Sep 27, 2017  Star Fox 2’s main difference from its predecessor is a real-time strategy-like frame built around its third-person battles that puts pressure on you at every moment. Star Fox 2 Review. Star Fox Guard is a tower defense styled game that is a spinoff to the events of Star Fox Zero. Slippy Toad and his Uncle Grippy act as guides through different challenges to protect Grippy’s.

Star Fox Zero is a return to form of sorts, a callback to simpler times of Star Fox 64. Just like its predecessor, Zero is a rail shooter that has players step into the iconic Airwing as Fox McCloud. While not precisely a remake or sequel to 64, it largely follows the gameplay from that title.

Fox’s teammates Falco, Peppy and Slippy also make a return as they aid you in combat both directly and with helpful advice on how to use classic mechanics and control schemes, such as the Barrel Roll, Braking, U-Turn and Somersault. The most drastic and divisive change to Zero is the aiming system. As its on the Wii U, the Gamepad gyroscope is used to full effect in order to target foes in cockpit view, leaving the analog sticks to flight controls and the shoulder buttons devoted to shooting.

The aiming’s learning curve is a bit steep and takes time to adjust to. Once you improve, it ends up working intuitively and efficiently, especially during more intense mission objectives when you need a way to aim at targets without sacrificing additional button controls. That said, the gyroscope aiming isn’t perfect — sometimes the reticle can move way off target — but there is an option to instantly reset the view when it gets too of course, which comes in handy.

Missions sport a nice variety from the general rail shooting toward a checkpoint, to more specific objectives, to stealth-based missions, to thrilling dogfights in the wide expanse of space. Fox uses a variety of old and new vehicles to best suit the objective of that mission such as the Walker, Gyrowing, Landmaster and of course his trusty Arwing.

I found that I actually enjoyed the stealth missions quite a bit. In many titles that aren’t stealth by nature, developers experiment by shoehorning in the odd stealth stage — an exercise that is too often sloppy and poorly executed. Zero pulls it off with serious finesse, as the new Gyrowing is made for that gameplay. It even comes with an adorable robot that can hack systems and drop bombs on enemies.

You know what’s not adorable? The terrible AI of your comrades during missions. As if it wasn’t enough that I’m forced to aid them while fighting off waves of enemies, they don’t even return the favor! It seems they’re only good for flying around the stage and making cutscenes look cool.

As in previous titles in the series, other players can join in on the fun. Unlike said games, players don’t come in to oppose you but rather to aid you in Co-op Play, a series first. Co-op is not only incredibly fun, as it requires cooperation and cohesion to pull off, but allows for more accessibility in the form of an additional comrade for those not so talented in the genre, especially since the aforementioned AI doesn’t support you much during solo play.

There’s a new addition to gameplay as well, called All-Range Mode. This mode takes the game off the rails, so to speak, and allows players to fully explore the stage as they engage in larger scale dogfights or need added maneuverability. All-Range Mode works especially well when combined with a boss battle.

An early example is a thrilling dogfight between Fox McCloud and the second boss of the game. Not only does having the full stage as a playground for the fight enhance the battle, but the fight itself is a great way to showcase the full range of moves Fox has in his repertoire.

One of the most iconic mechanics in the series is the alternative route system, which makes a return in Zero. Essentially, when players clear a certain mission in the main story, they can return to previous stages and take alternate routes that open up new bosses and plot points, such as the alternative route in Corneria that yields the bonus boss Aquarosa.

Another pertinent example, later in the game an alternate route on Fortuna, which opens up after completing Copperhead Chaos when Fox hones in on a certain relevant character and chooses to pursue him. What’s even cooler about this — other than the plot fleshing out even more — is that the alternate path is set up briefly in the animated Star Fox Zero short Nintendo released just yesterday.

Since that first showing of Zero at E3 2014, back when Zero wasn’t even its name yet, the title has gone through some major graphical improvements to lighting and shadow effects and general polishing, which added more details and vibrancy to the worlds.

Each stage sports unique designs, and switching between planetary and space-based missions only enhances that design and mission variety. Orchestrated pieces swell beautifully in each level, highlighting the atmosphere and intensity of each mission. Great care was clearly taken in the composition and that attention shows, creating a lovely soundtrack worthy of the series.

The title’s frame rate is at 60 FPS, but is not locked, meaning that it occasionally dips below that mark with the onset of large amounts of enemies. However, frame rate doesn’t drop close to 30 FPS, let alone dipping below that. During my own playthrough, the dips the game does suffer haven’t been major enough to affect gameplay, even during the most hectic areas.

