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[MrNelson]

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.

Damn, I guess I should have let IGN form my opinion on God Hand, Binary Domain, and Star Fox Zero instead of actually trying and enjoying them.

So much for thinking for myself.

 

[nickgia]

You had one job Nintendo: make a SF game like SF64.

Spoiler

You blew it.

 

[nynt9]

Damn, I guess I should have let IGN form my opinion on God Hand, Binary Domain, and Star Fox Zero than actually trying and enjoying them.

So much for thinking for myself.

There's looking at one review, then there's reading many, looking at impressions by streamers and youtubers, talking to people who have the game and watching footage. It's incredibly easy to inform yourself these days.

There are a ton of positive impressions about God Hand and Binary Domain across youtube and gaf and reddit. Most impressions of SFZ in those sites are mixed at best. Watching people play it doesn't paint a pretty picture either.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

Damn, I guess I should have let IGN form my opinion on God Hand, Binary Domain, and Star Fox Zero than actually trying and enjoying them.

So much for thinking for myself.

Well yeah, using a single outlet for all of your gaming information would be pretty stupid.

 

[Opa-Pa]

I had 0 faith in this before release because it simply didn't make sense to me, but I got it anyway to support the franchise and... It was fantastic. Controls sound quirky for the sake of it on paper, but they allow a level of control that simply wouldn't be possible with a different scheme and elevates the classic SF64 formula quite a lot, to the point it's my favorite SF game now, and the one game to sell me on the Wii U pad for real.

My only problem is that the lack of a decent budget is very apparent both in the visuals and in the simplicity of some levels (also while the music was generally good, it wasn't very impressive), that aside tho, it's a blast. The controls even have a classic Platinum gaming curve that make the game even better in future playthroughs because you've mastered all the vehicles by then.

I seriously can't for the life of me understand how people can find the controls bad... Like aside from some less intuitive ones like the walker, I don't get it. I'm pretty partial against motion controls and quirky control schemes in general, but I can see when they work, lile in Skyward Sword and this, so it wasn't an issue anymore once I actually gave it a chance.

Guard tho, that feels like a baffling waste of a cool developer collaboration. I haven't even opened my copy.

 

[Jonneh3003]

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.

I didn't think Colonial Marines was as bad as many people made out. Actually had a solid time with it.

 

[MrNelson]

There's looking at one review, then there's reading many, looking at impressions by streamers and youtubers, talking to people who have the game and watching footage. It's incredibly easy to inform yourself these days.

There are a ton of positive impressions about God Hand and Binary Domain across youtube and gaf and reddit. Most impressions of SFZ in those sites are mixed at best. Watching people play it doesn't paint a pretty picture either.

Well yeah, using a single outlet for all of your gaming information would be pretty stupid.

And just like SF0, those other two have middling Metacritic averages, as well as people that praise the game and others that dislike them. My point is that the only way you're going to know for sure is to try it for yourself.

 

[DylanEno]

Worst Nintendo remake that comes to mind tbh. Complete and utter garbage, embarrassing in nearly every aspect. Astounding how superbly it fails in every attempt at creating an enjoyable experience.

7/10

Spoiler

/s game is definitely worse than a 7/10

 

[Aaron D.]

Damn, I guess I should have let IGN form my opinion on God Hand, Binary Domain, and Star Fox Zero instead of actually trying and enjoying them.

So much for thinking for myself.

LOL.

You forgot to add, "Wake up, sheeple!", Mr. Special Snowflake.

 

[nynt9]

And just like SF0, those other two have middling Metacritic averages, as well as people that praise the game and others that dislike them. My point is that the only way you're going to know for sure is to try it for yourself.

Some people don't like to spend $60 on a trash game to find out how bad it is and have critical skills to be able to discern things from themselves by aggregating information they receive from different sources, watching footage and reading impressions of people who opinions they can relate to.

 

[GhostTrick]

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.

This.
Go grow some ambitions Nintendo. When people wanted Star Fox by PG, they expected a AAA PG Star Fox game.

 

[Seik]

Best Star Fox game since 64.

