Star Fox Zero - your impressions 7 months later

J

Jonneh3003

Banned
Star Fox Zero released in April this year and was met to with some mixed opinions. Some called it the best Star Fox game since Star Fox 64 whereas others out right hated the new control scheme and over familiar themes. Personally I was in the camp that loved the new gyro controls but I did find a few missions a little inconsistent on my first playthrough (some gyrowing missions in particular).

I’ve replayed Star Fox Zero multiple times over the last few months and I’m still yet to grow tired of it. Aiming is second nature with the motion controls and I love the added mobility it grants. Fichina is pretty much the best level for me, it showcases the same jolly Star Fox formula that we’ve loved since the original but it’s more flexible. The slow, clunky landmaster from Star Fox 64 can now spout wings and take to the sky like an arwing, enemies are designed with weak points that require you to bend and manoeuvre around them.
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In my opinion Star Fox 64 falters a little in all range mode, having movement and aim on the same configuration can make aiming at small targets like Star Wolf pretty challenging and I’m glad to say Star Fox Zero really nails it. I wish there were a few more on rails stages like the brilliant Sector Omega but it is one of the more diverse Star Fox titles without ever completely changing the vehicle pacing like Star Fox 64 does. By the end of the game your Arwing pretty much absorbs every vehicles power.

Star Fox Zero improves upon a lot of Star Fox 64’s issues but I can also see that it’s a rather safe return for the series. I don’t agree with those that say it’s a clone of Star Fox 64 as I feel like Corneria is the only directly comparable level but it certainly doesn’t stretch too far from the core feeling of 64. While Assault and Command aren’t great games they’re at least interesting sequels, Zero just does the same old stuff with a new coat of paint. A very well painted coat of paint.

If you’ve struggled with the control scheme I suggest using the cockpit view (its on the gamepad by default but you can shift screens), the third person view has an odd perspective that doesn’t feel 100% accurate. Zero clearly isn’t the most accessible game in the series but all it took was that short training mission for me to understand it. From a design perspective it easily rivals Star Fox 64 and there are so many reason to play it again and again. But then again I always enjoyed Star Fox Zero, has anyone’s opinion changed in the 7 months since it launched?

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I still play it every now and then. The new control scheme added some interesting possibilities to the genre. The stealth level is a real stinker on replays though.

Fun game, it'll probably be somewhere in the middle of my GOTY list. I think it's the best game Nintendo put out this year.

Plus I still have Guard to play.
 
I liked it well enough, although it doesn't hold a candle to the pick-up-and-play nature of SF64. Not that that's a bad thing--I'm just glad we got a new SF at all--but I think a number of questionable/half-baked ideas hold it back. I'd love to see how a potential sequel could build upon its strengths.
 
Still love it and since I haven't had time to play through World of Final Fantasy yet it's still my Game of the Year.

At the moment it's also in my Wii U top 10 although it's probably getting bumped off once I finish Genei Ibun Roku #FE and Zero: Nuregarasu no Miko.
 
I think it's a great game and the first real Star Fox game since the 64, you just need to give time at the controls and they become one of the best part of the game.
 
I liked it a lot. Played through it only once, but replayed a few levels multiple times. Looking forward to getting time to play it more.

To me it's at least on par with SF64. A solid 8/10
 
Hunter Lone Wolf is One of the most incredible Boss Fights in a Videogame. Elegant, Pure, Romantic, Atmospheric, Fast Paced.
 
MrSaturn99 said:
I liked it well enough, although it doesn't hold a candle to the pick-up-and-play nature of SF64. Not that that's a bad thing--I'm just glad we got a new SF at all--but I think a number of questionable/half-baked ideas hold it back. I'd love to see how a potential sequel could build upon its strengths.
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If Switch gets a sequel I want them to keep the gyro controls for sure, it doesn't have the be a dual screen experience and the transforming vehicles are far more interesting than the forced landmaster and submarine sections in Star Fox 64 (in my opinion). Being a full on sequel rather than a reboot would help it it feel a little more fresh.
 
Nice on-rails levels, awful bosses and way too many free-roaming stages, which have never been fun to me in Star Fox games.

"Kinda decent" is my verdict, I'd say.
 
I tried. But the controls make it borderline unplayable.