There are also two bonuses available for those who happen to have the Fox McCloud and Falco Lombardi amiibo. The former unlocks the Arwing FX from the original Star Fox, complete with retro music, for use during the Corneria stage. The latter, meanwhile, unlocks the Black Arwing which is stronger and faster but takes more damage.

Remember that interesting little Tower Defense title called Project Guard showcased during Nintendo’s E3 presentation? Well as it turns out, it was meant to be known by another, more familiar name: Star Fox Guard.

Guard stars yourself (more like your Nintendo Mii) and Slippy’s uncle Grippy. Grippy owns a mining company and needs your help to defend his mining sites against invader robots out to steal the precious metals from the bases. There are two main types of robots that will attack your base: A.T.K. Units and Chaos Class robots. The former is the most dangerous type because if they destroy the core of the camp then it’s game over. The latter is deadly in its own right — they self-destruct in order to destroy nearby camps.

You can win battles with the help of combos, archery, with the help of a dagger or magic. Dungeon hunter 4 hacked apk. Dungeon Hunter 3 on the Android – you are waiting for an exciting adventure in the style of fantasy! So, you will plunge into the world of quests and battles! Choose a hero – this time a magician, a knight, a robber and an astromancer – and begins an amazing journey through 16 arenas and 5 levels of difficulty.

In order to combat this threat, you alternate between 12 surveillance camera feeds and use the attached laser to blast the robos into oblivion. The cameras can be moved around to different areas before and during the defense of the tower. The TV screen is used for actually viewing the camera views and the GamePad is for moving and switching between the cameras.

By successfully clearing missions, players receive rare metals that unlock additional missions and cameras with special abilities, for instance slowing enemies down or freezing them in place. The Fox and Falco amiibo can also be used in this title once a day each in order to call forth a powerful airstrike that wipes out enemies on the map.

Star Fox Guard‘s My Squad mode lets players create and upload their own enemy attack patterns to challenge others around the world, as well as take on other players’ best efforts. There’s also the Star Strategist feature, which updated every day to offer a popular challenge from around the world. Guard posses a very simple premise but is highly addictive with surprisingly deep gameplay. Paired with the manifold bonus content and you have a mini-title that offers plenty of gameplay and replayability value.

Star Fox Zero is an attempt to combine classic gameplay flavor with a unique and more modern control scheme. For those who prefer the classic control scheme of the old-school Star Fox titles, it may be harder to adjust to the changes at first. Giving the new controls and mechanics a chance is worth it in the long run, as it gives you access to a well-polished, fun and deep title that fuses the old and new.

Star Fox Guard is akin to a free dessert on top of the tasty main course. It comes as a nice bonus that compliments the main game well (since Guard could easily take place during or after Zero) but it’s completely optional. With its simple yet addictive and well conceived tower defense gameplay, not giving the title at least taste means you’re missing out on some great fun.

Despite Star Fox Zero‘s relatively brief story mode (around 4-5 hours, absent the branching paths), the game remains a great value, with Guard’s inclusion giving even more incentive to pick up this title.

Star Fox Guard (Wii U) Review

by John Rairdin - April 20, 2016, 8:00 am PDT
Total comments: 2

Hide the children, ol’ Uncle Grippy is here.

Scroll down for video review

Since the release of Star Fox Adventures on the GameCube, Nintendo has been hard at work coming up with an even stranger addition to the series. It took 14 years but it’s finally here. Star Fox Guard is certainly the Star Fox game we never knew we wanted. Originally presented as Project Guard at E3 2014, Guard was one of Miyamoto’s special projects, along with Project Giant Robot, attempting to find new and unique uses for the Wii U GamePad. As such, Star Fox Guard fits in quite nicely packaged alongside Star Fox Zero. Right from the start, Star Fox Guard feels like the kind of concept the Wii U was designed for. It makes use of the system’s unique attributes in a manner that we’ve rarely seen since Nintendo Land. In fact, Star Fox Guard feels like a game that could have been in Nintendo Land. The concept is simple, easy to understand, but with plenty of room for you to hone your skills.