Controls are complicated, but like W101, when you nail it, it's a fucking satisfying experience.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

And just like SF0, those other two have middling Metacritic averages, as well as people that praise the game and others that dislike them. My point is that the only way you're going to know for sure is to try it for yourself.

While this is true and is certainly the best course of action if one can afford it, you're still able to get a reasonable idea of how you'll personally feel about the vast majority of games these days without playing them for yourself. This wasn't really true 10 or 15 years ago but it absolutely is now.

That being said, I would never, ever try to speak with any sort of authority on a game I haven't experienced myself. I haven't played much of Star Fox Zero, so I won't say it's bad game, but I will say it failed to grab me and I have no interest in giving it another shot.

 

[To Far Away Times]

I've played less than 10 games released in 2016. That being said, I would not put Starfox in my Top 10 this year because I don't think it deserves to be nominated.

 

[Nocturnowl]

I've been meaning to give it another run.

But as it stands I did enjoy it but felt it really lacked content with a lot of the extra missions being cobbled together and rather uneventful. You can really see this whole hodgepodge angle take effect trying the arcade mode where there's no route consistency.

Loved the new arwing forms and such (minus the gyrowing of course), shame that most of them are incredibly underused as a result of the above.
And yes I even like the chicken walker and its janktacular movement.

Best SF game since 64 but that's pretty much damning with faint praise, it could still be way better and at times it shows signs of greatness just to rub it in.

 

[Kneefoil]

I grew to like the game less the more I played it, but I still think it's pretty good (way better than Command, anyway). I ended up beating the game, but I didn't go through all the portals, so the game still has some stuff I haven't seen. Might go back to see what's still there someday.

The controls aren't terrible, but they do hinder the gameplay. However, I'll gladly take this over no Star Fox game at all.

 

[freethoughtbubble]

I enjoyed the game upon release, but I haven't gone back to it since beating it. I enjoy learning different control schemes so that aspect was actually a plus for me, although there should have been more control options. My big problem with the game was its lack of ambition. I still can't believe it was such a straight retread of 64.

I want a true sequel for the next game. Keep the gyro controls as an option, but nix the dual screen element. And add an online mode for crying out loud, what's wrong with you Nintendo?

 

[Patrick Young]

The controls were shit then and they're shit now. I played one level at launch and found the shit controls. I waited a few months to see if they fixed the shit controls. Played the first level again. Nope, the shit controls remained.

Fuck that game.

 

[Jonneh3003]

The controls were shit then and they're shit now. I played one level at launch and found the shit controls. I waited a few months to see if they fixed the shit controls. Played the first level again. Nope, the shit controls remained.

Fuck that game.

So you played it for about 6 minutes max and gave up? There's a small learning curve but by the sounds of it you just didn't want to try it.

 

[PunjabiPlaya]

I picked up SF0 on sale off Amazon a while back but haven't had the time to boot it up yet, but I'm definitely gonna form my own opinion on this one. A similar game that got called "trash" and "shit" by a lot of people on gaf and reviewers was Kid Icarus Uprising, which had a similar unique control style. Kid Icarus Uprising is easily in the top 3 3DS games for me, so I'm hopeful that SF0 is actually a pretty fun game.

 

[Spieler Eins]

And just like SF0, those other two have middling Metacritic averages, as well as people that praise the game and others that dislike them. My point is that the only way you're going to know for sure is to try it for yourself.

Binary Domain and God Hand both are mid-70s. Starfox clearly slipped into the 60s, which nowadays is a pretty safe indicator that most people without rose-tinted glasses will find the game to be not very good.

 

[Yukinari]

Best Star Fox game since 64.

Controls are complicated, but like W101, when you nail it, it's a fucking satisfying experience.

W101 has a high learning curve because its a Platinum game not because of the controls. Drawing a shape to transform into the weapon you need is not even comparable to the two screen gimmick.

 

[MrSaturn99]

For the first time ever im concerned for the quality of the Pikmin series after seeing what Miyamoto did to Star Fox.

