Review: Star Fox Zero - Gamekult
In short, as you have surely noticed since the first presentations of the game, Star Fox Zero stings the eyes, offering a graphic rendering unworthy of the first titles of the machine, and even of certain games of the previous generation. No doubt the homage to the papercraft rendering of previous episodes is intended, but we are closer to the HD facelift of a StarFox Assault, the 2005 GameCube game, than to the last major Wii U projects. -being of Fortuna and its carnivorous plants clinging to the very roots, rare are the game areas that stand out artistically, very often with frighteningly angular decorations, textures without the slightest refinement and very often the spatial vacuum as far as the eye can see. seen. Special mention to the Titania desert which takes us back to the beginnings of the 3D era with its dunes as undulating as a first-price carpet at St. Maclou. Finally, what about the design of the enemies, between the mechanical spiders as impersonal as a strawberry tart, small drones as abstract as an Electroplankton amoeba and turrets that are more reminiscent of a robot vacuum cleaner. No wonder Slippy comes to wonder "how do you tell the good guys from the bad guys?" In french in the text. It was probably the price to pay for a relative fluidity, of course. And again, following the debauchery of enemies on the screen, some courses on rails tend to soften, like the passage in the canyons on Corneria.
The problem is that this die-hard choice does not lead to anything transcendent GamePad in hand. Basically, there is the desire to dissociate precise aiming from the cockpit and aerobatics on the main screen (or vice versa by pressing the - button), with intensive use of the gyroscope to adjust the reticle. Basically, Star Fox Zero constantly asks you to zap between two points of view, from afar, up close, as your freaked-out driving instructor would teach you between two late brakes. And it will be necessary to "get used to it", even if this bias seems counter-intuitive and frequently causes many problems of inaccuracy. No choice, the whole concept of the game is based on it. In other words, it is not because the square of the crosshair appears on the target of the main screen that it will end up dissolved under the lasers: even if the targeting follows quite naturally the movements of the Arwing during the phases on rails , it will be necessary to regularly check and adjust on the GamePad screen, with sometimes a clear lag between the two screens. Unless you use the slower but more powerful mini-homing focused fire. A backup solution that can do the trick in "3D scrolling" mode, but which shows its limits in arenas in "targeted combat", when you turn around one or more targets in a delimited space.
ZeroWing
These freer game phases will undoubtedly serve as an eye-opener for most players. It is clearly in this kind of 360° environment that it is difficult to adjust the positioning of the ship and that of the targeting, if only to knock out anything that would tickle the side walls of your device. As it is not always easy to be in the interstellar void, despite the many landmarks arranged by PlatinumGames - here the Great Fox, there an orbital station - it will therefore be necessary to refer to the main screen and to the small lock manual so as not to unhook both the sight and the target. Not too much of a boo when it comes to a giant mechanical boss, much more problematic when the members of Star Wolf and their henchmen appear, tiny specialist targets that are more of a pincer grip. Moreover, not two minutes go by without one of your teammates notifying you of an aircraft on your heels nibbling at the shielding, a problem that will have to be solved by using the various maneuvers, loops, voltes and the famous barrel roll. Yet another tribute to the episodes of the series in a game that does not lack them, but a feint that is a little too systematic in the long run, especially with a challenge that bears the label of PlatinumGames on the last cable lengths.
We will never really know if the end of Star Fox Zero is really hot or if the confusing gameplay weighs in the management of the difficulty. Still, it is sometimes very difficult to appreciate the distances and therefore the positioning of enemy units or the trajectory of lasers. Or, worse, their unexpected leaps to crush you before you can even engage the boosts. Clearing a base eaten away by drones or taking apart nuclear missiles before they hit Corneria by vortex interposed is no longer child's play when you have to constantly reposition your Arwing in the right alignment, juggle the angles of view and manage to adjust a very small target while other enemies machine-gun you in the back. In these hellish conditions, manually refocusing the sight on Y offers a significant time saving, provided you have repositioned the GamePad correctly so as not to end up with an off-axis angle of view; in which case hello anxiety. That's why we recommend disabling the default gyroscopic aiming to all those who have trouble taming it. It will then suffice to maintain ZR to reactivate it on a case-by-case basis.
Good Luck
To vary the gameplay a bit and offer an ever wider range of transformations, Star Fox Zero adds other vehicles to the back of the garage. It doesn't change much, whether you're riding a Landmaster or galloping a Walker on dry land... apart from the fact that you have to get used to a different hand grip (except for those who have already reversed the "plane" controls of the Arwing). Given the slowness of the Walker to propel and move, certain phases of platforms become more tense than expected. Assaulting the base in Zone 3 or one of the game's key fights even becomes a test of perseverance once transformed into a casserole, especially when a boss grabs you and the viewfinder seems to have Parkinson's. Finally, the heli Gyrowing phases are perhaps the most manageable of all, probably because the movements of the heli respond to a clearer logic of movement. Unless quite simply that their much more sedate rhythm makes it easier to get started. On the other hand, they most often correspond to phases of infiltration of a distressing softness, in brown-ocher bases of unimaginable ugliness, maps so difficult to read that it becomes difficult to locate the screens. to hack, using the Direct-i wired robot. Even furtive, the fox gets caught.
In short, even by finding extenuating circumstances, the gameplay phases of Star Fox Zero give the impression of playing with mittens. Those who hoped for a nervous and dynamic game, from the fox to the hormones, can clearly go their way: not only the phases on rails are far from being the majority, but they are not punchy for all that. In the meantime, it will be necessary to stuff ourselves with battles in the arena that are difficult to read or with very soft infiltration phases. It should be noted that finishing the game in a straight line requires between five to six hours depending on the difficulties you encounter in completing the different chapters, which can induce some violent returns to the fold if the life counter (the one that is filled with the rings golden) is running out. As for the alternative paths that we hoped would be rich and varied to guarantee a minimum of replayability, these are in fact very short levels, sometimes timed, and which above all have the bad taste of recycling many elements from the other stages of the main mission, whether it's enemies, certain bosses or even environments.
On the other hand, the masos of the challenge ready to tame the beast can already roll up their sleeves. Finishing the game for the first time only unlocks half of the playable levels and an Arcade mode in addition to the Training mode to chain the different phases in search of scoring, for a really old-fashioned Star Fox trip. Winning the hidden medals and reaching the incredibly demanding Gold tier requires attention and investment that only the most daring will be willing to make. Finally, a last word on the little bonuses that don't change anything, such as amiibo compatibility to unlock the old Arwing model from the Super Nintendo era (until changing the display of the bombs) or a faster but also more fragile. In the absence of Versus in the Lylat Wars way, the presence of a coop mode will not change the situation, insofar as the aiming on board the Arwing is not done at 360° but remains limited to an angle of view reduced. We therefore sometimes feel cramped, yelling at our teammate to get him to refocus on the right trajectory, which can cause a few slices of laughter but above all a lot of frustration.
