Star Fox (2026) Review

Nintendo has now put this campaign out four separate times, and the case against a fifth was argued loudly the day it was revealed. The case for it is that the series has been away long enough that most of its audience knows Fox McCloud from Smash Bros. rather than from a game of his own. Velan Studios, best known for Knockout City, have made the version to hand that person.

Routes branch as they always did, the barrel roll still deflects, the shield and ring economy is untouched. What is new is presentation: a harder, more realistic art direction that split opinion on sight, a full orchestral score, and extended cutscenes between levels that give the Lylat Wars more shape than the original's clipped radio chatter ever could.

It is also, mission for mission, the game from 1997. There is almost no original level design, a first run through the branching routes is over inside two hours, and the multiplayer is a diversion rather than a reason to buy. Nobody reviewing it argued that the work was done badly, and the pilots handle beautifully. The argument was whether it needed doing at all, and on that the remake has no answer beyond being the best looking version of a very good thing.