His vision for Zero was flawed, but I can't imagine it compromising Pikmin. The Wii U iteration remains the system's masterpiece and I can't imagine the series going anywhere but up from here.

 

[Jonneh3003]

W101 has a high learning curve because its a Platinum game not because of the controls. Drawing a shape to transform into the weapon you need is not even comparable to the two screen gimmick.

The two screen gimmick isn't too different to what Star Fox has always had. You've always been able to go into the cockpit its just this time the two perspectives are just a glance away. It isn't as playable when you're in the third person mode and that is a flaw but you can easily put the cockpit on the tv.

 

[Zero83]

Binary Domain and God Hand both are mid-70s. Starfox clearly slipped into the 60s, which nowadays is a pretty safe indicator that most people without rose-tinted glasses will find the game to be not very good.

SF Zero got a lot of really bad reviews and quite a few strong reviews. It was and is a polarizing game.

But yeah, it's not a universally acclaimed game.

 

[LordKano]

Binary Domain and God Hand both are mid-70s. Starfox clearly slipped into the 60s, which nowadays is a pretty safe indicator that most people without rose-tinted glasses will find the game to be not very good.

This is so wrong tho, there are a lot of awesome games that are in the middle 60s for some reason. I won't argue against those who are depending on the reviews to buy or skip a game, but that doesn't mean every game that receive bad scores are inherently bad. Sometimes they just are way too niche to be found enjoyable by the press.

 

[Oddduck]

I didn't think it was very good.

 

[Movalpolos]

Still one of the worst games I have ever played.

 

[BakedTanooki]

I didn't even used the screen on the pad.
Always pressed the button to bring the cockpit on the TV. So i always played the game with 1 screen. Worked great for me.

 

[leroidys]

Some people don't like to spend $60 on a trash game to find out how bad it is and have critical skills to be able to discern things from themselves by aggregating information they receive from different sources, watching footage and reading impressions of people who opinions they can relate to.

Fair, but repeating that it's disappointing trash when you haven't even played it still falls well below the objectivity bar.

 

[Living the Dream]

This game is probably the death nail of the entire series. How much did it end up selling? I would bet not even near 200K total.

 

[Opa-Pa]

You can tell someone didn't play the game or isn't very good at it when they complain about the dual screen setup, because it's only mandatory in like two instances and you can still just swap the second screen to the TV at any moment.

Seriously the only crazy thing in the game controls wise is gyro aiming, and it doesn't work very differently than in most games that are praised for including them.

Hell, this game is usually compared to Kid Icarus: Uprising and TW101, both games I love deeply, but they have extremely unintuitive (and in KIU's case unnecessarily obtuse) control schemes while SF0's make a lot of sense, it's just gyro aiming.

 

[Aaron D.]

I won't argue against those who are depending on the reviews to buy or skip a game, but that doesn't mean every game that receive bad scores are inherently bad. Sometimes they just are way too niche to be found enjoyable by the press.

Agree 100%.

The Farming Simulator franchise regularly averages 40-60% on Metacritic. Yet it consistently ranks at the top of my GOTY lists.

Knowing what you enjoy coupled with your tolerance for jank goes far in investing time & money.

 

[RaginRoss]

I rented it, played through once and had a good time.

I wouldn't have paid full price for it but glad I played through.

Edit - Also the controls were completely fine.

 

[AdanVC]

Game is on sale right now on Amazon Mexico and it was drawing my attention to get it for cheap but after reading the replies in here... I'll pass. Not gonna bother.

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.

This tbh. Awful look and presentation of the game overall, something pretty unusual in a Nintendo game. And the fact that the game has graphics that resemble an early PS3 game doesn't help either. I love Nintendo but I honestly hope this is their last game with gimmicks and dumb gameplay controls. I appreciate the fact that they always bring original ideas to the table but it's time to go back to basics once again.

 

[HStallion]

I don't think the controls were terrible but the rest of the game was so poorly done. It's got so many really bad boss fights and the open levels were just bad and the less said about the stealth the better. It was a struggle to get through and I really hope they distance a sequel as much as possible.

 

[jwillenn]

Controls?
Kind of engaging. I remember being very excited after completing the training intro.

