary to ensure that our three companions do not get liquidated in order to achieve the goal. Caution also, as these blunders will not hesitate to strike your priority and you will always have to try to kill the enemies before they load them. Detail that has its charm, the friendly fire is activated, so don't hesitate to avenge yourself and stuff the pif of your comrades!
A big name, it deserves
Once all the gold medals have been obtained, one can unlock the expert mode otherwise more punitive. Collisions immediately make us lose a wing which makes the mechanics more interesting. The centre of gravity of the Airwing then switches, changing the steering of the aircraft. Moreover the enemies are more numerous and much more aggressive. Finally finished the continuous, we must arrive on the planet Venom of a milking and optimize our journeys accordingly. Nothing insurmountable like the game is not a bad life. This choice of gamedesign to unlock expert mode after aligning the medals may be questionable, since 95% of players will never see the color of this mode. Worse still, once unlocked, not said that we still want to redo the same levels that we have sanded as standard, especially for the old breakers of N64 and 3DS. (Let time pass quickly).
That said, aiming for gold medals is also a way to teach us how to tame Airwing. There is a real margin of progression, and once we have won our stripes, we flirt in the air with the grace of the Millennium Falcon. A treat for as long as we set ourselves is even personal goals! If there was one point that Velan Studios could have improved, it was certainly looking for a more attractive carrot to push to the score. Is the combo not the alpha and the omega of any arcade game? Another idea that would have made sense, proposing new ships and weapons, especially as the multiplayer allows. Let us have the right to dream, Nintendo could also have proposed an alternative campaign from the point of view of the adversary.
Certainly trapped by the weight of the original game, we feel that the developers did not want to do anything other than put the title to the taste of the day. Did they have a choice? If we were willing to understand the desire to stick to the original game, nothing would have prevented them from offering additional branching and why not a third end. Ah yes, please, there are many new things. You earn money that does not serve you at every end of the campaign and I forgot one essential point. By winning all the gold medals, Fox's father is unlocked with his sunglasses exclusively visible in the miniatures of the radio retransmission, not in cinematics. « For sure »This is a well deserved reward!
Dog fights on line
Let's still note a pleasant surprise with the online multiplayer mode, much more friendly than we hope, even if we doubt that it holds in breath over the duration. Fixed or moving point captures give (almost) one side Battlefield All. Above all, fans will enjoy discovering other ships to fly. Each pilot has his own offensive or defensive abilities. We can even speed up the speed of play to travel faster the vast open areas where these air skirmishes take place more technical than it seems with the aerial parades, tight turns while braking and other strokes of Trafalgar.
Gimmick of this Switch 2 edition, the game allows to use a webcam so that our character transcribes the same expressions as we ingame. We already see you do duckfaces all over the place. A friendly idea that bypasses the rigor of Nintendo, always very sensitive to protect his young audience online. Still, it is worth buying a compatible camera for a handful of games that exploit it... The game is also playable with the controllers as with a mouse that would be used on a table. But not sure that this feature never touched the players. Finally Star fox offers the most annoying local multiplayer mode in the world where one player runs the ship while the other aims. Again, not enough to do emulations! A last rather wise challenge mode will extend the experience for the more reckless.
If you've never played Star Fox before, this Switch 2 version is the perfect opportunity to discover a classic Nintendo. For others who are eating their brakes hoping to get a new opus before dying, the answer is less obvious. Everything will depend on your love for frankness and your appetite for the score. Anyway, going back to Star Fox is replaying a title that hasn't aged for a ride. A classic of the kind that makes us hope that finally Nintendo seizes the license to rebuild its bases. Like what they could do with Zelda, Mario or more recently Donkey Kong, they are perfectly capable. As long as we don't expect fifteen this time... And hope thatOcarina of Time will afford a little more daring this winter.
For
- Timeless gameplay
- Branches
- Vibrating sound design
- Excellent musical orchestration
- Multi friendly
- Cinematics fanservice
Against
- A remake of a remake
- Expert mode to unlock
- Scoring system not very engaging
Very disappointed that it is "only" a remake, a game that I have already made the remake, after having completed the original opus being a kid... But as I cross your fingers so it's just the beginning, a wet-finger test to see if the mayonnaise takes in the players...
However, no hope concerning Ocarina of Time concerning me: I expect a copy respected to the letter of the original game. I'm going to do this not to repeat the 3DS version (the best and far away) to avoid cracking and going back to the check-out later this year.
It was really great 3DS version. I still expect a modernized gameplay! But a follow-up of the dungeons to the letter. ^^^
I offered it for my son's birthday... But between us, I already feel that it is I who will take off most often in the Arwing. He'll get the cake, I'll get the controller. I have a galactic fox rush. 🙂