Hi.
I recently [played and 100% Star Fox Zero for the first time.](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/600488938238378007/975433227537887283/20220515_102914.jpg) For the sake of context, I never had the chance to play it before because I got rid of my Wii U by the time the game came out because it was fairly obvious the console was bombing and I wanted a new gaming PC instead. Anyway, I was fully aware of the controversial opinions people had about the game and it’s controls, but I was extremely excited to play it because not only is it a new Star Fox which I’m a huge fan of, but it was also being developed by Platinum which is one of my favorite developers of all time; I thought they were a perfect fit for Star Fox too. So after playing the game, I have my own thoughts, and I’d like to have a discussion about it. The short version is I think a lot of the negative opinions were either greatly exaggerated or kneejerk reactions… but some did have their merit.
So let’s just address the elephant in the room right now: The controls. Honestly, when I started playing I had similar opinions to most others thinking it was absolutely unbearable and unwieldy. While I do think that there’s a bumpy learning curve to train yourself to look at both the gamepad and TV in intense action sequences, it does eventually become second nature. Comparing how I feel now versus when I started playing, it’s not even a problem for me anymore since I can properly aim with the gamepad if needed and know when to peek at the TV for a better view. I remember struggling a lot on the first boss in Corneria, but now I can take it down in less than 10 seconds if I wanted. I do think it was valid that people felt uncomfortable with the controls and didn’t like it at first, but with some time and practice I believe it feels perfectly fine for the most part. HOWEVER, I do think the game would’ve been better off just not having the first person view be exclusively on the gamepad, and instead just have it as an option. I think most people would feel a lot better if you could simply switch to and from first person mode on the TV screen (as in swapping on the fly via a button press).
Another control-related thing I think people were neglecting is you can train yourself to hit the vast majority of non-boss enemies without even looking at the gamepad. I could be wrong, but the aiming reticle feels extremely similar to how it controls in Star Fox 64 where the inner reticle deviates from the outer one to give you a decent idea of where the lasers will end up. On top of that, the rate of the fire on the lasers are very fast and plentiful, so you can even use those to slightly adjust your aim too. The only difference for the gamepad screen is that both reticles are always centered so you know exactly where it goes without any sort of guess work. You do also need to lead your shots on far off targets which is more prevalent here than in 64 just because of the game being much bigger in scope than 64.
The inclusion of gyro aiming also makes it a lot easier to aim where you want without having to sacrifice your position or maneuverability. In SF64 if you wanted to aim in a precise non-centered area, you’re also forced to veer your Arwing in that direction which could have you end up running into something or getting in a more undesirable position. In SF0 you can even aim off-screen (from the TV’s perspective) if you need to aim with the gamepad which gives you an extremely wide field of view. Gyro aim should be included for any future Star Fox.
Now, the only things I can’t really defend with the controls is the Right Stick actions you can do. In Arwing mode you can double-tap down to U-Turn or tap down then up to do a somersault. The problem is you also need to hold up to boost and hold down to brake. In more tense situations where I was rapidly tapping to control my speed exactly how I wanted, I cannot tell you how many times I accidentally U-Turned or Somersaulted. Even with 100% completion and many hours under my belt, this issue didn’t get much better. The worst part is that you can simply do both actions by using the Left Stick pressing Down + B and Down + X respectively. Those should not have been actions you could do with the right stick. This is also why the walker feels so awkward to control sometimes; since you need to use the Right stick to turn the vehicle, you’ll end up accidentally barrel rolling a LOT (double-tapping left or right), especially when trying to land on small, tight platforms like the Gigarilla’s back. It causes way more problems than it solves. Thankfully you can do a 180 degree turn by pressing Down + B on the left stick which helps alleviate it a bit. The Landmaster in SF64 was much more forgiving with these controls because you always moved forward and only had to look at the area in front of you, not having to look backwards or to the side.
Also, the gyro calibration felt off quite often. Not sure if that’s just my gamepad being bad or something else I’m missing.
Anyway, now that the contorls are out of the way, I can talk about other stuff. What about the vehicles?
Well… The Gyrowing was absolutely a mistake. Zoness is the only level I flat out hate in the game, and I doubt that’s an unpopular opinion. The vehicle is painfully slow, and it has no good reason to be THAT slow, especially without a boost of any sort. Deploying and retracting Direct-I to hack stuff just gives you so much dead air in between actions, and it makes everything feel like a total slog. I like the *idea* of the level where Fox is going in solo and stealth hacking Androssian gear, but it should not feel like I’m taking a literal eternity to finish the stage, especially when almost all the other levels have set time limits or at least very short objectives to complete. Thankfully Zoness is the only level you play in full with the Gyrowing, so it’s not a huge dent on the game overall. I do not wanna see this vehicle return in a future game, at least using it for the vast majority of a level.
