Fur Squadron Phoenix Review – Review

Back in 2023, when I reviewed the original Fur Squadron on Nintendo Switch, I concluded with “Fur Squadron is a reasonably well executed love letter to Star Fox and rail shooters in general, and it is clear that the potential is there for this developer to pull off something of a much larger scale.” Just under three years later and I could not be happier to say that Fur Squadron Phoenix absolutely delivers on that potential. Developer Raptor Claw manages to address nearly every critique I levied at that original release and the result is a thoroughly entertaining and heartfelt Star Fox-like experience.

You play as a new protagonist, Robin, a member of Phoenix Squadron. After your entire squadron is shot down in the opening mission, you are re-assigned to Fur Squadron to train up and get some sweet revenge. The campaign consists of eight stages. Each one is fairly long and odds are you’ll need a couple of tries to get through some of them. Levels are split between training missions which take place in a virtual environment, and story missions which take place in the real world. Training missions award you with experience that can be used to upgrade your ship. You get experience whether you complete the training missions successfully or not, creating a nice sense of progression even when replaying the same level to clear it. Story missions on the other hand award you nothing if you get shot down. I enjoyed this from a narrative perspective and how it dramatically reinforced the tension of story missions. With no checkpoints, failing a story mission feels like a much more significant loss than losing a simulated training mission.

Rail shooters that are built on replaying levels to earn upgrades don’t always work for me, as difficulty often feels artificially inflated for the sake of padding out the experience. I didn’t mind as much in Fur Squadron Phoenix. The difficulty curve felt challenging but never outright unfair. It would be difficult but I suspect it is completely possible to finish the game with the starting ship if you really wanted to. It also helps that level structure and enemy layout is somewhat randomized in each run. The big set piece moments are always the same but you’ll come up against different enemy patterns that prevent you from completely memorizing any stage. The one downside here is that you start to pick up on the different enemy attack patterns that come up within each level’s more randomized segments. I’d have liked to see this randomization be a little more aggressive. At the same time, there is some satisfaction to be found in coming up with the perfect combo of charge shots and special weapons to use to effectively combo your way through patterns when you learn to recognize them.

Level design itself ranges from passable to excellent. At worst, some of the early levels feel very open, with the only real challenge revolving around managing the waves of enemies. But after the first few stages, there gets to be a bigger focus on piloting around obstacles in more authored set piece moments. A couple of the later stages revisit earlier ones briefly before sending the level off in a wildly different direction. Some of the best moments involve weaving through twisting tunnels as the camera snakes around behind you. It is incredibly satisfying to come out of these moments having cleared every enemy and dodged every obstacle. It’s in these moments that you can see how well Fur Squadron Phoenix understands what makes the genre great and my only complaint is that I wish it would let loose like this a little more often.

While there is no distinct Switch 2 version of Fur Squadron Phoenix, the developer has taken smart advantage of the hardware by including a performance mode toggle. This unlocks the frame rate, allowing the Switch 2 to hit a consistent 60 fps where the original Switch defaults to 30 fps. It is a nice option and from my experience playing a pre-release build on my Steam Deck, the Switch version is well optimized and the Switch 2 offers an even smoother experience. The rendering resolution is definitely constrained by the Switch limitations but it still looks pretty sharp on Switch 2. I did find the controls a little stiff when trying to make subtle movements. This was an issue I raised with the original game, and while it feels a bit better here, I did still wind up adjusting the sensitivity to alleviate the issue.

There have been plenty of reviews I’ve written over the years where I’ve said something to the effect of wanting to see a developer take a second run at something. Seeing the evolution from Fur Squadron’s simple half-hour long debut to Fur Squadron Phoenix’s visually diverse and expansive campaign is incredible. The controls are still just a little stiff and there is perhaps a bit more repetition than is ideal, but it is hard not to be taken in by the charm. This is a great rail shooter that hints at even more potential for a third entry. If you’re looking for something to fill the perpetual Star Fox shaped hole in your heart, Fur Squadron Phoenix makes for a wonderful alternative. I can’t wait to see what this developer does next.