Any level of the Corneria I or II: Phase I flavor?
Great! I spent all of the first morning working to get the Gold for Corneria I, and it was thrilling (again, Phase I in particular). Sector Alpha Phase I was also fun to work towards Gold for.

The problem?
Not enough levels like that or too many levels that simply weren't good. I feel like there were maybe 5 or 6 PHASES I genuinely enjoyed.

Star Fox Switch?
Yes please! And by all means, be innovative! Just make sure the "Shmup" within is treated with great care. I want the players who'd list games like Sin & Punishment, Ikaruga, Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours, Bangai-O, Border Down, Panzer Dragoon, and even the original Star Fox to never feel let down by a single level.

 

[Jonneh3003]

You can tell someone didn't play the game or isn't very good at it when they complain about the dual screen setup, because it's only mandatory in like two instances and you can still just swap the second screen to the TV at any moment.

Seriously the only crazy thing in the game controls wise is gyro aiming, and it doesn't work very differently than in most games that are praised for including them.

Hell, this game is usually compared to Kid Icarus: Uprising and TW101, both games I love deeply, but they have extremely unintuitive (and in KIU's case unnecessarily obtuse) control schemes while SF0's make a lot of sense, it's just gyro aiming.

Yeah I feel the same, there really isn't anything that complicated going in. It's far simpler than say Kid Icarus Uprising (which is one of my favourite 3DS games)

 

[Steve McQueen]

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 feel the same. Still sad it did not work out for me :/

 

[Regiruler]

There were some facets of the game that made playing easier that weren't obvious on the first playthrough. This made the game enjoyable to learn but left for a bad first impression.

The targeting and walker completely shook up the abysmal all range formula that was consistently the worst part of 64 and was the foundation of a completely mediocre game in assault, and allowed play to be closer to the on-rails portions (for example, despite andross being entirely all-range except for the last segment, it still plays like the on-rails portions because you remain still relative to his position).

 

[Jonneh3003]

There were some facets of the game that made playing easier that weren't obvious on the first playthrough. This made the game enjoyable to learn but left for a bad first impression.

The targeting and walker completely shook up the abysmal all range formula that was consistently the worst part of 64 and was the foundation of a completely mediocre game in assault.

I don't often hear people criticise all range mode but I made the same points in the OP. It feels pretty clunky in Star Fox 64 but actually works really well here.

 

[momshotdad]

Still in the shrink wrap for me.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

The only problem I had with it was lack of content. The story mode needed to be AT LEAST 50% longer than it was, if not twice as long. It almost seemed like they spent so long getting the mechanics and controls down that they forgot they had to make actual levels to use them in. The missions that were actually there were very good. I enjoyed the unique control scheme and gameplay. I got the game for 30$ so I wasn't that bummed. That's the price it should have launched with due to lack of content.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

Edit: didn't mean to make a new post sorry.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

It was my most anticipated game this gen, THIS GENERATION! With those expectations I know I was setting myself up for disappointment and I trimmed my hype as time got close and I started to see the direction and the graphics (won't front they are crispy wii levels). Once I played with with a working GamePad I still feel like this game was slave to the idea of the gamepad instead of making a good game first and the gamepad and afterthought.

That really hurt the final product, I haven't even beat the game yet. Its a Star Fox game, outside of Adventures you should be able to beat the game in less than 2 hours. I know it's dangerous but if any game needs to be ported to Switch with classic controls its this.

 

[Gorilla Shark]

Personally, the controls ruined it for me.

 

[Jonneh3003]

It was my most anticipated game this gen, THIS GENERATION! With those expectations I know I was setting myself up for disappointment and I trimmed my hype as time got close and I started to see the direction and the graphics (won't front they are crispy wii levels). Once I played with with a working GamePad I still feel like this game was slave to the idea of the gamepad instead of making a good game first and the gamepad and afterthought.

That really hurt the final product, I haven't even beat the game yet. Its a Star Fox game, outside of Adventures you should be able to beat the game in less than 2 hours. I know it's dangerous but if any game needs to be ported to Switch with classic controls its this.