Off-topic, but something I find absolutely hilarious is that it felt like even the devs knew how bad the Gyrowing was, because you can complete THE ENTIRE ZONESS LEVEL, **completely unedited**, with the Arwing and Walker with the hack upgrade; and you can complete the damn level in less than 3 minutes if you speedrun it! It’s a secret mission you can find by taking the secret exit in Corneria, then teleporting to Zoness. That requires you needing to beat Venom the first time though so you won’t be able to access it on your first playthrough… But this likely means they knew you probably wouldn’t wanna play Zoness again. Along with that, there’s also a small section in Area 3 where you’re supposed to use the Gyrowing (the only other time you use it by the way) to hack a couple things, and that section is very short. Even then, you can completely skip getting the Gyrowing entirely and skip a good 30% of the level by just using the Walker once it has the hacking ability. There’s no other time in this game where you can skip using a vehicle you’re supposed to use. Ironically, even if you complete Area 3 without getting the Gyrowing, you’re still forced to use it when you get to Zoness.
Anyway… the Walker. Honestly, I think the idea for this vehicle is brilliant on paper. It allows for much more varied and interesting level design that was previously impossible, or at least heavily restricted, with just the Arwing alone. The fact you can also infiltrate giant enemy battleships to destroy it from the inside is awesome, and expands on what Star Fox on the SNES tried to do in those few segments that did so. The vehicle also harkens back to the on-foot segments in Star Fox Assault, and I do think the Walker can draw even more inspiration from that. The main issue with the Walker in this game (aside from the aforementioned control issues) is that if it’s in an open, outside area, the Arwing is better in every way, shape and form. The Walker should place more emphasis on weaponry and offensive capibility while the Arwing focuses more on mobility at the cost of only being able to use the lasers. What if the Walker had different weapon types? Assault Rifle, Sniper, Minigun, and so on. It should take more cues from Assault so it can reach it’s full potential. I would even suggest enemy features like Anti-Air defenses that might discourage use of the Arwing in order for the Walker to be more effective until you can at least destroy the AA.
The Landmaster’s transformation into the Gravmaster is also genius, giving the originally heavily restricted movement much more flourish by being able to transform it into a less mobile Arwing. It does a great job at speeding things up in the few levels that use them, and allows for more usage of the overall map so it can be a more interesting experience compared to the rather bogstandard treks in Titania and Macbeth in SF64. Titania in this game alone felt so much more expansive than I ever expected in a Landmaster level. I do think that even with this upgrade, the Landmaster could benefit by either being a little faster in it’s base movement speed or place more emphasis on environmental hazards (like the sinking sand holes and shifting sand speeds in Titania). I do also think your boost meter should be consumed faster when flying in the Gravmaster since the boost recharges extremely fast and flying barely ticks down the boost meter, even when simultaneously boosting or braking. This gives you very little reason to use the tank form since most hazards are near the ground; not even the spider drone enemies need to be killed from below as they have a weak point up top as well.
So those are the two big main features of the game out of the way. I’ll now briefly talk about other aspects I loved about the game and how these should also be brought along into the next Star Fox.
– The “perfect” charge shots by releasing the trigger right as your reticle chimes is a beautiful addition. Not only does it make the projectile itself way faster, but the explosion radius is also increased by a significant amount to make getting a higher score easier. It’s a skill-based ability that makes your shot accidentally bumping into the environment or another enemy far less of an issue which caused me migraines in SF64 robbing me of a medal.
– Speaking of medals, I love the medal system in this game where many stages have multiple to collect. Aside from just getting a high Hit Score count, getting rewarded for performing skill-based actions or using your keen sense of intuition to find an otherwise completely hidden medal gives you a dopamine hit that was previously unfelt. It makes the game very replayable too trying to find those hidden medals by truly thinking outside the box and trying new things every time you replay the stage. It fleshes out an on-rails game as much as it possibly can, imo. However… some of those hidden medals are EXTREMELY obtuse and I regretfully had to look up a handful of them because of it (Zoness, Fortuna, Corneria… if you know you know.)
– The way the main game works is excellent for replayability. After you finish Venom once, you can freely pick any single level you beat once, and you’re straight back to the world map so it’s a much easier time trying to get medals and unlocking alternate paths. The way the paths worked in SF64 was archaic and outdated in terms of trying to get medal scores and achieving 100% completion. And you know what? Arcade Mode in SF0 replicating exactly how it worked in SF64 was the perfect substitute so you can still have the advantage of going for high scores without all the other things that bog the experience down.
– All of Star Wolf get special abilities when you fight them in certain levels, and I think that’s a fantastic idea. For example, Pigma launches cluster bombs around him and Wolf’s ship turns into a fast lightning drill pointed right at Fox. These need to be expanded upon more to make the Star Wolf fights much more engaging and different. Also their version of the Walker being shaped like a… well, wolf, is hella cool.
– It’s great when the rest of the Star Fox team compliments you (or the game acknowledges you via character dialog) for performing particularly difficult or obtuse actions like taking no damage in the first phase of Sector Omega, or exiting the large battleship in Sector Beta before the countdown starts. Admittedly SF64 does this as well, but those were for more straightforward things like knowing where an alternate path is or high enemy kills.
– Alternate paths to a level you’ve already been to and having the level be remixed in some way is something I loved seeing in this game, and want to see much more of in the next game. This only happens for Zoness and Area 3 in this game, but it’s much more rewarding than simply having a different path to the same level. Corneria gets remixed too but that’s part of the mandatory stages you need to complete so you can’t miss it; that doesn’t mean revisiting older levels to add more content is bad either though compared to a straight line from start to finish. This also goes for all the hidden mini-levels unlockable via hidden path too, but I do wish those had a bit more meat to them.