Your Friend Who Likes Games

I’m not sure what I can say about the release and play of Star Fox that hasn’t already been stated, but I can simply say that the remake is great. I’m curious, though I have not quite investigated, how N64 purists think about this title. I know change can be difficult for die-hards – just take a look at Star Wars fandom. But from what I gather on socials, the games seems to have a pretty positive reception from all audiences. I think the game is incredibly quality and hope to echo what myself and others think is great about it.

To start, it’s still a short game. It’s a faithful remake that maintains the same structure of Star Fox 64 – I’m sure you’ve found some side-by-side comparison vids online, I’ve even posted some myself. The getting through the game quick and desiring to move on has got me thinking bigger about my relationship to playing games. With there always being more games to play, and the excitement of playing and discovering a new game being very enticing, I find myself always looking for permission to move on and buy something new. The consumerism part of collecting video game experiences can be the most exciting part… but… I’ve been trying to break the ‘done with it’ mentality and let my consumption be more like how I behave with other media like sport-watching, show-watching, and listening to music – allow repetition and revisits. I’m trying to see games more as a collection of opportunities that I can permit myself to visit when I feel like. Some games are comfort visits that happen often (Stardew Valley), some games are periodic, short check-ins (Tomodachi Life, Animal Crossing) and some games are one arc that gets played once and maybe revisited again every few years…

The structure of Star Fox is challenging my brain in deciding what kind of relationship I have to it. You have the main campaign, one in which you play and follow a certain path of 7 missions ‘till the end, implied that there are alternative routes to take in later runs through the campaign. At the time of writing, I’ve played through the campaign twice with two different routes, and still have 3 levels I’ve yet to unlock. There’s Challenge Mode, a place to re-run through unlocked levels with specific objectives (almost Tony Hawk Pro Skater style). I like this mode as a challenge of memorization and mastery of levels. The game invites you to look at each mission more closely, it asks you to look for secrets, and it asks you to anticipate certain happenings based on clues from a challenge’s request. My other mode of interest is the Expert difficulty campaign. I’ve been reading that the cost to unlock is to first unlock all the levels via the various routes in the campaign, and then you must earn a medal in each level. As I started writing this post, I had been pretty okay putting the game down with the cost of unlocking being a bit daunting, but that, I think, is the beauty of what this game is doing to me.

On the surface, yeah, it’s a quick rip through the original campaign with a beautifully updated presentation. After that first time through, my gut reaction was, and I noted this, ‘wait a minute, this isn’t a $50 game.’ But then there’s the Challenge Mode I hadn’t really given the time of day, and that alone gave me another reason to keep playing the game. And in participating in Challenge Mode, the menu communicated that I hadn’t unlocked all the levels, and through investigation I realized I needed to play the campaign again and navigate the alternative routes (I stated in my last blog post that I’m mostly a Star Fox rookie). So then replaying the campaign and making sure I hit the alternative route became the next reason I had to play the game. Now, my current context, is that the next mode to unlock is Expert difficulty and to do so I have to medal every level. An intimidating fact that’s enough to take a break or bounce off of it, but there’s no way my drive to play this game is done. It feels too good to stop experiencing it. I may just need to permit myself to play some other games in between so the ‘beating my head against’ this game doesn’t get too painful.

But now I’m thankful, as I continue to navigate and reflect through writing about my relationship to game consumption, that Star Fox has clear segments of game with achievable goals that keep you coming back. And I find that very appropriate in a game that is honoring another game with a remake. Makes me think of when we were younger and we would play our favorite games over and over both looking for and inventing new ways to see them because we didn’t have the money to buy anything else. Now, Star Fox gives you the next goal ahead to both keep you coming back, and to keep you further appreciating what Velan Studios made for us.

What I enjoy, specifically

Now remember, I come to this iteration of Star Fox only having a little bit of second-hand experience with Star Fox 64 at a childhood friend’s house. But I have absolutely loved my experience with this game. Stephen Hilger of Into the Aether praised how good the music was off the rip, and I especially agree as I often find the tutorial music playing on loop in my head. The presentation all-around is really polished. The game has identity in its menus, cinematics, and level design/gameplay. It feels clear that Nintendo desires to re-launch this franchise and if that’s the case, a lot of us feel this is an excellent start.

Peppy’s voice is perfect. Shout out Erik Braa for not only voicing Peppy, but also Supreme Commander General Pepper, the Sarumarine Captain and the Forever Train Engineer. I am familiar with the original enough to know that Peppy’s elderly voice for the role he plays in the squad is spot-on. All the voice acting should be applauded, and the cinematic character building of this iteration is certainly welcome, especially for younger generations that may be new to the franchise. I, too, enjoyed that each campaign run offers cinematic changes in-between levels based on both the consequences of your previous mission completion/failure and the route in which you’re taking. Keeps the campaign context and stakes feel fresh and present each time through.

I enjoy the small details that maintain the fighter-jet culture and aesthetic. Ones like catching Falco’s jet wing decals featuring blue falcon wings. Or the continual framed Fox fist pushing the lever forward to ‘PUNCH IT’ forward into the risky unknown in a very confident and cool way. Or how the haptics are dialed to make jet fly-by’s rumble in our bodies. The game carries that attitude and it all feels contagiously cool. The child inside of me was wide-eyed often.

A visual upgrade after nearly 30 years is an obvious expectation, but Star Fox begins to really show off what Switch 2 exclusivity can mean. I’ve said this before and will keep saying it, there’s something in the water on Switch 2. Any instance of water on Switch 2 looks incredible, and I didn’t think the action and beauty of it could look this good until playing this game. Not only does it look great, move great, but it reacts to your jet getting close as wings cause a ripple. Laser blasts reflect light onto the walls of small, narrow tunnels. Galactic locations are believable. Colors are vivid. Star Fox presents environments I want to be in.

The game feels so good to play that I want to keep playing it, and the challenge ahead invites mastery. Like I stated before, my relationship with it moving forward will be interesting. Even the last two levels of the second campaign run proved to have that toxic addictiveness of wanting to get it right – that sort of ‘AGAIN’ montage of trying over and over until I get it right. If I have the energy, I can certainly grind that, and being that levels are so small, memorization can feel achievable. But I will have to be careful of my endurance and burnout and allow myself breaks so I don’t exit the game on a bad note. But I’d love to savor Star Fox. I’d love to chip away at earning metals. I’d love to unlock Expert difficulty. I’d love to complete Expert difficulty. But as always, we will see.

What’s cool about this structure is that, by challenging you with various goals and approaches of the same mission, they invite you appreciate and understand the game deeper. For me personally, I’d like to see how far my love for this game will go.

Thank you for reading,

Your Friend Dillon