Starfox

[Dark Jaguar]

Again.

Yes again again.  Again again again, again.

We've got the SNES game, Starfox 64 which was a reimagining of that story.  Star fox 64 3D which was a graphical update of 64.  Star Fox Zero, which is another reimagining of the original story.

Now this!  It appears to once again dip into Star Fox 64 for it's core design, but this time, it's going full cinematic.  I'm not really sure what's going on with Miyamoto, but the story telling bug must have bit him, because he's leaning HARD into the cut scenes this time around.  Frankly, that alone might justify retelling the same story yet another time.  As to those visuals, they're going more "realistic".  Not ALL the way, but definitely more so than in the past.  Honestly?  It reminds me of the design on those old figures they made for the promotional art for the SNES game, and also of the designs in the Star Fox comic in Nintendo Power.  It feels like a blend of those two styles.  There's a fair share of anger over it it seems.  It's funny.  Back when Wind Waker came out, everyone was upset that Zelda had gotten LESS realistic, and now they're upset Star Fox went MORE realistic.

But, as I said, it isn't going for total realism, mercifully.  The visuals still are bright and colorful like a cartoon.  Further, the designs help to give them ironically more "human" attributes.  It's a lot easier to tell that Peppy is much older than the rest of the team, for example.  They've also got more expressive faces, with a lot of nuance coming through.  This even shows in the radio chatter, where they are moving around and emoting, much better than the cockpit views in Zero.

They're adding Great Fox moments between missions.  That's a good chance to really show some things, and it gives me "Wing Commander" vibes.

Maybe I'm just being contrary, but frankly I want to give this one a chance.  I'm a LOT more open to doing so based purely on them pricing it REASONABLY for a change.  Maybe they learned their lesson after that Advance Wars 1+2 remake and the port of DKC Returns sold so poorly when released at "new game" price?  Or, maybe it's just the typical Nintendo move, randomly testing the waters pretty much all the time.

[A Black Falcon]

So this is an interesting one.  I am generally, of course, someone who prefers the original versions of games over remakes.  There aren't many remakes which I actually think are better than the original versions, apart from a few by Blizzard such as Starcraft Remastered, because it is nearly identical to the base game except better looking and with a few nice new things like auto-matchmaking and fixing the sprite limit that hamstrung Valkyries, and probably also Diablo II Remastered because of it adding so much more storage space more than anything.  Other than that, though?  I like the NES Mario games more than Mario All-Stars, probably prefer Metroid Prime for GC over the later versions even though its controls are weird, etc.  If a remake actually changes the gameplay from a classic, I am one more likely to prefer the original version over the remake...

But here?  I'm excited for the Star Fox 64 remake, I think it looks amazing.  I am excited for this and I'm pretty annoyed at all the haters who are mad that it is another remake.  Like, all the best Star Fox games are remakes!  I have no problem with it being a remake.  I'd much rather see this than some open-world game like the Starlink Star Fox crossover.  (That game was okay, but it's no Star Fox 64...)  It looks very similar to the original except for them adding missions to accomplish in a single-level mode they have added for the stages you have unlocked, better multiplayer, and more cutscenes.  I think that sounds great.  I would be amazing if they add some hidden new stages or something, but even as is that is a pretty good package I'll buy and play right away for sure.

However, do I think I'll like this better than Star Fox 64?  Probably not, no.  I expect I'll like this game, but probably will like it a bit less than the original Star Fox 64.  Star Fox 64 is an an amazing game and probably the best rail shooter ever; its only competition is Panzer Dragoon and Panzer Dragoon Orta.  Those two games are pretty amazing but Star Fox 64 is just as great.  Will this be as great?  It could well be close, but beating one of the all-time greats is a very hard task to accomplish.

Oh, as for the art design change, it looks fine.  The realistic-animals look works well, I don't mind it.  I like realistic art styles, Twilight Princess has by far the best art design in the Zelda series for instance.  The environments and such mostly look fantastic as well, though some stages seem a bit less colorful than they were on N64.  Ah well, I never said it was going to be better than the N64 game... except in multiplayer, where it probably will be.  I was never the biggest fan of Star Fox 64's splitscreen mode but this one looks pretty good.

[A Black Falcon]

Oh, I forgot to mention, on the subject of making the game even more cinematic, well, Star Fox 64 always was like that, you know?  With how it was fully voiced it always felt kind of like playing a sci-fi movie.  This just emphasizes that a bit more.

[Dark Jaguar]

Yeah I hear you on all counts.  While there is a difference between cutscenes and dialog during gameplay, I think a game like Starfox can work well with cut scenes.  They could even go the Wing Commander route and add conversation options that affect which missions you go on or tweak how they play out a bit.

Speaking of, I wouldn't mind some heavy revisions to the "all range" levels, expanding their scope and what can be done during them.

I should mention that while it's more realistic in some ways, it's still a very bright and colorful game.  It's far from "photorealism", and I like that.  It gets RIGHT to the line where it'd just be "too much", and no further.  As I said before, I feel like the general "look" is some combination of the models they made for the poster art of the SNES game, and the Nintendo Power comic design.