Star Fox Guard

Released on April 22, 2016 in North America by Nintendo for the Wii U, and developed by Nintendo EPD and PlatinumGames, Star Fox Guard features tower defense action in the Star Fox universe.

Like most people who own Star Fox Guard, I received the game as a free pack-in with 2016's disappointing Star Fox Zero. The embarrassing truth, though, is that this free game set in the Star Fox universe is a far better and more enjoyable experience than the not-so-free Star Fox game with which it was packed.

Short Circuit 80's robot nostalgia activated

The setup for Star Fox Guard is simple. The famously incompetent Slippy Toad asks the player to help defend a mining base belonging to Slippy's uncle, Grippy, from armies of invading robots. The player's television shows the 3D views from roughly nine cameras around the mining base, with the camera of the player's choice centered. The GamePad shows a map of the base, pinpointing cameras and enemy locations, and allows the play to tap whatever camera they choose to center and take control of on the TV screen. Each camera is mounted with a laser gun. The player uses that laser to destroy invading enemies. If the robots reach and destroy the base's central core, the mission is failed. If all robots in a wave are destroyed, it's on to the next mission. That's it.

...or in Baton Rouge, Lousiana?

That's it? Sounds pretty basic.
Star Fox Guard's genius comes in the way it both masters and finds depth in its simplicity. The control setup, with the GamePad control sticks used to direct cameras and the trigger buttons to fire the lasers, is intuitive and tight. Bouncing from tapping cameras on the touchscreen with your finger to looking back at the television as you control that camera is also completely natural and intuitive, and a testament to how well the Wii U's ControlPad works when utilized correctly.

Above, what you see on the GamePad and below...

What you see on your TV. Brilliantly conceived simplicity.

But is that it? Is there anything more to this game?
Yes. For starters, Star Fox Guard features five different planets. Each planet features three bases, with three missions to complete at each base, plus a final mission for each. For the odd-numbered missions, that final mission is an incredibly fun boss battle. Progression through planets, bases, and missions is linear, but each base also features, at minimum, three bonus missions to unlock, and those bonus missions can be completed in any order the player chooses, once they've acquired them. As for the main missions that must be completed, each features some new wrinkle with the invading robot army.

Viral Pan...HEY!!! Not cool, game, not cool! Maybe that stuff would fly in 2016, but not now!

New types of robots, with different, more dangerous abilities are employed by the enemy as the game goes on, forcing the player to come up with new strategies. Thankfully, Star Fox Guard also features RPG-lite qualities that allow the player's defense options to get better, as well.
Ah... so, there's the depth.
Yes. At the end of each mission, one of Grippy's robots will roam around and pick up the bits of all the robots you've destroyed. Each mission features a set amount of enemies that can destroy your bases' cores. Those enemies must be destroyed. However, there is also a large salvo of enemy support robots that don't have to be destroyed to complete a mission. These robots generally utilize techniques to distract the player, like disabling or running off with your cameras.

Or by being a Queen Clucktron

Just kidding, Clucktron's a boss, and must be destroyed. Die, Clucktron, die!!!

Destroying these support robots is important to help your base survive, but the more of them you destroy, the more spare parts you'll get at the end of each mission. Spare parts essentially equal XP here, leveling you up to not only unlock bonus missions, but new types of cameras to use during missions. 
These new types include, among others, lock-on cameras, ice ray cameras, slow-motion cameras--some very cool options that allow the player to more deeply strategize. As more of these cameras are unlocked, the player can also unlock additional camera slots, so that more special cameras can be used at a time (at the beginning, only one special camera can be used during a mission). Before each mission, the player gets to place the cameras however they chose, as well as select and place which special camera(s) they want to use. All of this is implemented so well, along with Guard's well-honed and tight gameplay, that the experience of playing this game becomes...

Becomes what? BECOMES WHAT?!

HIGHLY ADDICTIVE?
Yes! HIGHLY ADDICTIVE! I'm not only shocked at how low the quality control seemed to have been for Star Fox Zero, but how high it seems to have been for this free pack-in game, that on its own, still generally costs less than five bucks today. I love Star Fox Guard. It's an absolutely charming experience, and I just couldn't stop playing it. I even got to dust off my son's old Star Fox Amiibo figure, which can be used to bail the player out once a day. Upon using the Amiibo, Fox's team swoops in and destroys every enemy on screen (I believe the Falco Amiibo can be used for the same).

Any chance to keep these things around is fine by me!

