I had this big ass, dumb smile throughout my time playing Star Fox 2026. I grew up playing Star Fox SNES & Star Fox 64. These games further my love of space & anthropomorphic characters. I also frequently used catchphrases like “Geez Laweez”, “Good Luck”, and “Can’t Let You Do That” as a child.
Star Fox 64 shaped parts of my life so I cannot play Star Fox 2026 without the experience I had as a child. I have also never played any of the newer Star Fox games after 64 so my love of the entire Star Fox series & why I love these characters so much is because of the SNES & 64 games.
Velan Studios did such a fantastic job at capturing most of everything that Star Fox 64 had to offer while every new addition is better than I could have ever expected. One of the biggest additions is the focus on cinematics. Star Fox 64 had small bits of dialogue that tied the story together. Star Fox 2026 dedicates so much time to providing weight to each of the locations we visit throughout the game. That I had to think about the routes I wanted to go based on whether it was where General Pepper’s preferred I go or where my crew wanted to go.
Although, I greatly love the cinematics as I enjoyed seeing the Star Fox crew together. The cinematics lacked tension. When I was playing the game, I felt the overwhelming pressure of Andross. As I got closer & closer to the final planet, Venom, the game got more difficult. Enemies that could be destroyed in a single shot are now swarming in large groups. Battleships & Bioweapons are appearing to stop my progression. The stakes felt real.
However, in the cutscenes, it doesn’t feel like that. The Star Fox crew doesn’t get affected by what’s happening. They act the same way leaving Corneria as they do approaching Venom. For Fox, his father died on Venom. This should be a major moment! Is Fox hesitating? Maybe Peppy feeling unsure if Fox is ready for this. Instead, it is played off like just another mission that might be more difficult than the last.
Now this didn’t affect my first time playing through the game because I was just so happy to see these cinematics look so good & to see the Star Fox crew communicate in ways I have never seen them communicate before. However, as I look to the future at a potential new Star Fox…64 remake, I hope to they attempt a more deeper character focused story with real stakes & emotional moments for these characters we love so much!
The music & environments are just stunning. These detailed environments fully capture every aspect of their Star Fox 64 counterparts. Paired with one of the greatest soundtracks that is now orchestrated. It just feels good for my soul & my body. A part of me wishes I can just fly without any enemies just to fully experience all of these locations & their music.
A change that I don’t feel like they fully nailed is the voice acting. This isn’t an issue with any of the actors themselves or specific voice performances. Instead there is a strong disconnect between the vocal performances of Star Fox 64 being this overly theatrical performance of these characters.
In comparison to Star Fox 2026, where the vocal performances are more grounded in reality. This disconnect didn’t distract me from enjoying the voice acting. I enjoy the characters & there wasn’t anyone where I was like, “That doesn’t sound right”.
Maybe the decision for more grounded performances was the choice of the voice director, Velan Studios or Nintendo, but I wish there was a better balance of the theatrical acting from Star Fox 64 & the grounded performances in Star Fox 2026. Honestly, Andross captured this balance very well in Star Fox 2026.
The last element I want to talk about is the gameplay! It is Star Fox 64. If people question whether Star Fox 2026 is worth playing, I’d recommend playing the demo or a couple of levels in Star Fox 64 and asking them if they would want to play the same game with better music, graphics, and cinematics.
However because it is Star Fox 64, the gameplay is already incredible. It is so nice to see a classic shoot ’em up or as Velan Studio calls it a “Cinematic Shooter” that just feels good to play. These games are not funded by big publishers anymore so to see Star Fox with such an incredible high level of production make a shoot ’em up game is incredible exciting!
The game is still as short as Star Fox 64, you can reach the credits within 2 hours; however, this game heavily relies on replay-ability. The medals, challenges, expert modes, and true ending make the game more enjoyable to replay. There are 15 levels in total, but each route only contains 7 levels. Players always start in Corneria & end on Venom so there is a variety of ways to get from Corneria to Venom, which also will unlock a true ending depending on your path.
The challenges are very fun as they encourage ways to replay the levels by completing a series of challenges. Expert mode is something I haven’t unlocked because it requires getting medals on all 15 planets, but based on the expert mode from the original, it will certainly be an extremely difficult mode where you are taking more damage. The online battle modes are fun, but very short & only have 3 levels so there isn’t much depth there.
As you can clearly tell, I love Star Fox 2026. Sure, I may have some minor issues with the decision for grounded vocal performances and the lack of tension in the cinematics that I hope will be improved upon if they make another Star Fox game. However, for someone who has adored Star Fox 64, those issues didn’t bother me during my playthrough because I was just so enamored by the music, visuals, and seeing these characters again!
Thank you for taking your time to read my review of Star Fox 2026, which I forgot to mention I played the last hour of my time before writing this review using the N64 controller & it felt right at home! Good bye now!
