June 24 is an odd little moment in the release calendar. We are close enough to July that the next wave is starting to take shape, but still early enough that most of the big games are sitting in preview territory, half visible and half protected by embargo. That can be useful. Reviews tell you whether a game landed. Previews tell you what critics are already worrying about.
This roundup looks at three games with real critic material behind them: Star Fox, Rhythm Heaven Groove, and Halo: Campaign Evolved. Star Fox is the nearest thing to a review story, with scores already clustering around a strong but not unanimous reception. Rhythm Heaven Groove and Halo: Campaign Evolved are still in hands-on preview mode, so the useful question is different: what are critics consistently noticing before launch?
For Perthro readers, this is the kind of week where a game journal helps. Not everything here needs to be a day-one purchase. Some of it belongs on a wishlist, some belongs in a "wait for reviews" note, and some belongs in the backlog because you know exactly which mood it will fit later.
Star Fox review signals: a polished remake that still leaves critics wanting more
Star Fox releases June 25, 2026 for Nintendo Switch 2. It is developed by Velan Studios and published by Nintendo, and the pitch is simple enough: a modern remake of Star Fox 64, one of Nintendo's cleanest arcade action templates. The critic response so far is warm, but the interesting part is the caveat sitting inside the praise.
OpenCritic lists Star Fox at an 82 Top Critic Average, with 96% of critics recommending it across 23 critic reviews. Polygon's review roundup says the average on both Metacritic and OpenCritic was sitting at about 81 at the time of writing. That is a healthy score, especially for a rail shooter remake in 2026. It also tells you this is not being treated like a modest curiosity. Critics are taking it seriously as one of the Switch 2's early summer pieces.
The high end is very high. Shacknews' Asif Khan gave it 10/10 and called it "a beautiful masterpiece reborn," adding that after playing Star Fox 64 more than a hundred times, he would rather play this new remake going forward. That is about as clear a nostalgia endorsement as a remake can get.
Eurogamer's Chris Schilling was positive too, landing at four stars and writing, "I approached Star Fox with a healthy degree of scepticism, and came away thinking: hooray for advanced graphics." He also praised Velan as a developer that "fully understands the genre it is working in." That matters because Star Fox is not a genre tourists stumble into. Rail shooters live or die on rhythm, target priority, clarity, and the slightly strange pleasure of replaying the same route until it feels like muscle memory.
Game Informer's Kyle Hilliard scored it 8.25/10 and seemed to land on the same emotional split: happy it exists, impressed by the craft, but still hungry for a new Star Fox. His line, quoted in Polygon's roundup, is the one that sticks: "This Switch 2 remake is a joyful, updated reminder of why that 1997 game is, in fact, very good and fun, but it also casts a spotlight on the fact that we are long overdue for something, frankly, anything, new from Star Fox and team."
The lower end is where the real warning label sits. Jeuxvideo's 9/20 review, as summarized by Polygon, argues that Nintendo and Velan missed the chance to modernize Star Fox or update the rail shooter structure for a new audience. That is not a small disagreement. It suggests that your reaction may depend less on whether the remake is well made and more on whether you still want this exact kind of game.
What to watch for: Star Fox looks safe to put on the list if you already love the series, arcade scoring, or tightly replayable action games. If you wanted Nintendo to turn Star Fox into something broader, stranger, or more contemporary, the strong scores may not answer your concern. The consensus says it is polished. The disagreement is about ambition.
Rhythm Heaven Groove previews: tiny inputs, serious charm, and a real test for multiplayer
Rhythm Heaven Groove launches July 2, 2026 for Nintendo Switch. Nintendo lists it as a Switch release, with Nintendo as publisher; public listings name Nintendo EPD and TNX on development. There are no Metacritic or OpenCritic scores yet, so the best evidence comes from hands-on previews by Nintendo Life, CGMagazine, and Gamereactor.
The preview consensus is pleasingly specific. Rhythm Heaven Groove still sounds like Rhythm Heaven: simple inputs, strange little scenes, tight timing windows, and jokes that work because the game refuses to over-explain itself. The risk, as always, is that simplicity can look thin from the outside. The previews mostly argue that the thinness is the point.
