The reviews for the Star Fox remake are in ahead of its June 25 launch, and the short version is that Fox McCloud is back in fine form, even if he is not flying anywhere new. The Switch 2 exclusive is sitting at an 82 on Metacritic as of this writing, the second-highest score the series has ever managed, with critics praising the glow-up while gently poking at how familiar it all feels. As Kotaku put it, the remake sticks the landing, but just barely.
For anyone who needs the basics, this is a full ground-up remake of 1997's Star Fox 64, known as Lylat Wars in PAL regions. It is being handled by Velan Studios, the team behind Knockout City and Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, running on the studio's own engine at 60 frames per second. The stage layouts and on-rails dogfighting you remember are intact, wrapped in completely new visuals, a re-recorded orchestral score, and fully voiced dialogue.
What The Critics Loved
The presentation is the headline. Reviewers have called it one of the best-looking and best-sounding games on the system, with redesigned characters and environments that finally do the space-opera fantasy justice. Nintendo Life handed it a 9 out of 10, IGN went 8 out of 10, Game Informer landed at 8.25, and Eurogamer gave it a 4 out of 5. That is a strong spread for a game built on a 28-year-old blueprint.
The new orchestral soundtrack, played with real instruments, gets singled out a lot, and so does the voice cast, which adds a surprising amount of character to a game that used to communicate mostly in beeps and one-liners. Do a barrel roll still lands, don't worry!
There is also more to do this time. Velan added a Battle Mode for 4v4 online dogfights with cross-play, plus a Challenge Mode that remixes campaign stages with new objectives across Normal and Expert difficulty. A brand-new prologue mission even puts you in the cockpit as James McCloud, Fox's father, filling in a slice of backstory the original only hinted at.
And Where It Stumbles
The big knock is the one you can probably guess. For a lot of critics, this is Star Fox 64 yet again, the latest in a long line of games Nintendo has re-released. The core campaign does not meaningfully evolve the formula, and if you were hoping for a reinvention rather than a remake, this is not it.
A few reviewers also noted that the gorgeous new art can work against you, since busier environments make some targets and boss weak points harder to read than they were in the cleaner N64 original.
The local co-op pilot-and-gunner setup got mixed reactions, and the lack of local splitscreen multiplayer feels like a strange omission on a Nintendo console. A handful of the rewritten lines and new cutscenes landed as downgrades for longtime fans, too.
Should You Pick It Up?
It comes down to what you want out of a Star Fox return. If you have been waiting years just to fly the Arwing again with modern visuals and a proper orchestra behind you, the reviews suggest you will have a great time, and the added modes give it more legs than the cartridge ever had. If you wanted the series to take a genuine leap forward after all this time, the lukewarm notes are aimed right at you.
It is also a notable moment for the franchise simply by existing. Star Fox has spent the better part of a decade in cold storage after the rocky reception to Star Fox Zero on Wii U, so a confident, well-reviewed entry is a relief no matter how safe it plays things. The remake runs $49.99 digitally and $59.99 for a physical copy.
Are you booting this up at launch, or holding out for a Star Fox that finally tries something new? Sound off below, and stay with GameFragger for our continued coverage.