I went to the Nintendo store in NYC, and they had the game on a giant ass wall screen, and people there were trying to look at the gamepad while playing. Such a baffling design decision.
 
I've gotta' be honest. Star Fox Zero solidified my hatred of the Wii U. It's not really a bad game, but I found the whole thing so completely unnecessary that I have no desire to ever go back to it or the Wii U console in general. Star Fox Zero perfectly encapsulates how I've felt about Nintendo over the past five years. Bring on the Switch and Nintendo's new era.
 
nynt9 said:
I tried. But the controls make it borderline unplayable.

I went to the Nintendo store in NYC, and they had the game on a giant ass wall screen, and people there were trying to look at the gamepad while playing. Such a baffling design decision.
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You can switch the screens with the minus button (I think its minus). There's no need to look at the gamepad.
 
A misfire on nearly every account. Control scheme is a dud, pacing is annoying. There's a good bossfight with star wolf early in the game but they make you do the exact same fight on venom and it has zero dramatic impact. As a game, it's dull, with only the most hardcore players being invited to try and hit high scores. As a sales pitch for the dynamic gameplay the gamepad offers up, it's a complete failure.

That Andross fight that forces you to go into walker mode and aim up to hit his palms during attacks. what the hell.

Star Fox peaked nearly 20 years ago.
 
Never played it, don't intend to. I love Nintendo as much as anyone, but there are many, many $15 steam games that surpass this in quality. With games like this and Mario Tennis on Wii U, those are examples of Nintendo taking advantage of their most loyal fans, and that really bugs me. I'm not saying you can't enjoy this game for what it is, but releasing it at full price is indefensible to me.
 
Best Star Fox Game.
The controls with the gyro aiming are working great. Gives you much more possibilities and speed.
I appreciate the game more and more, after each playthrough.
 
Terrible. I played it co-op with a close friend and still hated the controls even while only having to worry about steering. Still have no idea how I was supposed to play that crap single player without being a four armed two headed Hydra Kraken monster person.

Also the graphics sucked. Also the story sucked. Also the game was boring.

Star Fox 64 still the best by far.
 
For someone who played a lot of sf64, I hated zero. The controls just killed it for me. It was too difficult for me to look at the gamepad and the TV screen.
 
killroy87 said:
Never played it, don't intend to. I love Nintendo as much as anyone, but there are many, many $15 steam games that surpass this in quality. With games like this and Mario Tennis on Wii U, those are examples of Nintendo taking advantage of their most loyal fans, and that really bugs me. I'm not saying you can't enjoy this game for what it is, but releasing it at full price is indefensible to me.
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How do you know that you won't like it if you haven't played it?
 
Easily going to make my top 10 of the year. I'm a huge fan of the whole Star Fox series (replayed literally all of them this year) and this is second only to 64.

The controls clicked with me almost instantly, but I still think it's ridiculous there's no true alternative unless you go coop. It would be extremely unfortunate to have to wait another 10 years for an entry in the series or 20 years for one in the vein of the originals (1,2,64).
 
I think the bigger problem with the game than the controls is the lack of ambition. The game does not have a compelling reason to exist; it simply retreads everything from Star Fox 64, but worse. Also, the entire universe of the series with the stupid Muppet characters is really offputting. It was kinda cute in the N64 days I guess, but it just makes me embarrassed to play now.
 
For the first time ever im concerned for the quality of the Pikmin series after seeing what Miyamoto did to Star Fox.

I didnt bother going after the medals, no multiplayer modes of any kind is ridiculous and having every boss be in all range mode was a huge mistake. Like even if people wanna rag on the controls the game has more reasons to dislike it.
 
I drove past the corpse of a roadkilled fox every day on the way to work for a while, and every time I saw it, I thought of Starfox Zero.

True story.
 
It would easily be my favourite SF game if it wasn't for the second screen elements. Gyro aiming is great, though. I hope they port this to switch.
 
Zero83 said:
How do you know that you won't like it if you haven't played it?
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We live in a world where researching a product's build-quality & reception is easier than ever.

Don't need to play Aliens: Colonial Marines myself to know it's absolute trash.
 
As someone who has been waiting for the return of Starfox for so long this is probably the most disappointing game I've ever played. I can't believe this was a collab with Platinum.
 
