Star Fox Review: Can't quite teach an old Fox new tricks

Falco, Fox and Peppy prepare for a rescue mission. James Mastromarino/Nintendo hide caption toggle caption James Mastromarino/Nintendo Did anyone want this? A slick remake of Star Fox 64 , minus the "64." The same rickety rail-shooter from nearly three decades ago, glossed up with gorgeous environments and uncanny photorealistic animals. A modern game peeks through the haze of this nostalgia. But it's not altogether worth the $50 pricetag ($60 if you want a physical cartridge). The Star Fox campaign begins with a cinematic dramatization of the original game's opening text crawl — the scene of Fox McCloud's father betrayed by an ally into the hands of the evil Dr. Andross. Three years later, Fox commands his dad's mercenary band against Andross. Each successive mission briefing gets reworked from its original clipped dialogue into fully animated mini-movies. Fox McCloud navigates through an asteroid field. James Mastromarino/Nintendo hide caption toggle caption James Mastromarino/Nintendo But the visuals are a mixed bag. Detailed as the planets and ships might be, fans objected to Fox's unflattering appearance after the game's trailer dropped. His original character designer, who wasn't involved in the new game, admitted to preferring the Super Mario Galaxy Movie version of Fox to this remake's. For my money, the lighting is more of a problem than the models. In nearly every scene, the cockpit illuminates Fox in a gross green glow. …