Star Fox Zero

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

It depends on how far they are willing to push it back. If it comes out around Feb time then I wouldn't be surprised if very little is done on it and we are simply seeing a Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze situation where it's been delayed for scheduling reasons.

 

Good news is that it means Nintendo won't be launching another set of Amiibo this year! I was half expecting an announcement of Starfox Amiibo, closer to the release date of the game.

 

Indeed, I hope it's not just for that though. Let's hope they put the time to use, and make the wait worthwhile!

 

Surely after Mario Maker they can see how important and fun online can be when implemented properly. We can but hope

[dazzybee]

Why does everyone keep forgetting about Triforce Heroes. Yeah, it's an end of October release but still...

 

Probably the game I'm most looking forward to on Nintendo systems this year (second to Battlefront), can't wait!!!

[Serebii]

I know one or two people thinking of getting Happy Home Designer. An issue i've seen Nintendo do with promoting this, is that they did them promotional cards. But only did them for the north (Manchester, Newcastle etc). Nothing down South for it.

 

As for Triforce Heroes, yeah i feel that would be a Four Swords esq game and won't push too well.

Hmm? Are you thinking of Photos with Animal Crossing?

[Ronnie]

Like the mediocre Assault or awful Command?

 

You take that back! Assault was fantastic.

[peterl0]

What makes you say it won't have online ?

 

No one has mentioned online in the previews or impressions pieces and so I naturally assume, because it is Nintendo, that it won't. I would love to be surprised.

 

Why does everyone keep forgetting about Triforce Heroes. Yeah, it's an end of October release but still...

 

Personally, a 1 player game where you have to lug about 2 statues/drones or a 3 player game that I will never have enough people to play with, is not very appealing.

[Dcubed]

Like the mediocre Assault or awful Command?

 

You take that back! Command is awesome!

 

You take that back! Assault was fantastic.

 

You take that back! Assault is awful!

[Cube]

Personally, a 1 player game where you have to lug about 2 statues/drones or a 3 player game that I will never have enough people to play with, is not very appealing.

 

I think there will be more than three people on N-Europe who will be getting the game. I plan on getting it.

[S.C.G]

Assault is awful, aside from a couple of levels.

 

Command feels like half a game with awful controls, I know you can adapt to them but there's nothing quite like piloting an Arwing with at least partially traditional controls.

 

Also some of those endings... I hope most of them aren't considered as being canon.

 

On the other side of things, I'm genuinely excited for Star Fox Zero and news of this delay just means that the game will now hopefully get a chance to realise its full potential.

[Retro_Link]

At least there's Project Giant Robot to look forward to x

[Hero-of-Time]

You take that back! Assault is awful!

 

Assault is awful, aside from a couple of levels.

 

You people sicken me.

[S.C.G]

You people sicken me.

 

I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy it, in terms of enjoyment I'd probably rate the games accordingly...

 

Star Fox 64

Star Wing

Star Fox Assault

Star Fox Adventures

Star Fox Command

 

At its time of release I enjoyed playing through it, but looking back it's just not as good as Star Fox 64 or the first game, something about the level design just feels off at times plus while the on-foot sections were certainly different I can recall them lasting a lot longer than they perhaps should have.

 

I can at least recall three really solid stages at the beginning, middle and the end which were particularly enjoyable, they were all airborne as well.

 

It seems that with Star Fox when it comes to trying out different methods of play, it's hard to strike a balance; Star Fox Assault should be commended for trying things which were different but I feel it's important to note which ideas just didn't work that well.

 

Of course the same applies with Star Fox Zero but I think we still need to see more, especially what with the delay before it becomes apparent if this is going to turn out to be a return to form for the series; it could go either way but I like a fair amount of what I've seen so far even if it clearly needs balancing out in a few areas plus possibly even an adjustment to the art style which seems to be missing something at the moment though I'm not sure what.

 

Time will tell but Star Fox as a series on the whole has always had a rather turbulent history, let's hope it can Barrel Roll through it.

[Ronnie]

I actually quite enjoyed the on-foot parts of Assault. They also helped pad the game out or else you'd be able to finish the campaign in an hour.

[S.C.G]

I actually quite enjoyed the on-foot parts of Assault. They also helped pad the game out or else you'd be able to finish the campaign in an hour.

 

They were still padding though ultimately, I can remember some of the later on-foot sections being rather painful, I just pushed my way through everything the game threw at me when it originally came out.

 

Perhaps I need to replay it, I don't know... it's not plain awful just within the context of the series it doesn't feel as good as some of the earlier titles, in comparison to some games released today it's still pretty decent.

 

I think the first games probably spoiled us too much as they were just fantastic, as I said I still enjoyed Assault more than Adventures or Command because the former was a re-skinned game while the latter just doesn't make a lot of sense at all.

 

Star Fox Assault makes sense on the whole though but I can just remember at times playing the on-foot sections thinking "what am I doing down here?" always feeling that I should be in a vehicle.

 

Perhaps I'll replay it soon, my view might be different again but this is just from my memory of playing it probably around ten years ago - or however long it has been - so we shall see, I might even end up preferring Assault over Zero but for now the new game looks more tempting to me which is probably how I felt about Assault before it came out as well.

 

We shall see. : peace:

 

One thing is for sure though, Star Fox has definitely been a lesser utilised franchise, it deserves to be so much more, I hope that at least is something we can all agree on.

[Jimbob]

Hmm? Are you thinking of Photos with Animal Crossing?

 

Probably come to think of it. Still, it's bad publicity when they don't bring it South. Yes, they issued some out via email but still.

[bob]

Hey guys, this sounds bad, but remember; a delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is bad forever!