I'm not sure if it's because I grew up when every game had a different control scheme or what, but I got used to the controls and had no issue with them.

Cool game that I'm sad got completely shit on. Makes me wonder if Star Fox is done for good.
 
kadotsu said:
It would easily be my favourite SF game if it wasn't for the second screen elements. Gyro aiming is great, though. I hope they port this to switch.
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It's particularly odd considering most WiiU games go out of their way to give different control options (touch screen, wiimote, gamepad, pro controller, GCN controller, more...) whereas this one only has a single control scheme and it's extremely divisive at best.
 
Forced and completely unnecessary control scheme kills the game for me.

Visuals were mediocre, stealth level is a dud , gyro aiming doesnt suck, but second screen elements do.

I love my WiiU but when first party titles force complete unnecessary control schemes in attempt to justify the shitty design of the console/gamepad combo , it makes me wanna quit.

Sorry, this Star Fox should be a eShop minigsme exclusive experiment , like it was supposed to be in the first place.
 
It still sucks entirely because of the controls. I really just want it ported to the Switch with all the unneeded junk removed.
 
One of the worst major studio releases of the past decade. Plenty of games are bad. A few others are awful. But Star Fox Zero is legitimately unplayable, with a control scheme that poorly leveraged every gimmick Nintendo has foolishly clung to over the past few years. Gyroscope aiming is totally inaccurate, so imprecise the ability to recenter the aim reticle needed to be assigned to a face button. The dual-screen concept is inherently flawed, forcing players to make a baffling trade-off between flying blind, or immediately shooting - in a game that asks for perfect execution of both. Combine that with amateurish free-roam levels, an awful story, and an overall design that can't even successfully rip-off a game from nearly 20 years ago.

Were it not for the Animal Crossing party game, it would be the worst game Nintendo has released all year, possibly ever.
 
Star Fox Zero is likely the most polarizing game that was released this year. While some people are clearly in the middle and thought it was decent it is very much a love it or hate it kind of game.

I'm in the hate it camp. The controls are garbage and I cannot understand how people defend them even though I've seen people do it since the game came out, they just do not work the way they should and its irritating as all hell to take damage because you have to look at the touch screen to aim properly in all range mode but then you can't see whats happening around you because of it. It's just garbage and its the only reason the freaking final boss was at all difficult.

Then you have the level design which is hit and miss. On rails sections in the arwing are fun and interesting... anything else is god awful. The gyro copter is just not fun to control at all and the levels you have to use it are generally infuriating. The landmaster levels are by far the worst IMO since the on rails levels just cause you to constantly hit every freaking thing in your way and it seems the default speed of the landmaster is simply too fast then you have the all range sections like the spider boss fight which is hands down the worst boss fight in the history of the entire freaking franchise if not Nintendo's entirely library in general.

To cap it off the games level structure is boring as hell with the last several levels being the same no matter what 'path' you take, it makes replaying the game an immense drag since every time you get to those parts you know nothing is going to change and everything will play out the same. Not having that in Star Fox 64 and letting the hard route have the true final boss made sense and I am absolutely baffled they didn't include such a scenario for Star Fox Zero.

On top of it all the steaming pile of shit I think this game is the only real good parts about the game are the call backs to Star Fox 64... Which would have been great if they didn't JUST remake Star Fox 64 for the 3DS a few years ago so every line that repeats just feels like they had not a single fresh or interesting idea to work with this series and the entire innovation of the game was meant to be its control scheme but the game wasn't designed around utilizing the controls to make the game actually play better.

Look I know some people got used to the controls and really like them but you cannot tell me that the game is better to have them and them alone instead of offering a realistic control scheme like the older games had which always worked damn well near perfectly. When the game forces you to go back and forth between the gamepad screen and your TV screen that is just not a good fucking experience, its jarring and unneeded and just proves how much of a waste the Wii U ultimately was.

