Wild Blue Skies [REVIEW] – Do a Barrel Roll!

With the Star Fox 64 Remake launching just a few months back, Wild Blue Skies – a game that is VERY clearly inspired by Nintendo’s famed franchise – feels like it has launched at an interesting time. On one hand, it’s the perfect way to get another fix of rail-based shooting action, and in fairness, it’s pretty fun. On the other hand, it’s much easier to compare it to Fox McCloud’s most recent adventure, and when you put them both together, some of Wild Blue Skies’ more obvious issues stand out more.

Check out some screenshots down below:

Wild Blue Skies puts players in the role of Bowie Stray, an anthropomorphic dog who leads a four-piece mercenary outfit known as the Blue Bombers. Your crew – made up of Chuck, Roe, and Thorne – is called out of retirement to stop Grimclaw, a villainous cyborg-headed tiger who has returned with a robotic army. Yeah, it’ll be a pretty familiar setup to anyone who has played a Star Fox game before, and in honesty, it won’t exactly blow you away. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some solid voice acting, but the crew just lacks the personalities of their 64-bit ancestors to make them feel memorable.

But hey, Star Fox has never been about storytelling, but rather satisfying on-rails gameplay, and luckily, Wild Blue Skies delivers there. The core experience is a third-person, on-rails shooter that automatically pushes your ship forward through various planetary landscapes whilst you shoot any enemies in your path, and when you are zooming along these set paths, the game feels really, really good. The ship handling is smooth and responsive, allowing you to weave through danger with ease, whilst a very welcome rapid-fire toggle saves you from button-mashing fatigue when blasting away at enemies. Combat itself feels good too, with the mixture of standard lasers and bombs making your offensive skills feel effective throughout.

“Wild Blue Skies is a fun and nostalgic trip that successfully scratches that retro rail-shooter itch, even IF there are some areas of its design that feel a little lacking.”

The level design is really cool too, with plenty of hidden routes, collectables, and high-score ribbons that encourage multiple playthroughs, whilst there are dozens of visually impressive sights that bring a lot of pizazz to each area. So yeah, it really gets a lot right… even IF it is very familiar. Wild Blue Skies pays a lot of tribute to Star Fox, but as a fan of the series, I see it as a good thing. Sure, it means original ideas are very limited, but the fact that it’s fun to play means it’s easy to forgive.

It’s far from perfect though, and where things start to stumble is when the game pulls you off the rails, with the free-roaming boss arenas and open dogfights feeling slower and unimpressive when compared to the more dazzling linear stages. Bumping into a boundary wall sends your ship ping-ponging awkwardly, and the lock-on mechanic requires you to be frustratingly close to enemies before it triggers – by the time you get a lock, the target has often flown out of view, making things all the more cumbersome and frustrating.

Check out some screenshots down below:

It is also worth noting that the game can be punishingly difficult, with Wild Blue Skies relying on an old-school three-lives system. If you lose them all, you are sent right back to the beginning of the campaign… yeah, it’s frustrating, and with health pick-ups rare, taking just a few small hits feels like a big deal. It creates a steep learning curve where a lot of ‘game overs’ feel a bit cheap, especially when the screen fills with hazards that leave you with nowhere to hide. Maybe I’m used to modern games being that bit more accessible, but it just took away some of the fun from Wild Blue Skies. Luckily, it’s a pretty short game (it’s around 80 minutes for a successful run), but I’ll admit, there were times where I’d die and I’d be hesitant to keep playing… I’m glad I did though.

On the presentation front, it is a lovely-looking title, with the bright and colourful art style making for some alluring sights. It feels very 90s in all of the right ways, with the world full of personality and simply oozing with a vivid charm… it’s a real looker. The soundtrack captures that classic arcade vibe too, fitting in with the overall tone perfectly.

Developer: Chuhai Labs
Publisher: Balor Games
Platform(s): PlayStation 5 (Reviewed), Xbox Series X|S, PC
Website: https://playwildblue.com/