(2019) Star Fox Zero (Wii U, 2016) Review

NOTE: This review was previously posted on Tumblr on February 18, 2019, and has been reposted here for archival purposes. It may not reflect my current opinions or recent events.

Star Fox is a series that I’d probably say I’m at least a casual fan of. Despite being born in 2001 and growing up in the era of the Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3, the original game for Super Nintendo has always managed to impress me seeing the SNES’ capabilities of using polygon graphics via the FX chip before systems like the PlayStation 1 and Nintendo 64 came out (which somehow manages to still look better than the Atari Jaguar’s “64-bit” graphics), and it’s always been one of my favorites for the system. And while I still prefer the SNES game, I can’t deny that Star Fox 64 did improve upon it with the Nintendo 64’s more powerful hardware and being the first game that allowed for rumble functionality. And I think the series has always been pretty much constantly good for me, Star Fox Adventures was a game that while it’s pretty polarizing I enjoyed a lot, and games like Assault and Command are games that I’ve been intending on playing for a while. I also played the release of Star Fox 2 in the SNES Classic, and I gotta say that it’s probably my favorite of the Star Fox games so far. That said, the series really didn’t get much love from Nintendo. After the release of Star Fox Command for the Nintendo DS, the series pretty much lay dormant. No new games in the series were released for the Nintendo Wii, and even with the release of the new Wii U, it still took a while to get any confirmation of a new game. But when a new Star Fox game was announced in 2014, you can bet I was pretty hyped. The largely dormant series was finally returning, and I was excited to see what was in store for the next game. The hype only grew with the dedication to the game that Nintendo’s 2015 E3 centered around (honestly the only interesting thing aside during that entire E3).

And boy, when it came out…

…disappointment spread throughout the air when it turned out the game wasn’t what people wanted.

Let’s just say the game received mixed reviews, with a ton of criticism particularly aimed towards it’s gimmicky motion controls and the similarities to Star Fox 64. The game wasn’t want most people wanted, and failed to breath fresh air in a dormant series. What made it hurt worse was that, it was basically supposed to be one of the Wii U’s last chances to really “roar” and give a killer app. The only other major title for that year was Paper Mario: Color Splash which was immediately given negative attention once it’s first trailer that year as well as, maybe, Pokken Tournament I guess, and the only thing the Wii U had left was the new Zelda game which turned out was going to be additionally released on the “NX.” And by this time, pretty much every Nintendo fan knew that the NX (which of course turned out to be the Switch) was on the horizon, and once that came out, the Wii U was going to get the shaft. So having a hyped up title like Star Fox Zero come out as a major disappointment… well, it really didn’t help the situation very much.

That said, I still wanted to check the game out. I mean, despite being disappointed with what I was hearing, I figured it would still be worth giving the game a shot. I mean, like I said, I am a fairly casual Star Fox fan and still figured this would be fun to play. Unfortunately I didn’t own a Wii U until it came out, but with the recent price drops on everything Wii U related, now was probably the perfect time to pick it up, especially since my nearest Target had the game NIB on clearance for $20, that particular version coming with a physical copy of Star Fox Guard. And after playing through it, I figured I would give my thoughts on the game.

Plot-wise. Star Fox Zero takes place in the Lylat System, taking place 5 years after Fox McCloud’s father, James McCloud had gone missing after being led into a trap by Pigma. Andross’ army has grown and spread throughout the Lylat System, resulting in Fox McCloud reuniting Star Fox in order to stop him from taking over.

In terms of gameplay, Star Fox Zero is comparable to Star Fox 64, being a 3D rail shooter with levels that represent the Lylat system. I guess in their efforts to reboot the franchise, Nintendo really wanted to go back to the basics with how the series started out rather than the hybrid gameplay of Assault, which is also sort of reflected in the story as it is, which is more or less a retelling of Star Fox 64’s story, with no hot fox waifus to see here. The game as a whole could be described as a “reimagining” of Star Fox 64, having a lot of the same sorts of mechanics and moves that were present in said game as you control the Arwing and use different sorts of maneuvers and go between the standard mode of flying and “All-Range” mode.

Like I said, this was definitely one criticism of the game, and if for those who were already experienced with Star Fox 64 (which as it was was a remake/reimagining of the original Star Fox on SNES), I can see why this game felt pretty same-y when compared to the previous Star Fox games released for the GameCube and DS, especially considering we had just gotten a Star Fox 64 remake on the 3DS 5 years before this game, when the 3DS was still out at the time, therefore making a reimagining on the Wii U relatively pointless and redundant.