I really wish Nintendo had just not made Star Fox Zero because while it clearly shows they put effort into it what is here is just not good. I know there are tons of fans who love this game but there are many many more that absolutely hate it and for good reason. It's not that the gyro controls and gamepad/TV setup couldn't work in one way or another but with how long this game took to come out it seems pretty obvious to me that Nintendo simply couldn't find a way for it to work for everybody and just decided to say what they had was good enough and to release it in the state that its in. It would be one thing if everything else had been amazing but it wasn't, there are issues everywhere in this game as I've already explained above. Personally call backs to the older games are fine but redoing the entire story and plot of the original game AGAIN just tells me they have absolutely no idea what to do with this characters, universe, or story and I rather them just leave it alone.
 
I really gave it a good try, but the controls are just so fucked up I eventually threw in the towel. I may go back to it at some point. One of my biggest gaming purchase regrets in recent memory.

On a side note -- how is Guard? I have been meaning to give that a try.
 
The controls weren't the problem for me. I got used to them pretty quickly, and I actually ended up liking them. What I didn't like was the fact that it was another reboot. It didn't feel like the next big step for the franchise.
 
I played through the game solo at first and found it frustrating, and hard to adjust to, but ultimately not bad once I eventually got the hang of things. Shortly after that I took it to my sisters' house and played it co-op with one of them, her steering the ship while I manned the guns, and she mostly hated it.

The biggest sticking point for her, I think, was the camera and the way it made controlling the arwing difficult to adjust to. This is particularly true of boss fights where the camera is aimed at the enemy while you're trying to maneuver in a different direction. Having her try to steer around the crystal column in Andross' boss fight was really annoying to her and I could see why. She didn't adjust as well as I had to the feel of knowing where the ship would go depending on what direction you moved the stick.

The sense of using gyro controls to aim independently of movement isn't a bad idea, Splatoon proved that it can work and work extremely well, but my sense is that Star Fox took it too far. Using the gamepad to look and shoot nearly 90 degrees to the side and split up the view of where you're going and what you're trying to aim at is really taxing in a game that's already action-heavy. Throw in the weird enemy-focused camera during boss fights and there are times where you'll be strafing around a boss while having literally no view of what's directly ahead of you. And particularly in the walker, I felt like the aiming reticle in third-person view didn't necessarily line up with what you were really aiming at in cockpit view, which was also frustrating. So I guess overall it's not awful, but I can't say it's spectacular, either.
 
Every streamer/reviewer i watched that fought the final boss of Zero sounded like they wanted to kill themselves. That final boss sets the tone for the whole experience.
 
It's probably the best Starfox game since 64, but that's not really saying something since both Assault and Commands were awful.

I liked it, it could have been so much better so it's a bit frustrating but still, some great levels, the boss fights were cool (especially the one again Star Wolf in the snow area, probably the best in the serie), there was a lot of fanservice, the soundtrack is really nice.

Some levels were not really well made (like the one where you have to destroy some asteroids in a limited time) and it takes some time to learn the controls.

I would give it a 7/10. Could have been better, but still enjoyeable, and well, we get one Starfox game per ten years so there it is. At least it's a good one this time.
 
Doorman said:
I played through the game solo at first and found it frustrating, and hard to adjust to, but ultimately not bad once I eventually got the hang of things. Shortly after that I took it to my sisters' house and played it co-op with one of them, her steering the ship while I manned the guns, and she mostly hated it.

The biggest sticking point for her, I think, was the camera and the way it made controlling the arwing difficult to adjust to. This is particularly true of boss fights where the camera is aimed at the enemy while you're trying to maneuver in a different direction. Having her try to steer around the crystal column in Andross' boss fight was really annoying to her and I could see why. She didn't adjust as well as I had to the feel of knowing where the ship would go depending on what direction you moved the stick.

The sense of using gyro controls to aim independently of movement isn't a bad idea, Splatoon proved that it can work and work extremely well, but my sense is that Star Fox took it too far. Using the gamepad to look and shoot nearly 90 degrees to the side and split up the view of where you're going and what you're trying to aim at is really taxing in a game that's already action-heavy. Throw in the weird enemy-focused camera during boss fights and there are times where you'll be strafing around a boss while having literally no view of what's directly ahead of you. And particularly in the walker, I felt like the aiming reticle in third-person view didn't necessarily line up with what you were really aiming at in cockpit view, which was also frustrating. So I guess overall it's not awful, but I can't say it's spectacular, either.
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You observed correctly. The aiming reticle in third person does not match up with where you're shooting.
 
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