There are so many fun touches here, from the Short Circuit-like design of the robots, to the charming overall graphic design and fun music, to the sheer amount of bonus content (not only in missions, but in cameras, and badges), and even the unique online mode, which, unfortunately, won't be a longstanding feature of Guard in the future.
ONLINE MODE?
Yes! You can design an attack army whose strength is determined by how high you've leveled up in the game. Once your army is created, you can draw up an attack plan, submit it, and your automated army goes online, where other players can try to defend themselves against it. If your army defeats them, you get more spare parts, i.e., more XP, all while you're off doing something else. You can also challenge other players' robot armies and try to defend against them to get XP. Obviously, six years out, I may be the only person playing this already under-the-radar game. However, since online armies don't require the creator to...well, to even be alive anymore let alone have a Wii U and this game anymore, there will always be online armies to defend against and to gain X.P. from if you want to play that mode...at least until Nintendo unplugs the servers.

You bet it was!

I just can't believe how much of a winner Star Fox Guard is. After playing both this and Star Fox Zero to their respective end credits, I feel like Zero should have been the pack in, and Guard the MAIN GAME. It's clear Guard is the game the developers were actually passionate about, and the one the most care went into. Also, Guard is currently one of the cheapest Wii U games out there, so if you're looking to knock the dust off your old GamePad and have some good times, you can't go wrong with Star Fox Guard.

Good to know...because I harmed a lot of them!

Even the end credits are interactive. The love put into this game is incredible, and oppositely equal to the amount of disdain shown to all of the robots you can harm...er, simulatedly destroy!

8.0

Graphics

Nothing flashy, but oh so charming.

8.0

Music and Sound

Everything is just nice.

9.0

Gameplay

Straightforward, simple, tower defense gameplay done perfectly, with some addictive RPG-lite elements thrown in for good measure.

8.0

Lasting Value

It might only take ten hours to get through the main missions, but with all of the unlockable bonus missions, cameras, and other items, it never really gets old.

8.8FINAL SCORE

Star Fox Zero (Wii U Review)

Released in North America on April 22, 2016 for the Wii U by Nintendo, and developed by Nintendo EPD and PlatinumGames, Star Fox Zero brings anthropomorphic dogfighting action to the Wii U.

I ignored it. When Star Fox Zero released in the spring of 2016, my Wii U was solely occupied by The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD. I saw Zero's mixed reviews and decided I'd be fine taking a long time to get to it. Besides, I still needed to play the two Star Fox games for GameCube.

How could I possible "Press A" when I haven't played two completely unrelated Star Fox games from the early 00's?

Flash forward over five years, and miraculously, I've played through both Star Fox Adventures and Star Fox: Assault for the Nintendo GameCube. For the last four of those years, I've resolved to make it through one unplayed Wii U title on my shelf during every winter break. This past break, it was finally Star Fox Zero's turn.
Can you please write a short review for once?
Yes, actually, I can. I just don't have a lot to say about Star Fox Zero, at the start of 2021, still the most recently released entry in the 3D on-rails/free-roaming hybrid shooter series. As for series history, I remember the first Star Fox game for SNES mostly as a cool store tech demo. The two GameCube games are okay. I love Star Fox 64, which I purchased on the same day I got my learner's permit, and feel like that particular Star Fox game has given me the most enjoyment. Apparently, the creators of Star Fox Zero decided that would be the best game to emulate.
Awesome, so then this game is just an incredibly fun, HD, modernized take on Star Fox 64?
Well...

Look at these jackanapes

Star Fox Zero, considered a series reboot, certainly takes many notes from Star Fox 64. The story sees the evil space simian, Andross, again attempting to take over the galaxy, with Fox McCloud (literally a starfighting Fox) and Fox's animal wing mates the only ones who can stop the evil space monkey. Fox's team flies around in their Arwing space fighters, attempting to foil Andross' plans. That's about it for plot, and really all that is needed from the plot in a game like this: a framework to fly around and shoot stuff.
So...mission accomplished?
No.

Mission...attempted?

The Nintendo 64 game works for two reasons: expertly streamlined gameplay and tight controls. There's nothing in that 1997 classic that doesn't need to be there, and the controls are so intuitive, they become second nature almost immediately. Star Fox 64's major innovation, rumble pak support, isn't in any way necessary to enjoy the game, and merely augments it. Star Fox Zero features graphics leagues ahead of Star Fox 64, and levels designed to feel similar to its 64-bit predecessor. However, Zero fails in matching SF64's gameplay or controls because its attempt at innovation is forcing the player to utilize controls that aren't tight or intuitive in a way that needlessly bloats the gameplay.