I don't think it could actually work with classic controls, moving the walker around for instance would be very difficult. Many enemies are designed with you being able to freely move the cursor around, for instance in some all range mode levels you have to fly under enemies and aim directly above you to hit the weak points underneath them, this wouldn't work with the old control scheme. I think the Switch needs a sequel with similar fundamentals, keep gyro controls but make it more playable in third person. You really need to use the cockpit for accuracy in Zero.

 

[El_Presidente]

I just don't understand why there isn't an option for normal controls?

I want/wanted to like this game soo bad but the controls are crippling.

Im going to pop this in and try and last past the third level without throwing the gamepad in disgust like the last time I played it.

 

[MoonFrog]

I liked it and was the kind of game I wanted at the time it came out.

It should have had a couple more stages and a better variety of paths for arcade mode.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

For what it's worth, I welcome opinions from everyone in this thread, and ask that people post the extent of their experience with the game (time, medals gotten, etc.).

I'll start out by saying I completely understand the problems people have these controls, while learning them, using them after getting used to them, just on a conceptual level, and from an accessibility perspective. This game currently has no true options for controls (not even sensitivity sliders or button remapping) and it would've only been a better experience for everyone overall if there were more options.

That said, to anyone who's a strong fan of Star Fox and/or Star Fox 64: you owe it to yourself to try this game. I won't recommend that anyone buy this game without trying it first, but it's absolutely worth seeing whether you'll like it if you've been pining for another SF game of this ilk as I have — I have some qualms with the game and the decisions and circumstances surrounding it, but the meat of the game and its controls are probably the strongest aspects. I'm truly glad I played it, and have pretty thoroughly enjoyed most of it as a traditional Star Fox/64-type game, something I couldn't say for the past few SF titles.

Before release

I was disappointed learning about the strange controls and found the "aim in a different direction from where the ship is flying," off-putting as it meant gyro aiming would be unavoidable, something I'd never used comfortably in a game. I was also put off by the visuals, speed, amount of enemies and various comments from Miyamoto about the game's features (no bombs [which suggested a lack of concern for high scores and options], no plans for multiplayer, only planned for a short turn around, no plans for branching paths, etc.). Just a bunch of things Pretty down on the game, even up to release.

Post release

All of this is after playing for 20+ hours, getting all medals and playing a few hours with friends/family.

Arwing:

The Arwing controls clicked for me to my surprise, and much quicker than I expected. I did two runs through the training for the Arwing. I got used to glancing between the two screens and while I wasn't going to be comfortable doing any involved steering while shooting in other directions, I could wrp my head around moving in a general direction while shooting in another, or doing complex maneuvering, then focusing on shooting. There's nothing in the game that outright demands simultaneous complex movement and complex aiming, but it would theoretically be doable.

Barrel-rolls on the right stick seemingly don't affect directional movement that much, so the problems brought on by having "double tap joystick," as an input are mitigated because it usually doesn't matter which way you're rolling (that that does affect the Walker). These can also be done by quickly hitting left-to-right or vice versa, and joystick inputs like that tend to be wonky for a lot of reasons (hard to reliably move a joystick directly back-to-forward without it registering as diagonal-back-to-foward or something else, and double tapping non-digital inputs leaves too much room for the game misreading them). All that said, they work okay, though I'd rather have the left shoulder button be a "hold, then move left/right to roll," unput — that is currently only used for canceling the lock-on, something I don't find much use for since I don't go for super-high scores.

Loop-de-loops and u-turns being on the sticks actually is good in my eyes as I like not having to move my thumbs/fingers away from their default positions — I seem to accidentally perform loops/u-turns more now than when I first started playing the game, for some reason. It can be easy to do them on accident (breaking while tilting upward has close inputs to the u-turn, same with boosting while tilting up) and it'd just be better to have an option to turn off stick maneuvers altogether (those can be done with face buttons). Still, I appreciate that they're doable in that way, and I never have a problem performing them, it's just that they sometimes happen when I don't want them to — not sure what could be done to mitigate that problem. PvE isn't quite so demanding that the accessibility advantage by not needing to move one's right thumb to the face buttons is really needed, so it's not a big deal. If there were multiplayer, that would be a different story.


