Review: Star Fox Zero (Wii U)

Join Fox, Falco, Peppy and Slippy as they fight to protect the galaxy from Andross’ evil army in Star Fox Zero. Full disclaimer: This is my first ever Star Fox title I have personally played.

Pros:

• Gorgeous graphics, Lighting is top notch and is a fine looking Wii U game. Water in particular looks fantastic.
• Opening tutorial area.
• Gameplay is an on rails shooter style game.
• 3D sound thanks to the game pad speaker.
• Multiple types of vehicles on offer:
  • Arwing: Traditional ship that can transform into a walker.
  • Gyrowing: Helicopter/Plane hybrid. Drops a robot that can be used to pick up bombs or hack terminals. (You control the robot with your gamepad screen)
  • Landmaster: Powerful tank that can also fly.
  • There are more variations and indeed vehicles to unlock but spoilers so….
• Main Game: 10 levels to battle through.
• Training: Mini levels to help learn each vehicle type.
• Prologue: Get acquainted with the previous games and have the story so far, Read to you.
• Arcade Mode: Unlock after finishing the story mode. Play through all levels in one go with the task being to rack up a high score.
• Levels are huge and offer a lot of replay-ability. You can find secret areas and even secret optional boss fights!
• Levels are broken up into phases. Typically 2 or 3, Phases break up the level and allow the action to switch about or add in story components.
• Gold rings: Collect 3 to add a retry. Retry is different from mission failed as it allows you to start back at the current phase where as mission failed means you start back at the beginning.
• Amiibo functions:
  • Falco: A powerful black ship, It does 3 times the damage but also takes 3 times the damage from enemies.
  • Fox: Grants you the original SNES version of his ship. You lose lock on but you do get faster shots and bigger charge shots.
• Charming soundtrack.
• Special demo of Star Fox guard and can only be downloaded through the game but can be played outside of it.
• Download file size is small, Just over 5GB.
• Full Miiverse integration, Post screenshots quickly to your Miiverse or join in the community chats.
• Big huge boss fights.
• Changing your ship via Amiibo changes the ship in the cutscenes as well.
• Co-op play: Local only, One person fly’s whilst the other player fires the guns.
• Controls take in both the big screen and your game pad screen. You can survey the air with the big screen and tackle big enemies or see your objective, The game pad screen is your cockpit and used for those precise shots and flying techniques. Of course this is all subject to your own taste.
• Off screen play can be done by pressing the – button but it does only flip the screens and not the best way to play. Plus when anything major happens on the big screen you do get a live feed small window pop up on your game pad screen.
• Supports Wii controllers and the pro controller but only in co op.
• Score list: Shows off your best hits score and also acts as a quick level select. Also displays your total best hits score and total play time.
• Medals can be found in levels and unlock tasty treats that…..Spoilers.
• Hits: Basically a fancy way of saying scores. You get a hit point for enemies whilst bigger enemies and bosses grant a lot more hit score.
• Every level can be played in co-op.
• You can eventually unlock the ability to change which vehicle you take into certain situations.
• You can skip cut scenes, Handy on replaying levels.
• Options:
  • 3D voice: on/off
  • Invert controls
  • Motion controls: Always on/on while using ZR
  • Manoeveures: Shows you a quick way to perform the many moves
• Voice comes out of the game pad controller for a more dramatic effect.

Cons:

• Horrible checkpoint system. If you get mission failed you have to start all the way back at the start even if you are in phase 2 or 3.
• Controls are just too awkward and clumsy. Having to constantly look between your game pad and big screen is one thing, But having to remember buttons and get precision shots is next level frustration.
• The story starts off strong but soon wears thin and becomes predictable and obvious.
• Boss fights are drawn out excursions. Killing them is easy enough but the route to this involves tedious decisions like, You can only hit at certain points or you only have a short window to attack. That or they just chuck extra enemies at you. Would also like to point out that on many bosses you don’t have a small attack window as they are attacking you, Far from it, Its just dead time or watching the boss move.
• The game doesn’t explain everything to you which is not good especially if this is your first Star Fox game. Medals, Hits and even pick ups are not explained.
• Short main story. Can be clocked in under 10 hours, Could even half that if you are good at the game.
• No proper online integration for scores, Its a brilliant score attack title but having no “In your face” leader boards, Feels like extra work.