Wild Blue Skies Review - Finally, a True Star Fox 64 Successor?

Ole Gamer Joe
Aug 13
6 min read

https://youtu.be/u2q_qXvw0-E?si=E6_Eobt6hsMYwTPE

I’ve always had a love for on-rails shooters. A staple of arcades throughout the late '80s and into the '90s, these games followed predetermined paths, auto-scrolling players through levels while they focused on precision aiming, dodging, weaving, and quick reactions. It was a perfect fit for arcades: exciting, cinematic, and easy for anyone to pick up. Games like After Burner and Space Harrier were my jam! And seriously, if you ever see a Space Harrier machine in the wild, you just gotta hop in; it is an awesome experience like no other.

As technology advanced, on-rails shooters began to look better, sound better, and eventually found success on home consoles. One of the genre's biggest milestones was Nintendo's Star Fox, which wowed audiences when it launched in 1993. Powered by the Super FX chip, it somehow brought polygonal graphics to the SNES, something my adolescent brain couldn’t comprehend. Sure, it looks a little goofy today, but back then it was absolutely mind-blowing. Almost like someone cast a magic trick on my Super Nintendo or something.

Star Fox also introduced a memorable cast of animal pilots (who could forget Peppy) and branching routes that encouraged repeat playthroughs while rewarding exploration. It's a landmark title, which is why it's surprising we haven't seen more indie games try to capture its magic. For my money, Ex-Zodiac has been the closest spiritual successor, though it's spent years in early access and I am still waiting for it to hit 1.0. Thankfully, Wild Blue Skies has finally arrived with no strings attached, pairing gorgeous visuals with the tight, arcade-style gameplay fans like me have been craving. But does the rest of the experience stick the landing, or does it crash and burn?

Wild Blue Skies captures everything that makes this genre special

Wild Blue Skies is exactly as advertised: an on-rails shooter featuring excellent airborne gunplay across branching paths and more than 10 unique levels packed with enemies, bosses, secrets, and even arena-style combat sections reminiscent of the All-Range Mode from the Star Fox series. Players can shoot (with the option to hold the fire button instead of mashing it), barrel roll (I mean, dodge roll) to deflect incoming fire with proper timing, brake, boost, twist, hurl and detonate bombs, and lock onto certain targets for a more powerful blast. Your blaster can also be upgraded by collecting power-ups scattered throughout each level, though be warned: those upgrades disappear if you take too much damage. Of course, big bad bosses also tend to greet you at the end of each location, offering challenging patterns and obvious weak points while talking mad shit.

The game features an overworld map at the start of each run where missions occasionally branch depending on the route you take. For example, in a clear nod to Star Fox, one mission has you fly beneath a series of arches following one of your partners, and successfully pulling this off unlocks what I believe is the more challenging path. It's a fun homage to a classic moment, and thankfully, Wild Blue Skies also has the gameplay to back up the nostalgia. The controls are smooth, responsive, and easy to learn while being tough to master. I gotta say though, damn, following Falco was way fuckin’ easier than this guy!

Levels are generally quite brief, lasting only a few minutes, but they offer plenty of reasons to come back. There are hidden letters to collect for medals, as well as high scores to chase. In total, players can expect around 12 to 15 hours of gameplay, which I think is excellent value for the genre. One could argue the game would benefit from a few extra modes, or maybe even online dogfights, but who knows what the future holds? We do live in the era of updating games after the fact, after all.

Like the great arcade games of ye olden times, Wild Blue Skies constantly tempted me into "just one more run," an offer I typically accepted as it was rewarding to feel my skills improve with each new attempt. They'll need to, too, because the game is quite challenging and, at the time of this review, doesn't offer difficulty options. The Free Roam battles are especially demanding, with enemy pilots soaking up a surprising amount of damage while you're also dodging swarms of incoming fire and environmental hazards. Much like in Star Fox, I found these open combat sections a little less enjoyable than the tightly scripted on-rails stages. You’ll have limited lives on each run too, and can expect to burn most of them on these sections of gameplay. Run out, and it’s game over, ALL THE WAY TO THE START WITH YA!

The story follows Bowie and his ragtag squad of pilots, the Blue Bombers (no relation to Mega Man, as far as I know). While the plot is a fairly standard "stop the bad guy" affair, in this case, the villainous Grimclaw, I enjoyed the interactions between the cast, especially during missions where you can tap a button to receive radio calls from them along with other characters. Your teammates also find themselves in plenty of trouble, so be prepared to come to their rescue. If they take too much damage, they'll have to recover and sit out at least the next mission. This should all sound a bit familiar in the best of ways.

While Wild Blue Skies certainly evokes Star Fox 64, its art style reminds me more of The Wind Waker crossed with a Dreamcast-era game. Everything has a vibrant, cartoon-inspired look that works wonderfully, with colorful environments and an impressive amount of detail. Each stage feels distinct, bursting with bold colors and a subtle cel-shaded aesthetic that looks fantastic in motion. From snowy landscapes to fiery caverns, all the familiar sci-fi and fantasy settings are here, but they’re presented with enough personality to feel fresh.

Just as importantly, the visuals remain clean and readable even during the most chaotic firefights, making it easy to track enemies, projectiles, and environmental hazards. Not once did I find myself thinking, "DAMN, THIS SCREEN IS WAY TOO CLUTTERED." Thankfully, there’s no bullet-hell insanity here to overwhelm the senses. You can tell a great deal of care went into the presentation as a whole. The cast features expressive, memorable character designs, and the animated cutscene at the start of gameplay was a real treat, capturing the energy of a Saturday morning cartoon, ah you just feel it in your gut.

Sound design is equally effective. While I wasn’t humming these tracks long after playing, the orchestral soundtrack fits the action well, bringing plenty of energy and excitement to each mission with strings and marching drums. Your ears will spend most of their time enjoying explosive sound effects and the wonderfully voiced quips from your squadmates. All in all, Wild Blue Skies looks and sounds exactly like an arcade game should.

On my PC equipped with a 4070, Wild Blue Skies ran smoothly at very high framerates. I didn’t encounter any major bugs or glitches, aside from some minor clipping when flying too close to the ground. Performance on Steam Deck was unfortunately bogged down a bit to 30fps, but was otherwise playable. There aren’t many graphical options available, so players shouldn’t expect a robust settings menu, but thankfully, the game doesn’t really need one.

Wild Blue Skies reminded me why I fell in love with this genre all those years ago. It looks great, plays incredibly well, sounds fantastic, and offers plenty of reasons to keep coming back. I greatly enjoyed this world, its characters, and the sense of progression, even if the free-roam sections occasionally felt like a step down from the expertly crafted on-rails missions.

Could the difficulty use some tuning? Perhaps. Could the game benefit from a few additional modes? Absolutely. However, those minor shortcomings don’t change the fact that Wild Blue Skies is an absolute blast to play. It captures the excitement, charm, and replayability of classic arcade shooters while delivering a fresh experience of its own.

If you grew up pumping quarters into on-rails shooters or chasing high scores at home, you owe it to yourself to take to the skies with this one. I am awarding Wild Blue Skies the coveted Golden Genie Lamp of Approval!