Arwing on-rails:

Arwing on-rails is great in that it's very close to Star Fox 64's gameplay with the added ability to aim within a half-sphere field ahead of the ship. I came to genuinely like using cockpit view, (in part because it doesn't actually flip all the way around when barrel-rolling like it did in 64. That view no longer being locked to the ship's orientation means it isn't as restrictive and becomes useful in myriad situations, rather than a novelty that puts the player at serious disadvantages. It's still a bit occasionally hard for me to get a feel for the ship's presence in that view and I find myself clipping scenery that I would more easily avoid in 3rd-person view, especially when tilting the ship on its side to pass through tight spaces. Still, the cockpit view is good for most situations, and I've played through every (non Gyrowing) level entirely through the cockpit view.

The vehicle/3rd-person view in on-rails missions is great too overall, classic SF 64, but the way the reticule works can make it seem really off — the cockpit view reticule is always dead-on of course, but since the 3rd-person reticule shows the angle of the cockpit view, that can sometimes be almost useless for far away targets from the 3rd-person camera perspective, even with the gyro aim centered and held stationary. I've seen a few ideas as to how that could be mitigated, and I believe the best way would be to focus on making the 3rd-person view's reticule give a better representation of where shots will land, first and foremost, as opposed to showing the angle/direction the cockpit view is facing, since the latter isn't useful when using the 3rd-person view. Switching between views is ideal, but I still see no inherent good in having the cursor be as off as it is in the vehicle view — it doesn't need to somehow show the extreme side-views possible using the cockpit view (e.g. all the way to the left/right, which would be impossible), but it should be better than it is.

Arwing all-range mode:

While the on-rails gameplay gyro aiming is helpful and neat at times, it's when in all-range mode that the controls justify their existence. The all-range dogfights in 64 and even in Assault and Command felt pretty rote and simplistic against NPCs, and other people alike, in that players could only u-turn, loop, or turn sharply, and you could only boost for a short time and do either of those special maneuvers with a predictable cool-down.

Zero's gyro aim allows for enemies to be more mobile than before, and I really came to like being able to turn and break sharply, then shoot an enemy chasing behind me without needing to resort to a loop-de-loop. Being able to aim more accurately and leading shots is much more exciting, and those dogfights can be made to be more demanding than before with more enemies and more aggressive opponents (i.e. Star Wolf's special attacks in some scenarios). There's enough boost in the boost meter to do two loops or u-turns back-to-back, and breaking/boosting can be done for much longer. This is the main reason I lament there being no multiplayer, because for the first time the Arwing vs. Arwing gameplay (not including the Star Fox: Assault ship exiting/switching shenanigans, which was fantastic) could be genuinely engaging by being less predictable and stilted. Having a high degree of control (or at least, a much higher degree of control than in previous SF games) would make for a fun multiplayer. the 3rd-person view can let you keep track of the ship/boss you're locked onto and once I got used to it, I could make good use of it by seeing where an enemy started flying while I was doing a loop or u-turn, then quickly aiming the cockpit view at their location while turn toward them. Before I would've just lost track of them for a bit, and in a couple fights in Zero, this is really useful.

Weak points on bosses can actually be challenging to hit now that the player can have more control over aiming. I appreciate enemies with hard-to-reach weak spots (like the spider walkers top/bottom spots) and it's a welcome change of pace (in that you're still shooting things and maneuvering a fun-to-use ship) to have to do bombing runs, passing over them, looking down and landing shots.

Doing loops and u-turns shouldn't lock the players view during their duration though — I want to be able to still aim around while looping, and so forth. It's nice that it's a way to reset the view, but I can do that at any time already with the left joystick, which is always going to be at my disposal.

Walker


Only a few instances where the Walker on-rails used can happen actually, but it's fine there.

Most of the time, it's all-range mode for it. I like using it when locked onto something — the ship will adjust to face what you lock-onto, and you can then strafe around it while aiming with the gyro. You can hold the lock-on button to strafe when not targeting an enemy, though I didn't use that too much, and only found it useful to mitigate problems while moving in tight spaces.

