The original Lylat Wars (as it was known in PAL territories) forms part of my childhood core. As such, to me it is perfect, and happily the general consensus seems to also be that it is quite good. I’m not going to hold myself to being critical about it. This review will mostly focus on the differences in this port and what I thought of them.
The good: Being able to play any mission at any time (after doing it once in story mode) is great, the caveat being that medals earned in this mode are separate to story mode medals. Textures and models are improved so it looks better than ever! There’s now an added easier mode that disables friendly fire and gives you more wing health, although the game doesn’t tell you that’s what is different. Menus are improved and the tutorial instructor now has a voice, although the tutorial is now mandatory (boo). All cutscenes can now be skipped, including the credits. The multiplayer has been revamped; no more Landmaster or Pilot options but much more customisable, new stages, and powerups.
The bad: All the voices are rerecorded. They all try to go for the same feeling as the original lines, but this just means that they all universally end up being slightly off. Fox is more dweeby, for example, and Andross’s laugh doesn’t match his animation at all. The Lylat voice option has also been removed.
The useless: Being an early 3DS game, they tacked on gyro controls which is not only an inherently bad idea (ugh Star Fox Zero) but also is at odds with having to hold the system relatively straight for the 3D to actually work (less of a problem with the New models though). The messages telling you to take a break are only a minor annoyance but they exist.
The positive points far outweigh the negatives, albeit with some minor tradeoffs. If only there were multiple selectable voice tracks… Maybe a new level or some extras would have been amazing… The most important thing to me though is that the game feels and plays just how I remember it, which makes it a very successful port job. Plus this remake, being handled by Dylan Cuthbert’s Q-Games, now gives him some involvement in the most successful instalment in the franchise after he helped birth it and developed the first Star Fox/Wing, the cancelled Star Fox 2, and the underrated Command. Yippee! You did it!
