Star Fox Zero resurrects a classic Nintendo 64 plane and tank action game and reimagines it in a faster and more furious incarnation for the Wii U. The best levels capture the feeling of a wild rollercoaster, often showcasing addictive combat scenarios that incentivized me to get on the ride again and again. But, in order to build up my piloting skills, I had to adapt to a demanding and unintuitive control scheme that pushed my ability to focus on the TV and the GamePad to the limit.
Space Jam
The campaign can be completed in roughly five hours, but you won’t see everything on your first pass, and it does a lot to encourage more playthroughs so you can collect hidden medals and post high scores on the leaderboard. For example, some excellent skirmishes offer lots of targets to shoot, but if you keep your cool you’ll spot clever side exits that lead to entirely new areas. These hidden pathways crisscross through the galaxy, opening up challenging new courses featuring powered-up enemies or massive alternate bosses that must be defeated before a timer runs out. Carefully prodding and poking stages for secrets is the only way to unlock all 20 campaign missions.
The Right (and Wrong) Stuff
What’s baffling about Star Fox Zero is that piloting a vehicle is complex and awkward at times because Nintendo chose to split our view of the action across two screens. The TV shows a traditional third-person perspective so you can see the space behind your ship, while the GamePad displays a transparent cockpit view that you use to aim at enemies using motions controls. I eventually did get good at it, but the learning process made my first hours more frustrating than they should’ve been. I often ran right smack into enemies and walls since it was hard to focus on moving and shooting at the same time.
The Verdict
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.