You're telling me, General Dog Guy!

As someone with fairly huge hands, I'm a Wii U GamePad defender. I like the feel of it as a controller, and I love it as a secondary screen for use as a game map or inventory screen. I will have to join the majority of those who have attempted to play Star Fox Zero, and agree that I hate the way the GamePad is used in this game. The controls here are a strange combination of gyro and traditional controls that never meld together intuitively. In the earlier, easier levels, this can be overcome. However, in the later, difficult levels, you'll want to throw your GamePad through a wall.
So the opposite of a barrel roll?
Yes, it's maddening. Those earlier stages, where precision isn't as important, do invoke some of the charms of the N64 game. You'll be piloting your Arwing and tanks and other vehicles, not necessarily with the greatest of ease, but at least adequately enough to where the controls aren't quite overrunning the joy of the experience. These portions do feature some segments where you've got to use a drone to disable security boxes that aren't exactly fun, but still, don't feel like a total chore. However, once the player reaches the latter quarter of this maybe ten-hour game, and has to fly between narrow columns, and dogfight through tight spaces, moving the gamepad through the air, jerking the control sticks in anger, all of the earlier joys go hurtling out the window. The controls' lack of precision simply becomes unbearable. I nearly lost my mind.

Don't test me, Squawky

Around this period in history, Nintendo started putting a kind of cheat-y EASY MODE into their games where, if a player died too often, something akin to player invincibility was offered to make progressing easier. In most other games Nintendo offers this, ala Super Mario 3D World, the assistance feels like a kind gesture toward children. In this case, the offered invincibility feels like an apology for Star Fox Zero's lackluster control system. If you want to get to the end credits without breaking something, utilizing the invincibility mode (which nullifies any points earned from levels) may be a necessity.
But the production values are pretty great, right?
Star Fox Zero, the first ever HD Star Fox console game, does look great. Space battles, alien landscapes, explosions, massive cutscenes, all look beautiful. The rousing musical score is fine, as are the sound effects. The voice-acting is...hit or miss. The main characters, including Fox, are solid, and Slippy is the same high-pitched annoyance that's by this point become a charming series trademark. However, some of the other characters, especially the aforementioned drone, are overly cutesy, and enhance the game's I WANT TO BREAK THIS CONTROLLER effect.

Maybe you should start developing video games

But what if you're one of the few who actually enjoy and master Star Fox Zero's control system? Is there anything to keep you going after those initial ten hours?
If you find yourself gleefully swimming against the lukewarm public and critical opinion toward Star Fox Zero, the otherwise short game features a lot of unlockable bonus content to keep you busy. Bonus levels with branching paths, medals to collect, all that Star Fox stuff is here. There's even a co-op mode that splits flying and shooting between two players that makes things a little easier, if you've got the patience to find it hidden amongst the game's menus.

"All right" is a relative term, Peppy

One of the best aspects of the Wii U, the proto-Switch ability to play without a television, is fairly negated here, as you really need both the GamePad AND a TV screen to play this thing. I played maybe a quarter of the game on the GamePad only, and made it work, but the GamePad speakers act as your in-ship radio, so you aren't getting any of the game's music through it. Again, there are so many head-scratching HOW DID THIS GET NINTENDO'S SEAL OF APPROVAL? moments and aspects here. While Zero certainly features some solid nostalgia, great production values, and some enjoyable moments, it is sadly, the weakest console entry in the Star Fox franchise to date. Maybe this poor, already nearly forgotten title could use a little Nintendo Switch salvation?
I should also mention, most copies of Star Fox Zero come with a free bonus game, Star Fox Guard. Guard is a tower defense game...and rather embarrassingly, it's quite better than Star Fox Zero. I'll have a review up for Guard shortly.

8.5

Graphics

Looks good, runs smoothly, decent eye candy.

7.5

Music and Sound

The music is fine, but some oft the cutesy voice-acting will make you want to cram an Arwing in your ear.

6.0

Gameplay

The easier levels do an okay job of masking the control issues, but the latter, more difficult sections of Zero expose those issues in GamePad-smashing agony.

6.0

Lasting Value

Only about ten hours long, though there are some unlockable bonuses, including new missions that stretch Zero out...if you want to keep playing.

6.2FINAL SCORE