Wild Blue Skies
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Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Wild Blue Skies
Wild Blue Skies is a decent rail shooter when it finds the courage to be itself, but too often it’s simply Star Fox 64 But Worse – worse flying, worse story, worse difficulty tuning.
Wild Blue Skies showed a lot of promise, and I was super excited to get my hands on it, especially with all the recent fervor over Star Fox. Rail shooters are a great time, and this particular brand of rail shooter really lends itself well to having fun at different levels of play, across many runs. But after one run, I was ready to be done with this game forever.
Wild Blue Skies is mechanically fine. It's as tepid as you could possibly get for an on-rails shooter. Unfortunately, everything else is a pastiche of something that came far before, and is far greater in the grand scheme. Inspiration is a magical thing, but Wild Blue Skies shows that inspiration is only the first step in creating something new.
Wild Blue Skies is a tribute to the legendary Star Fox. Its inspirations are clear, from its similar protagonist and crew to the level design and structure. While it delivers a fun homage, it fails to add its own spin, making it feel too familiar to Fox’s adventure.
Wild Blue Skies falls way short of the mark, making every attempt capture Star Fox 64's spirit without taking any risk to be original in its own right.
Wild Blue Skies shines when it deviates from the Star Fox formula with some truly phenomenal missions.
Wild Blue Skies reminds me why arcade shooters were so much fun. It blends the best bits of on-rails action and Saturday morning cartoons into something nostalgic without feeling dated. The basic story and awkward weapon controls hold it back from greatness, but the tight gameplay and gorgeous presentation make this a hell of a pick-up-and-go replayable joyride. It doesn’t reinvent the arcade shooter, but I do think it nails the landing.
While Wild Blue Skies proudly wears its on-rails inspiration on its sleeve, this adventure with the Blue Bombers is well worth taking flight.
