The 2D/3D Gimmick Doesn’t Distract from some Middling Platforming
Fox Legend knows that if you want to have a chance of success on the Xbox Store, then you have to stand out. So, it takes a leaf from Octopath Traveller’s book and pulls the old ‘2D sprites on 3D backdrops’ trick. It worked on us: we picked it up for review when we could have picked up plenty of others.
I think the 2D/3D mix has a charm. Sure, it’s not very elegant, as the background never affects the foreground or vice versa, and the two art styles don’t compliment each other like they do in Octopath. But even though I can see the seams between the two dimensions, I do think it elevates Fox Legend. The 3D stuff gives the world extra depth. A wholly 2D version of Fox Legend would have been painfully generic and evacuated the memory quickly. This mash-up makes us occasionally stop to take it all in.
Looks Foxy, But Does it Play Foxy?
Knowing that the 3D stuff does give Fox Legend a boost, the question becomes ‘does the rest of the game bring anything to the table?’. The answer is no, but it doesn’t undermine it either. This is a functional, middling platformer that happens to be hitched to some cool 3D visuals.
We’re in budget indie-platformer territory, so it’s the usual template of twenty levels, an entrance and exit (this time a portal) and some coins to collect on the way. There are no collectibles of note: even the coins are cosmetic, failing to offer upgrades, cosmetics or unlocks. They don’t even snag you an extra life.
There are no bosses, but there are biomes. Every few levels, the fox moves to a new location, which might be snowy or graveyard-like. Those biomes introduce a new gaggle of enemies, but they’re purely reskins. Snowmen become possums, eagles become bats. And the biomes don’t bring anything meaningful. Snowy levels don’t add sliding mechanics or wind, for example.
Vul-Pining for Something More
It all sounds dire, but Fox Legend gets additional brownie points by being smooth to control. The wee fox is fast, with a large-enough arc to their leap that you rarely plunge to your death. They also have a helpful dash mechanic, allowing you to lurch forward and land on a moving platform or bottom-bounce a possum. Dash mechanics can be hit and miss, particularly if the length of the dash is hard to predict, but that’s not the case here.
I’m a fan of how generous the platforming is in Fox Legend. It’s entirely possible to miss the height of an elevated platform with your dash. But Fox Legend whips out its tape measure, breathes through its teeth and says “close enough”. Rather than stop you dead, it nudges you up a couple of pixels and considers your jump successful. The same goes for enemies. You might clip the forehead of an enemy, but the game gives you the benefit of the doubt.
It makes Fox Legend a breeze to play. There’s barely a moment of friction in the whole game. If you die, it’s because you did something thoroughly stupid, and not because you were wrestling the game engine in some way.
Which, of course, is a back-handed compliment. Because having no friction at all is something of a problem. Even the failure states in Fox Legend are arguably a little too forgiving. If you fall into a chasm, you’re not dumped at a checkpoint: you’re respawned at the nearest safe space. A heart is removed from the fox, and you have at least three of those. There was no point in Fox Legend where I lost two lives, let alone three, and I don’t consider myself to be a platforming adonis – not by a long shot.
One for the Fox Cubs
Fox Legend might be a strong contender for a younger player. The lack of anything resembling difficulty or frustration makes it tempting for a parent. The controls are all standard outside of the dash-mechanic, and even that’s just a simple tap of the X button. You could imagine the 2D/3D mix being a bit of a hit for that kind of player too.
I found Fox Legend to be fun in a platforming-warm-up kind of way. It doesn’t come packaged with anything that could remotely test you, and the hazards are all very familiar: your usual cast of falling blocks, spinning blades and moving platforms. But while it didn’t surprise me in any way, it’s still pleasant. I found myself rattling through the twenty levels at speed, finishing in less than an hour. I didn’t register much in the way of thoughts as I completed Fox Legend, but it did feel good reaching the finish line.
There’s no doubt that Fox Legend has one, single thing of note to offer, and that’s its 3D backgrounds. They might be a little rough, but they trick you into thinking you’re playing something bigger and better. Not that Fox Legend is bad, it’s just inoffensive. The controls are good, but the levels fail to rise up and meet them with anything challenging or adventurous.
If you’ve got younger players in the house, or fancy a brainless sixty-minutes of easy platforming, then come and enjoy the 2D/3D artwork.
Important Links
Fox Legend Leaps onto Xbox Series X|S and PC: A Charming 2D Platformer with a 3D Twist – https://www.thexboxhub.com/fox-legend-leaps-onto-xbox-series-xs-and-pc-a-charming-2d-platformer-with-a-3d-twist/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/fox-legend-xbox-series/9P58M7SNVGCL
