December 3rd 2023.
Fur Squadron – A Closer Look at the Indie Star Fox Homage
Star Fox has always been a bit of an anomaly. It was a game ahead of its time in the early 90s, with its larger than life visuals and big booming music. It had the potential to be one of Nintendo’s top-tier franchises as it was doing something different to Mario and Zelda and doing it well.
25 years later, Fur Squadron has taken the best parts of Star Fox and crafted an indie game homage that feels closer to the original two titles than most actual Nintendo games. A quick look at the trailer confirms that Fur Squadron is a love letter to the first two Star Fox instalments. The game’s achievements even quote some of the dialogue from Lylat Wars.
In Fur Squadron you take on the character of Blaze, a raccoon, and your team-mate Axel, an axolotl. There’s also Kiro, who looks like a cyberpunk type of grey fox. While Kiro tries to come across as the confident, competitive team-mate that Falco is, he comes across as cocky, arrogant, and annoying.
You control a plane on a predetermined flight pattern, while avoiding obstacles and other hostile airborne enemies. Although the enemies are varied and have different attack patterns, it’s not always apparent what enemy you are dealing with due to the stylised visuals and sometimes it can be too late by the time you’ve figured it out.
The barrel roll is there, of course. For those younger readers, a barrel roll is where your plane’s wing tips do a 360° spin and reflects incoming fire from hostile enemies – it’s incredibly satisfying when you’re under pressure. The game also takes the same jibba-jabba language from the original Star Fox, with the text coming up in English. Unfortunately, the timing of your comrades’ interactions is off and could have been timed better, as the dialogue pops up at the most inconvenient times.
There are a sequence of gates you can traverse through, albeit none of them very tricky, which will normally hand you an extra missile or shield but these seem blindingly obvious. The bosses can be fairly easy to figure out, although the game does attempt to shake things up by flipping the screen upside down during one encounter.
The sense of speed is not always apparent either, this may just be down to the graphical style though, as it doesn’t look like it’s going any slower than the Star Fox games, but it certainly feels like it when you’re cruising along. The aiming does seem a little off, however the option to hold the fire button down to charge your weapons and then take out a number of enemies with one shot is as satisfying as ever.
If you’re a Star Fox fan it’s hard not to like Fur Squadron. Sure, it has its flaws but it’s trying to do something that hasn’t really been done since Lylat Wars and the first level of Star Fox Zero and it certainly doesn’t look like Nintendo care as much as the people that made this game, to ever do it again. For the most part, it does it well and it’s nice to know there is still hope out there for fans like me, that just want another bite of that Star Fox cookie.
In Short: A welcome addition to the on-the-rails flight shooter genre, that feels more like DLC to the first two Star Fox games than anything else.
Pros: A great low budget attempt at a high budget game. Visuals are very smooth and for the most part it does feel like a competent solid game. Good price.
Cons: Aiming is a little off. Soundtrack is forgettable and the game on a whole is a little short.
Score: 7/10
By reader freeway 77
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For Star Fox fans, Fur Squadron is a welcome addition to the on-the-rails flight shooter genre. It has taken the best parts of Star Fox, i.e. the flying sections, and paid homage to the original two titles. The game’s visuals are smooth and the game does have its moments of satisfaction. The aiming may be a little off and the soundtrack forgettable, but for the most part, it does feel like a competent solid game.
The fact that Fur Squadron has gone to such lengths to pay homage to the original two Star Fox titles is a testament to the dedication of its developers, and it’s nice to know that there is still hope out there for fans like me, that just want another bite of that Star Fox cookie.
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