Star Fox Zero

Since Star Fox 64 released on the Nintendo 64 in 1997, many fans have been disappointed with the subsequent offerings the franchise has presented. Multiple new playstyles like on-foot missions and strategy elements have caused the series to drift from its on-rails space shooter roots that hold up to this day. Star Fox Zero, the latest entry, is a reboot of the franchise that claims to reset the story and gameplay to the standard of 19 years ago. At the same time, though, it introduces yet more ideas that clash with this choice, making it unclear what the game’s purpose actually is.

The premise and narrative of the game is near identical to 64. You play as Fox McCloud, an ace pilot and leader of team Star Fox. The galaxy is being invaded by the evil monkey scientist Andross, and it’s up to you and your team to shoot through his army to his base on planet Venom and stop him. Not only is the plot familiar, but also the level locations and characters. Truthfully, I don’t see why it was necessary to reboot the series for the second or third time since the SNES. It feels like Nintendo was trying to bait older fans into buying the game expecting an identical experience to Star Fox 64. After experimenting with both games, I can tell you that this isn’t entirely the case.

The biggest debate surrounding this game is the matter of the controls. Nintendo implemented a strange control scheme where you control your spaceship with the two control sticks on the Wii U gamepad while using its gyroscope to aim your laser at enemies. You have a “normal” view on the television and a first-person view on the gamepad’s screen. These strange controls are billed as granting more control over your ship and abilities. In reality, though, the controls can be insanely frustrating at times. The division of the screens forces multitasking constantly. During on-rails sections of the game, I think the controls can actually be enjoyable. However, during these levels I never felt like I could do more than I could in 64. The all-range mode sections, where you can fly around freely, require the motion controls more. I always disliked all-range mode, even in 64, so it disheartened me to see that about half the levels are entirely in this mode, and nearly all of them have at least a section of it. Now, people have cited that after spending quite a few hours with the game, they were able to master the controls and become experts. But by the time you can truly accomplish this, you’ve already completed pretty much everything the game has to offer. Control is the most important part of any game, and the unintuitive nature of this game’s control should be treated as a valid complaint, not dismissed as closed-mindedness. Sections that would have been effortless in 64 became near-impossible with the new control scheme. That doesn’t sound like it’s “improving the gameplay experience” to me.

In addition to the beloved Arwing plane, the game features several new and returning vehicles to pilot. The Arwing can now transform into a walker form, which is nearly impossible to control gracefully. It is extremely slow and clunky to maneuver, and its momentum is all over the place. Combining these problems with the added focus needed for the motion shooting equals little fun. The Landmaster tank returns, which remains a slower, less fun version of the Arwing. Like the plane, it can transform into a sort of hovering tank, which ultimately makes its inclusion rather pointless. There is a new helicopter-type vehicle as well, which slows the pace considerably but is enjoyable enough, I suppose. It is only used for two levels, which can both be revisited with the Arwing. Unsurprisingly, the Arwing versions are much more fun.

Aside from these problems, the game makes strides to remain true to 64’s design, but deviates in ways that suggest it doesn’t understand why those elements worked. The biggest draw of Star Fox 64 was that it only took about an hour to clear, but had many alternate paths to reach the several endings. Each run would be different, depending on which routes through the levels you chose, and the player was rewarded for their skills with new levels. Zero brings back alternate pathways in the most superficial of ways. The paths themselves do not activate in any given level until well after you beat it the first time, meaning the game is basically linear. Instead of having to rely on skill to stay on the hardest route, the player can select any level at will and effortlessly reach the portal to the alternate level. This means the game remains extremely short for today’s standards, but kills the replayability 64 was so famous for. Additionally, your teammates are devalued tremendously. Fox is once again joined by Peppy Hare, Falco Lombardi and Slippy Toad. In older games, each teammate had a small but valuable benefit to keeping them around and saving them whenever they got in a jam. In Zero, however, they are pretty much invincible, and the role they play is minimized, to the point where they don’t even bother showing up in some extra levels. The biggest example I can think of is the dogfights with rival team Star Wolf. In 64, your teammates could distract the other pilots and keep them off of you, and if they weren’t there for the final dogfight on Venom it was more or less impossible. In Zero, though, you take on all four members of Star Wolf at once by yourself, and it’s very manageable.

Star Fox Zero is not devoid of value, but it is certainly not worth full asking price. A few of its levels can be very fun, and on the rare occasion when the controls work correctly you can almost see why they were implemented. Unsurprisingly, these moments coincide with when the game is most closely emulating its predecessors. However, the game is constantly fighting with itself on whether it wants to be a carbon copy of 64 or push forward with, in this case, ill-conceived new ideas. Either way, the future of the series is in question on what direction it will take. Hopefully, it will be brighter and more confident than the identity crisis we have now.