Thankfully the camera is a bit more flexible in some areas of the game where you’re engaging enemies in the ‘all-range mode’ environments (as there’s more maneuverable flight allowed than just following a set path), but other times it adds on a thin layer of frustration when you think you’ve dodged a super weapon’s doom ray only to realize you’ve just banked right into it. There were a few times where I found it a bit of a struggle to see where and who I was shooting at, with my high-tech Arwing feeling like it was taking up almost an entire quarter of the screen. There are a few little things that may prevent someone from experiencing total nostalgic joy however one being the claustrophobic feeling that comes with playing on 3DS’ small display. This last battle was just as much a freaky but cool experience on the 3DS as it was back on the original Nintendo 64. All of it leads up to Andross himself, who, as all evil geniuses are wont to do, tries to destroy you while piloting a giant robot monkey head designed in his own image. There’s also a unique boss fight towards the end of each stage that often requires you to think beyond “shooting the giant glowing square” in order to take them down. It gives Star Fox 64 3D some good replayability, especially since there’s some stages that can only be reached through figuring out some hidden objectives. Sometimes they’ll have you flying through space, the corona of a sun or occasionally sending you into combat in a tank or a submarine- there’s very little repetition between stages and you’re not always facing the same types of enemies twice. I also liked how it threw in the need for a little strategy in the arcade-style gameplay, as enemies don’t come at you with all guns blazing, and instead are more apt to dodge and weave around your attacks. These parts were my favorite, as it broke up the linearity of some levels and let me test my piloting ability in a more third dimensional environment. Occasionally you’re given free rein to fully fly around in what the game would call ‘all-range mode’, turning some missions or boss battles into a sort of pseudo-flight simulator. Most of the game is a straight-up rail shooter, as you laser anything and everything that shows up in front of your path. Star Fox 64 3D does an excellent job of keeping the well-paced action of the original. It tasks you to use your high-tech Arwing fighter to shoot, bomb and barrel-roll your way through the forces of evil genius Andross in order to stop his conquest of the Lylat system. Even while after a decade the rest of the Star Fox team still can’t seem to shoot down anything without help (especially that annoying amphibian Slippy), there’s not much in Star Fox 64 3D that detracts from the nostalgia-filled glory of the original.įor those of you who missed out, the original Star Fox 64 has the player star as Fox McCloud, legendary pilot and leader of the mercenary Star Fox Team. And I can’t say much more than yes, yes it does, and does so very nicely.įrom the first mission to rescue Corneria from the invading forces of Andross, to dog-fighting against the rival Star Wolf team in the skies of planet Venom, all the magnificence of the original Star Fox 64 is back in full form with the significant graphical upgrade and the depth-filled 3D being extra icing on the cake. While reflecting on how weird that is and suddenly feeling unusually old, I wondered if a decade later, the fun, fast-paced, button spamming action of the original title could hold up in Star Fox 64 3D. The first thing that came to mind when I fired up Star Fox 64 3D for the Nintendo 3DS was the first time I played the original Star Fox 64 at a friend’s house way back in ’97.
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