Nintendo Life's hands-on preview starts from skepticism, which is useful. The writer had not properly sat down with the series before and found that, in isolation, some games can look almost too simple: you press the same button or buttons for a few minutes, with limited variety. But the preview turns once the Remix format enters the room. Nintendo Life describes the Remix as swapping between earlier games unpredictably, forcing the player to track different timings in a more engaged way. The verdict is not loud, but it is clear: the sound design, visuals, and the feeling of landing a rhythm made the small games hard to get bored with.
CGMagazine goes warmer and more social. Its preview says that after a short hands-on session, Rhythm Heaven Groove "embodies everything a fun living room needs for game night, antics and hilarity included." That is a useful signal because this entry seems to be leaning into group play more visibly than some people expected. For a series that can feel solitary, almost like a private conversation between your ears and your thumb, multiplayer is the piece to watch.
Gamereactor's preview is also upbeat, especially about the returning formula after a long gap. It says the new entry comes after a long hiatus and that the writer had a "fantastic time, mostly laughing and feeling cleverly challenged" by the new rhythm games. That phrase feels like the heart of the preview cycle. Rhythm Heaven Groove does not need to be technically huge. It needs to keep catching players off guard in a way that still feels fair.
What to watch for: wait for reviews if you need a lot of content structure, progression, or solo variety. The hands-on pieces are strongest when they talk about moment-to-moment play, party energy, and the Remix idea. That is encouraging, but it also means the final review question will be staying power. A great hour of Rhythm Heaven is not the same thing as a great whole game.
Halo: Campaign Evolved previews: the remake plays well, but the new look is already divisive
Halo: Campaign Evolved launches July 28, 2026 for Xbox Series X and S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5, with Halo Studios developing and Xbox Game Studios publishing. The platform note is not trivia. Halo arriving on PlayStation 5 is part of why the preview cycle feels bigger than an ordinary remake check-in.
There are no review scores yet, but there is a lot of hands-on material. IGN played The Silent Cartographer and Assault on the Control Room. Polygon played the same two-level preview and focused heavily on the third-person Perspective skull. Game Informer played the three new prequel missions set before Combat Evolved, centered on Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson.
IGN's preview is the most cautious of the bunch. The writer says the game "plays great" and that the two demo levels were fun and appropriately challenging on higher difficulties, but the visual style felt off. The complaint is not that the remake looks cheap. It is almost the opposite. IGN describes indoor Forerunner spaces as too shiny, with metallic armor, weapons, and floors blending together. The preview says ground weapons needed small waypoints because fallen weapons could disappear into the environment. That is the kind of concern that matters in Halo, especially on Heroic or Legendary, where reading a battlefield quickly is half the game.
Polygon found a different headline: third-person Halo campaign works better than expected. The preview says the Perspective skull lets players move the camera out from behind Master Chief's visor, and the writer's reaction is blunt: "it rules." Polygon argues that Halo's slippery physics and battlefield choreography feel different in third person, less like acting inside an action film and more like directing one.
Game Informer's preview focuses on the new prequel missions. The important detail is that Halo Studios is not only remaking the original campaign. It is adding three missions set in 2551, before Chief meets Cortana, with more attention on his relationship with Sgt. Johnson. Game Informer frames this as an attempt to flesh out the universe without simply resting on the original campaign. The preview also notes that later-series weapons, enemies, and elements appear in ways meant to make the timeline feel more alive.
What to watch for: the review conversation is probably going to split into three questions. Does the remake preserve the pace and combat readability of Combat Evolved? Do the new prequel missions feel meaningful, or like extra padding? And does the third-person option become a fun novelty, or a serious way to replay Halo? Right now, critics seem excited by the play and cautious about the look.
The short version before the next review wave
Star Fox has the clearest critic signal today: strong scores, plenty of affection, and one recurring complaint that the remake may be too faithful for players hoping for a bigger reinvention. Rhythm Heaven Groove has no scores yet, but the previews point toward a charming, funny, deceptively demanding return that may live or die on how much variety its final package holds. Halo: Campaign Evolved is the big July question mark: mechanically promising, historically loaded, and already carrying a visual debate before reviews even land.
If you are tracking these in Perthro, I would mark Star Fox as "watch reviews if you are remake-skeptical," Rhythm Heaven Groove as "wishlist for the right couch-night mood," and Halo: Campaign Evolved as "wait for the full critical spread." That is not hesitation for its own sake. It is just the useful kind of patience. The games are close enough now that the next batch of critic notes should tell us a lot more.