Fur Squadron Phoenix Assessment – Assessment

Again in 2023, after I reviewed the unique Fur Squadron on Nintendo Swap, I concluded with “Fur Squadron is a fairly effectively executed love letter to Star Fox and rail shooters generally, and it’s clear that the potential is there for this developer to drag off one thing of a a lot bigger scale.” Just below three years later and I couldn’t be happier to say that Fur Squadron Phoenix completely delivers on that potential. Developer Raptor Claw manages to handle almost each critique I levied at that unique launch and the result’s a completely entertaining and heartfelt Star Fox-like expertise.

You play as a brand new protagonist, Robin, a member of Phoenix Squadron. After your total squadron is shot down within the opening mission, you might be re-assigned to Fur Squadron to coach up and get some candy revenge. The marketing campaign consists of eight levels. Every one is pretty lengthy and odds are you’ll want a few tries to get via a few of them. Ranges are cut up between coaching missions which happen in a digital setting, and story missions which happen in the actual world. Coaching missions award you with expertise that can be utilized to improve your ship. You get expertise whether or not you full the coaching missions efficiently or not, creating a pleasant sense of development even when replaying the identical stage to clear it. Story missions however award you nothing should you get shot down. I loved this from a story perspective and the way it dramatically strengthened the stress of story missions. With no checkpoints, failing a narrative mission looks like a way more vital loss than shedding a simulated coaching mission.

Rail shooters which might be constructed on replaying ranges to earn upgrades don’t all the time work for me, as problem usually feels artificially inflated for the sake of padding out the expertise. I didn’t thoughts as a lot in Fur Squadron Phoenix. The problem curve felt difficult however by no means outright unfair. It will be tough however I believe it’s utterly doable to complete the sport with the beginning ship should you actually needed to. It additionally helps that stage construction and enemy structure is considerably randomized in every run. The large set piece moments are all the time the identical however you’ll come up towards totally different enemy patterns that stop you from utterly memorizing any stage. The one draw back right here is that you simply begin to decide up on the totally different enemy assault patterns that come up inside every stage’s extra randomized segments. I’d have appreciated to see this randomization be somewhat extra aggressive. On the similar time, there’s some satisfaction to be present in arising with the proper combo of cost photographs and particular weapons to make use of to successfully combo your manner via patterns whenever you be taught to acknowledge them.

Stage design itself ranges from satisfactory to glorious. At worst, a few of the early ranges really feel very open, with the one actual problem revolving round managing the waves of enemies. However after the primary few levels, there will get to be a much bigger give attention to piloting round obstacles in additional authored set piece moments. A few the later levels revisit earlier ones briefly earlier than sending the extent off in a wildly totally different course. A number of the finest moments contain weaving via twisting tunnels because the digicam snakes round behind you. It’s extremely satisfying to return out of those moments having cleared each enemy and dodged each impediment. It is in these moments that you would be able to see how effectively Fur Squadron Phoenix understands what makes the style nice and my solely grievance is that I want it might let unfastened like this somewhat extra usually.

Whereas there is no such thing as a distinct Swap 2 model of Fur Squadron Phoenix, the developer has taken good benefit of the {hardware} by together with a efficiency mode toggle. This unlocks the body fee, permitting the Swap 2 to hit a constant 60 fps the place the unique Swap defaults to 30 fps. It’s a good choice and from my expertise enjoying a pre-release construct on my Steam Deck, the Swap model is effectively optimized and the Swap 2 provides an excellent smoother expertise. The rendering decision is certainly constrained by the Swap limitations nevertheless it nonetheless seems to be fairly sharp on Swap 2. I did discover the controls somewhat stiff when making an attempt to make delicate actions. This was a difficulty I raised with the unique sport, and whereas it feels a bit higher right here, I did nonetheless wind up adjusting the sensitivity to alleviate the difficulty.

There have been loads of opinions I’ve written over time the place I’ve stated one thing to the impact of eager to see a developer take a second run at one thing. Seeing the evolution from Fur Squadron’s easy half-hour lengthy debut to Fur Squadron Phoenix’s visually various and expansive marketing campaign is unbelievable. The controls are nonetheless just a bit stiff and there’s maybe a bit extra repetition than is good, however it’s onerous to not be taken in by the appeal. It is a nice rail shooter that hints at much more potential for a 3rd entry. Should you’re in search of one thing to fill the perpetual Star Fox formed gap in your coronary heart, Fur Squadron Phoenix makes for an exquisite various. I can’t wait to see what this developer does subsequent.