 

Or until it is patched.

[Guy]

Plenty of existing Wii U games to play and I'm definitely not gonna criticise them for delaying the game after the backlash they've received from footage and gameplay impressions so far. Might see some updates to existing Wii U titles instead of a big holiday release, or perhaps there's a surprise coming...

 

Plenty on other systems to be getting on with anyway, still believe this is for the best.

[ReZourceman]

Well you know what they say.

 

 

A delayed game has a chance of being good, but a rushed game may very well be bad!

[Ashley]

A delayed game can eventually be good, a rushed game is bad for ever.

 

We've talked about how this quote is becoming increasingly irrelevant.

 

much like Nintendo

[Fierce_LiNk]

Well you know what they say.

 

 

A delayed game has a chance of being good, but a rushed game may very well be bad!

 

You're paraphrasing this one all wrong.

 

It's meant to be, "A delayed game is bad forever, meanwhile a rushed game may be very bad, also."

 

A delay for this is wise as it currently looks like shit.

[Kav]

Let's see if Nintendo are able to prove that you can polish a turd!

[S.C.G]

You people sicken me.

 

Perhaps I need to replay it, I don't know... it's not plain awful just within the context of the series it doesn't feel as good as some of the earlier titles, in comparison to some games released today it's still pretty decent.

 

Perhaps I'll replay it soon, my view might be different again but this is just from my memory of playing it probably around ten years ago...

 

OK, I'm at least going to give Star Fox Assault a fair trial, it has been a long time since I last played it after all, anyway earlier I dug out my Gamecube before going to work along with my copy of the game...

 

 

I shall start playing it later and give my more informed verdict once I finish it this weekend.

 

: peace:

[Jimbob]

I loved Starfox 64, great game. I also quite liked Starfox Adventures as well, but not played Command or Assault.

[Hogge]

Let's see if Nintendo are able to prove that you can polish a turd!

 

Mythbusters already proved you can.

 

Honestly, Starfox Zero seems to play very well. The inclusion of Z-targeting feels like the type of natural evolution I've mentioned so often.

 

Only problem is the visuals, which are too plain in places. Real-time shadows for example is a cheap and easy effect which has been available in Unity for at least five years now.

 

What I'm worrying about is the layout of the campaign. I fear that it'll be too similar to Starfox 64, which will make the game feel dated.

[S.C.G]

Well I've at least spent a few hours playing Star Fox Assault and looking at it now I'd have to say that on reflection it is a good game but some parts are still painful just as I remember them to be, obviously the Arwing sections are great but the on-foot areas just kill it for me sometimes; it's not the controls as they are fine but the fact that there seem to be so many enemies and the gameplay revolves around "destroy X amount of things" then you make so much progress, having say two things left to destroy but you're at low health and then if you end up losing all your health at that point then you have to start from the beginning which just isn't fun.

 

Looking at my original file I can see why I ended up not opting to go for every single medal because as much as I would have loved to have unlocked the original Xevious - thanks Namco! - at the time for gaining all the silver medals - on some missions I had gold, some silver with a few bronze - it just doesn't seem worth it, certainly not for gold at least although it's nice to have something the aim for.

 

All of the boss battles seem to be pretty decent though even if the Apariod enemies don't seem as well designed as the original forces of Andross you fight in the other games, in fact because they are more bug-like the on-foot sections remind me more of Jet Force Gemini or the EDF series. A lot of the dialogue is missing that spark too for me, the intro sequence is nice, as are the mission briefing parts but when you're in the missions many of the repeated sections of dialogue start to wear thin, especially when they are reaffirming objectives "Use a charged shot!" ... I know Peppy, but thanks anyway!

 

There are some stages which feel more spectacular towards the end but just not quite as many great moments as I seem to be able to recall from Star Fox 64 which had plenty, based on its own merits it is a decent game which has some very decent visuals for its time and I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the sound is even better than I remember it because the last time I played through it I didn't have the surround setup I have now which I only bought a few years after the game came out.

 

Namco alongside Nintendo definitely did the best they could at the time, while the on-foot sections do certainly add something I still feel that they take away part of the charm as well even if they were reasonably well-handled, plus let's not forget the multiplayer mode which definitely felt a step ahead of anything we'd seen before in the series.

 

So in summary I retract my earlier comment of Star Fox Assault being awful as it does seem my memory has betrayed me slightly, it's a solid game with decent levels of presentation which just lacks charm in places where it was more present in earlier iterations; Star Fox 64 still has the best Barrel-Rolls though.

 

And I still don't like Command that much, always felt like a game built on technical limitations...

 

I have really high hopes for Star Fox Zero though, I'm really hoping it can recapture that earlier Star Fox feel combined with newer stage elements which hopefully will feel good to play without feeling shoe-horned in while retaining most of that trademark Arwing action which we all love. : peace:

[Ronnie]

We've talked about how this quote is becoming increasingly irrelevant.

 

I still disagree.

 

There's only so much fixing patches and DLC can do. Rushing dodgy core gameplay out is something that can't be fixed. Let's say Starfox Zero was released this year: terrible visuals, poor cutscenes, uninspired boss battles. None of those would be fixed down the line. The quote still applies. Being able to update a game with DLC won't suddenly make a bad game good.

 

much like Nintendo

 

So irrelevant they've sold 15 million action figures in nine months based on their world renowned IP. I was thinking the other day that it was strange that Sony, with the 20 year old Playstation brand, barely has a recognisable character of their own. Crash? Drake? You might get a few people off the street to recognise the former.

Edited September 21, 2015 by Ronnie
Automerged Doublepost