You’ve recently been hired by Grippy Toad, the uncle of everyone’s favorite Star Fox team member, Slippy. Grippy runs a mining company, responsible for harvesting precious metals. He then sells them to the Cornerian military to support their war effort against the armies of Andross. Finally, Nintendo has taken the time to flesh out the complex socioeconomic situation in the Lylat System. Grippy’s mining facilities have recently come under siege from a bevy of belligerent bots who are for some reason dead set on shutting down Grippy’s operation. Your job is to stop them. The GamePad screen displays an overhead map of your base. From here you can see the position and direction of each of your cameras, along with any mischievous robots who have penetrated your base. You can re-arrange your cameras by dragging them across the touch screen. The TV shows the feeds from all your cameras. A particularly large screen in the middle of the TV shows the camera you currently have selected. The selected camera can be moved with the sticks on the Gamepad. You can also fire the selected camera’s weapon by pushing any of the trigger or face buttons. Finally the selected camera’s view is rendered at a higher frame rate than the others, making it easier to detect enemies. This becomes particularly relevant in later levels as cloaked enemies become prevalent.

Enemies are split into two categories, attack and chaos. Attack class robots have one goal, get to your excavator and destroy it (thus causing you to lose the level). Because they are the true threat, defeating all of the attack bots will result in a win even if chaos bots remain on the map. Attack class robots are generally tough to kill for one reason or another. Some are simply bullet sponges, while others are extremely quick or invisible to either your cameras or your map. Chaos class robots on the other hand are there to cause distractions and, well, chaos. Their goal is to take out your cameras in order to impede your ability to fight off the attack robots. At first they simply destroy your cameras, but as the game goes on they’ll become much more devious. One type in particular will actually latch on to the front of a camera and feed it a false image. Once you realize this has happened you’ll have to switch to another camera from which you can see the one affected, and destroy the robot attached to it. As levels go on, more and more annoying chaos class robots help to amp up the difficulty.

Speaking of later levels, this game has a lot of them. While it’s easy to see Star Fox Guard as little more than an add on for Star Fox Zero, it does feel very fully featured. The main story missions alone will take you upwards of five hours to complete, assuming of course you don’t have to retry too many times. Add to that the plethora of extra missions, unlocked as you level up in the game, and you can easily double your play time. The question is, do you want to? Despite regularly changing base layouts (There are three on every planet), regularly added new robots, and the occasional boss battle (one per planet) Star Fox Guard’s gameplay can quickly start to feel repetitive. Which is a shame, as the payoff at the end of the game is quite good. The boss fights are one of the brighter spots in the game as you’ll have to employ different strategies than you do in the standard missions. Often times you’ll be fighting against a truly gigantic enemy that can be seen from any camera at your base. However there may still be a few chaos bots wandering around messing with your cameras while you’re distracted by the boss. Finding a good balance between defending your cameras and defeating the boss results in some of the best content in the game.

Alleviating this monotony somewhat is the unexpected online functionality. No doubt taking some inspiration from Super Mario Maker, Star Fox Guard features a level editor. As you play through the main campaign you’ll unlock robots to use in your custom levels. The robots can then be placed, via a timeline structure, into your level. You can even go so far as to adjust the paths these robots will take as they make their way through the base. As other players take on your levels you’ll be awarded points for each player who loses to your robotic horde.

Throughout the game, whether playing single player or the online levels, you’ll be leveling up your profile. As you do so you’ll unlock additional stages for each base on every planet. These stages are often times more interesting than the main levels as they employ a lot of new mechanics not seen in the standard missions. Had these mechanics been sprinkled in more regularly to the mainline missions it would have made the levels feel less repetitive. At the same time at least they are indeed available for play. Essentially, the game leaves it up to you just how fresh and varied you want the experience to be.

I personally consider Star Fox Zero to be well worth the sixty dollar price tag. Therefore as a free bonus title Star Fox Guard is a fantastic bargain. It’s fully featured and has a nice long single player campaign. So what if it’s a little repetitive, you didn’t pay anything for it so what does it matter if you never finish it. However Star Fox Guard is also being sold as a separate game digitally via the eShop. Here is where it’s a little harder to justify. As a party game it’s a great experience to have with your friends, and one that can only be accomplished on Wii U. As a single player offering it may not keep you entertained.

Summary

Pros

• A truely Wii U inspired design
• Fun goofy plot
• Level editor works well
• Lots of content

Cons

• Feels like a bonus mode, not something to pay money for
• Very repetitive

Review copy provided by Nintendo.

Talkback

This is definitely something that would've been on the disc 10 years ago. That said, it's a fun bonus, and anyone getting the game right now should consider getting it (for physical it's guaranteed, of course). I'll look forward to unlocking the hover camera and other such things.

Game Profile

• Reviews (1)
• Previews (2)

• Screens (39)
• Videos (2)
• Artwork (29)
• Box Art (3)

Worldwide Releases