Star Fox Zero Reviews
Platinum Games takes a quirky experiment and fleshes it out into a enjoyable Star Fox revival that's stretched a little too thin.
Star Fox Zero's fun stages and impressive boss fight give me lot of reasons to jump back in and play them over and over, and especially enjoyed them in co-op until I got a hang of juggling two screens myself. I've played 15 hours and I still haven't found everything. Learning to use the unintuitive controls is a difficult barrier to entry, though it comes with a payoff if you can stick with it.
There is a good game somewhere inside Star Fox Zero, but its forced reliance on the Gamepad's screen and motion controls cause it to barrel roll right into mediocrity.
The sort of expertly orchestrated action you'd expect from a team-up between Nintendo and Platinum, but the lack of innovation is a little disappointing.
Star Fox Zero is like visiting a place you remember fondly, but have outgrown
The first full-fledged Star Fox game in years mixes classic stylings with unconventional controls. But does it deliver?
Even after I found a way to wield its unwieldy controls, the game underneath those controls is a lukewarm retread. As a flagship Nintendo console release or even as a worthy sequel to a once-great franchise, Star Fox Zero just doesn't cut it.
It's the Star Fox game you wanted...in 2002.
The motion controls are decent and there are some great levels, but Star Fox Zero lacks replayability - a problem given that a dedicated player can probably knock it out in less than a day. Still, the level design has merit, and the second half of the game in particular is a reminder of how great Star Fox can be. Star Fox Zero falls short in a lot of ways; but for better or worse, it's still the best game the series has seen in years.
I had a good time with Star Fox Zero, but it feels like a game whose design is built on contradictions; the desire to have the new targeting control, but with the classic Arwing gameplay keeps both from being entirely functional. It prizes arcade-style progression, but lacks modern concessions for console titles, like adequate checkpoints or multiple difficulty levels. It's at its best when it diverges from traditional gameplay, but does so only fleetingly, as if its scared to commit to different experiences. This mix of playing it safe, relying too heavily on old-school conventions, while also pushing a control scheme that doesn't quite match, makes the points where it works glorious, but only fleetingly fun.
Hearing about how different Star Fox Zero was compared to its inception, it's almost like Miyamoto jettisoned most of the new ideas in favor of playing it safe due to complaints from testers. Even with Platinum's involvement, it's a confusing project that isn't quite sure of itself, wanting to try new things while simultaneously reigning it in. Despite these blemishes, I enjoyed my time with it.
As a game that lives and dies on its mechanics, Star Fox Zero is only intermittently successful at selling its dual screen dynamics. It's at its best during the classic Arwing sections, but the Walker form becomes overly fiddly and the different viewpoints often cause more problems than they solve. Sadly it's somewhat fitting that one of the final Wii U first-party games still doesn't convince us on the viability of a dual-screen home console.
Though Star Fox Guard is presented separately, it is packed in with Star Fox Zero and essentially serves as a mini-game. This repurposed tech demo, once called Project Guard, showed potential when it was first shown off, and that's been realized fairly well here. The tower defense structure does make good use of the dual cameras, forcing you to pay attention and swap on the fly to take out enemies. I did often wish there was a more reliable way to swap camera views, since my thumb was too imprecise but holding the stylus while shooting isn't comfortable. It's a shallow experience on the whole, and not meant for long stretches. While it does offer some longevity, due to the variety of stages, it definitely isn't a reason to pick up the Star Fox Zero package in itself. It will be sold separately for $14.99 on the Nintendo eShop.
Fast e furious: the Fox team is back with an old-school shooter visually underwhelming, but that's a joy to play (even if the control scheme can be a bit tricky).
Review in Italian | Read full review
Star Fox Zero brings the series back in a big way. Taking the franchise back to its roots, while amping up the action to new heights. Unfortunately not everything that was added was perfect though, with the Gamepad controls actually taking away from the experience, rather than adding to it. Once you get past them there is a great game here, but it will take some players quite a while to do that.
It's a little short and familiar, but forget Adventures, Assault, and Command, this is the Star Fox game that we should have got a long time ago.
Star Fox Zero is worthy of the name, but a few inconsistencies stop it from hitting the highs it otherwise may well have achieved.
It's a little sad that Star Fox Zero, a game that wonderfully shows the benefits of the Wii U Gamepad, came out so late in the system's life. Still, it's worth getting for anyone who owns the console, especially if you were a fan of the series in the '90s. Star Fox Adventures now seems like a distant, unpleasant memory.
Star Fox Zero is just plain rotten. An otherwise run-of-the-mill space shooter that couldn't be content with its own mediocrity and subsequently mutilated itself in a desperate attempt to stand out.