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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.
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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.
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Short Circuit 80's robot nostalgia activated
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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.
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...or in Baton Rouge, Lousiana?
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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.
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Above, what you see on the GamePad and below... |
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What you see on your TV. Brilliantly conceived simplicity.
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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.
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Viral Pan...HEY!!! Not cool, game, not cool! Maybe that stuff would
fly in 2016, but not now!
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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.
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Or by being a Queen Clucktron
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Just kidding, Clucktron's a boss, and must be destroyed. Die, Clucktron, die!!!
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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...
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Becomes what? BECOMES WHAT?!
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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).
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Any chance to keep these things around is fine by me!
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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.
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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.
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| Good to know...because I harmed a lot of them! |
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| 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! |
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