Okay, let’s get right down to it.
I found Star Fox Zero’s controls to be awkward, occasionally frustrating, and extremely demanding...at
first.
But once I gave them a little more time, I found them to be fun, exciting, and incredibly
rewarding.
It’s just getting to that point that can be a bit trying.
Star Fox Zero’s ultimate goal is a noble one: giving you more control.
And it accomplishes this by allowing you to aim the reticule independently of your flight
path by swinging the GamePad around--which also provides a first-person cockpit view
at the same time that’s more precise, and allows to shoot at enemies beyond the TV screen’s
boundaries.
And because you have that persistent cockpit view, that frees the TV up to do some cool
new things, like locking the viewpoint onto specific enemies or points of interest, which
provides a constant idea of where they are in relation to you, while you hone in with
the GamePad’s cockpit view.
But as as it turns out, juggling two viewpoints while aiming, avoiding enemies, and managing
your speed--all in a fast-paced action game--well, it’s a looooot to take in.
Especially when you have to adapt those controls adapt to 3 different vehicles plus their transformations.
And in case all that wasn't enough, there’s also the hassle of having to recalibrate your
aiming reticule a few times each mission--thankfully that only requires a click of the left-stick.
But it’s yet one more thing to keep in mind.
But here’s the thing.
Once you learn how best use The GamePad’s cockpit view.
Once you remember how and when to use the TV’s lock-on view.
Once the motion-controls start to feel second nature.
Once you finally get used to recalibrating on the fly...
It all starts to come together.
And when it finally clicks...the controls really do feel like something special, allowing
you to pull off stunts and maneuvers that were IMPOSSIBLE in past Star Fox games.
Things like targeting an enemy that’s already flown past you.
Or going on bombing runs from a safe distance above.
Or shooting off the legs off of a giant mechanical spider as you literally drive circles around
it.
The controls are truly game-changing.
And the game knows this, featuring enemies you simply can’t attack head-on, often times
in levels that require a level of awareness that only the combined views of the GamePad
and TV can provide--such as weaving in and out of range of a pulsating energy shield
while attacking the targets its protecting
Now it should be noted that not every level is equally demanding--in fact,it’s really
only the all-range mode levels that essentially require the use of both screens--which do
encompass a little over half of the game--whereas you can get by without looking at the GamePad
once during the on-rails segments.
Although it can still be helpful, particularly if you’re going for highscores.
It really is all about learning when and how to use the Gamepad that I found to be essential
in enjoying the game.
And once I had it all figured out, there were times when I would enter almost a zen-like
state--perfectly at one with the vehicle and controls.
I really can’t stress that enough--once I had the controls down, they feel amazing.
I even loved how all the secondary controls, like tilts,, boosting, and bombs, have all
been smartly consolidated on to the right-stick--yeah Star Fox Zero is basically a twin-sticked,
twin-screened shooter.
The controls are absolutely part of the reason why I found Star Fox Zero to be so immersive--but
the game’s presentation helps too, which maintains a high level of energy throughout.
I actually loved how during some cutscenes, the action continued to wage on, allowing
you to control your ship from a cinematic angle as a space station explodes behind you
or as a boss fight is introduced.
It also does this super cool slow-mo effect when you fly by an opponent--I love that!
And of course, what would a Star Fox game be without constant radio chatter
and fortunately, the game’s voice cast is on-point--sounding almost exactly as you remembered
from the 64 version with only a few exceptions--even Fox McCloud pulls through after his shaky
Smash 4 appearance.
Interestingly, all of the radio chatter comes out of the GamePad--and not the TV--and this
might be due to the 3D audio feature that makes it sound like your teammates are talking
to you from nearby.
It’s subtle, but neat.
Visually, the game’s not probably not going to blow any minds--though it does look quite
beautiful at points.
More impressive is the sense of scale, whether its exploring the innards of a giant space
colony or taking on a giant mechanical robot--this all happens at 60fps--well mostly, since it
usually does drop occasionally a few times each mission missions, though I didn’t find
it to be a big deal as it doesn’t impact the gameplay.
At any rate, none of this matters if you can’t get a handle on the controls.
And unfortunately, the game doesn’t offer much in the way of options to help.
Sure, you can technically turn off motion-controls--but only when you’re not shooting--which is
pointless since you’re shooting most of the time.
But there is one potential lifesaver: the Double Dash-style splits the control responsibilities
in half, with one player using the GamePad to only aim, while the other handles flying
detail with a Pro Controller or WIi Remote and Nunchuck--oh, and that person can even
shoot single laser blasts too-- just like Star Fox on the SNES.
It works and it’s fun--plus it makes controlling the game a much easier prospect.
Although its not entirely free of quirks of its own, such as how it's now a lot harder
to pilot in missions that feature a fixed locked-on view--good luck trying to pick up
those health-boosting rings when you can’t tell when you’ve lined up correctly.
Okay, so the controls work--I’ve established that.
But it’s perhaps ironic that the game’s biggest issue isn’t so much the controls
themselves, but that there isn’t quite enough game here to fully justify the time it took
to get adept with them, as the game isn’t nearly as replayable as Star Fox 64.
Part of this is due to the game’s structure, as it’s no longer focused on full playthroughs
from one end of the Lylat system to the other.
Instead, you can now replay individual levels at any time--which undermines the entire point
of branching paths and turns the world map into little more than a glorified menu--as
proven by the fact that there is literally a menu option.
It also mitigates the accomplishment of unlocking levels--in Star Fox 64, it took skill to unlock
them all, as it involved taking the hardest path while finding all the required secret
exits.
But this time, you can just continually retry the same mission until you get the results
you want.
And even worse, the secret levels and branching paths that lead to them aren’t particularly
fun or exciting to discover now either since they rarely relate to the mission directly--nor
can you find them on a first playthrough.
Instead, mysterious portals and members of Team Star Wolf will appear in levels you’ve
already beaten.
So to unlock a new mission is literally as simple as flying toward one of those portals
or by locking onto Star Wolf when they appear, which will then lead you to the secret level.
Yeah, it’s not terribly fun nor rewarding--and while I enjoyed all of the missions in the
game, some of the secret ones definitely don’t feel as complete as the primary ones.
Like one where all you do is go up against Star Wolf in a 1 on 1 battle, or a couple
of others that shoehorn the Arwing into levels that clearly weren’t designed for it.
Beyond finding secret exits, the only other real reason to replay most of the missions
is to uncover the 1-5 medals they’re hiding--some are hidden in plain sight, while others are
locked to high scores or times.
And some of them inexplicably “cheap” to find.
FOr instance, there was one in Corneria I couldn’t find at all--and I searched everywhere,
even including the boxes that enemies spawn from.
But they were all empty.
As it turns out, the thing won’t appear until you physically actually walk inside
one of those boxes as a walker.
The rewards haven’t been particularly compelling either.
In fact, as far as I can tell, there’s no secret boss or hard mode either
So beyond the Main Game, there simply isn’t much else to do.
There are some Training & Challenge missions that task you with destroying as many enemies
as possible within 5-minutes, but they’re not terribly interesting--and you can’t
share your highscores either.
So ultimately, Star Fox Zero is a weird game.it has a great presentation, fun missions, and
innovative controls--if you can get past the massive learning curve.
It’s just that once I got to that point, there wasn’t much left to do.
I still Liked my overall experience with it--I just wish there were more to it--like say
a proper dogfighting multiplayer mode would have gone a long ways in making the controls
feel more purposeful.