I found the Walker's movement fiddly, and still do. Having turning left/right be on both joysticks (can use both to turn quicker) has led to me barrel-rolling when I didn't want to, and since rolling in Walker form is a side-flip, that can be a problem when trying to maneuver onto small platforms or enemies (which is needed to hack a few control panels in the game). The "left-to-right," right joystick input has messed me up too many times since that will do a flip, even though I'm just looking from one direction to another quickly.

It's a neat addition to the arsenal, but I don't find the walker much fun in tight spaces, one of the only few places where it's useful over the Arwing. It's faster on land than the Landmaster, but not fast enough to be faster than the Arwing low above the ground. It isn't like controlling a traditional on-foot character since it seeks to emulate controlling a ship, but it's too fast and too fiddly for me to accomplish that feeling (something I find the Landmaster to do very well). I'd have preferred this to essentially control like Vanquish, and move extremely fast on land, yet provide functional dodging and snappier aiming to allow dancing around enemies. If this ever comes back, that's what I'd hope for — it should feel liberating and exhilarating when using it.

Gyrowing:

My biggest criticism of the Gyrowing is how it's used. I don't especially like using the ship itself, but it's functional. There are some quality-of-life improvements it could use, namely being able to move while reeling in the Direct-i bot and not being locked in place and just faster movement. That said, it's fine.

The level it gets all to itself is meant to be a stealth mission, but it's mostly just open space that you drift through — really dull and uneventful, and isn't even demanding as a stealth op. Had where the level lacked in high-speed action, it made up for it in being a tense stealth situation that demanded precise movement and timing, it would've been more engaging. As it is, even when trying to avoid spotlights, it's just slow and empty. This is another area I think multiplayer would allow aspects of the game to shine more — a mode where other players have to cover a Gyrowing user while they do a bombing run or something would be inherently more exciting, especially if it allowed two-player-one-ship co-op.

Was a better experience in the level it makes a brief appearance since that scenario had a soft time limit.

Landmaster

Has virtually nothing I dislike. Just feels awesome to use and has better aiming than its 64 counterpart, yet still feels like steering a heavy, cool tank thing where you have to manage strafing while firing missiles, and so forth. The addition of three lock-on missiles at a time is great and a welcome advantage over other ships. Its levels make good use of what it offers — the spider boss makes evident how nice it is to be able to precision-aim through the cockpit while doing the hover/strafe to dodge its legs/laser fire. Then, when it tries to land on you, you have to switch to the Gravmaster (flying Landmaster, essentially) to outrun it. Just a high degree of control, and a situation that demands some mastery of those controls. Makes each portion of the Landmaster sequences engaging.That the Landmaster is slower than the Arwing helps with selling the use of gyro aiming too — while one could argue classic "locked to ship's nose direction," aiming in the Arwing could be just as fast as gyro aiming (aside from really far up/down/to the sides), in the Landmaster, there was no way to aim this well in 64.

Co-op:

I posted about my experiences playing co-op with my dad in another thread; here's an excerpt pertaining directly to the controls:



That about sums up my experience with the controls themselves. I would've preferred a much better showcase for the Gyrowing, or to just not have it featured tbh, and the Walker should be more swift and more like Vanquish, in short. The Arwing and Landmaster could've carried this game entirely, and with a few tweaks to the controls, they would be pretty perfect for what they are.

There still needs to be more options (or options, full stop), maybe have a demo stage for people on the fence, and a better way of teaching players how to use them (not that the training missions are bad, they could just be better). A refinement of what Zero has done could make for a truly great sequel, but that's really up in the air because of the skimpy content and negative feedback the game has gotten because of them. Multiplayer would be the best way of validating the higher degree of control, and would make evident how functional they are to everyone just from seeing others use them well. We'll see.

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I still feel the same.

The apologists for the game's faults can get stuffed btw. All the condescending bullshit about "surely, no who actually played the game could complain about _____"

fuck OFF.