Still, I can’t really deny that even as someone who’s already familiar with Star Fox SNES and 64, I did have fun with the gameplay. It at least does some interesting new stuff which is at least enough for me to separate it as it’s own thing from Star Fox 64. I played this not long after playing through Star Fox 2 on the SNES Classic, and I can definitely tell this game took some queues from the formerly scrapped title. One particular aspect is the transformation (uwu) segments, where the Arwing can transform into a Walker that originated in Star Fox 2 and the Gravmaster transformation for the Landwalker. In addition, some new vehicles are added that are used in certain levels and parts of the game. One particular example of a new vehicle is the Gyrowing, a helicopter drone thing that can deploy Direct-i in order to hack into computers and go into small spaces. The vehicles as well as their transformations are all pretty fun to play with, and the Direct-i are pretty fun little characters even though they aren’t really seen much in this game. Of course, like a lot of people, I do wish this game did take more risks that made it feel more unique, but looking at it as more of a reimagining of Star Fox 64 than a whole new game, I can’t really deny that I did have fun with the game for what it was and there are some new and interesting twists here and there that I definitely feel add to the game.

But probably the most controversial aspect of the game is definitely the control scheme. I can’t deny that as far as this game goes it is pretty gimmicky, using the Gamepad and motion controls to target and shoot enemies on screen, and of course not a lot of people were too fond of this, which is probably the biggest reason why this game got such mixed reviews. That said, I actually did find this game’s use of the Gamepad to be interesting and actually made the game feel more immersive to me. The Gamepad essentially represents your cockpit, and is used to give a first person view to make it easier to target enemies, while a third person view of the Arwing is on the TV itself. And to be honest, I actually feel that this is definitely an interesting use of the Gamepad which was relatively underused during the Wii U’s lifespan. And the use of motion controls for aiming kind of made it feel like controlling the actual Arwing, which made it feel pretty immersive. It actually kind of made me wonder what this game would be like in VR, and is one game that I really can’t imagine on any other system but the Wii U. Granted, this is more of a novelty, and while I did get a kick out of it myself, I can also understand many didn’t care for this control scheme. There were still times, especially later in the game, where trying to aim with the Gamepad generally felt tedious and made the game a lot more frustrating. And to those who didn’t like motion controls on the Wii… well, the use of them in this game definitely wouldn’t help their opinion of the game. I really think what Nintendo should of done is make motion controls completely optional. You can set the motion controls for use only when you’re shooting instead of being always on, but I think it would have been best if there were three different options - Motion Controls always on, Motion Controls only when shooting, or an option for a traditional control scheme like was scene in Star Fox 64. And if they do make a Star Fox game of this sort on the Switch, I think it would be best for Nintendo to allow the player to choose out of these options. I can’t deny that I did enjoy the novelty and thought it made the game kind of interesting, but at the same time I can definitely understand why some wouldn’t really be fond of it.

This leads to how I feel about the game’s presentation. And, well, the game definitely looks pretty nice graphically, arguably one of the best looking games on the Wii U. The soundtrack I’m not too sure about, I haven’t really gone back and listened to it after I finished the game and there weren’t really any tracks I remember too well. I can’t say I was ever really a fan of Star Fox 64’s soundtrack, and this game is about on that same level in my opinion.

Conclusion:

That’s really all I have to say about Star Fox Zero. Is it what I hoped for? Not quite, I definitely feel it should’ve built more upon the Star Fox gameplay and did more interesting stuff. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t have fun with it, because for what it’s worth, I definitely feel like I got my Star Fox fill from this game. There’s still a lot more I would’ve done with it, and I sure as hell wouldn’t have bought it for $60, but for the $20 I got it in it’s bundle with Star Fox Guard for, I kind of figured I could’ve done worse. I still did get enjoyment out of the game, and while it may not be a game I look to replay any time soon, I can at least say I had fun with it. I don’t really do ratings for games, but I feel like I would probably rate this as a 7/10, a decent game with fun to be had, but nothing too special or groundbreaking. I just hope that if Nintendo ever makes another Star Fox game, they do more with the core gameplay and make the motion control aspect of it at least an option if not remove it entirely.