Artist's Note:
I have such fond memories of playing Star Fox 64 (which Star Fox Zero is basically) in my youth. The controls, the sounds, the times I'd accidentally use a bomb when I CLEARLY didn't mean to. I remember Peppy's "DO A BARREL ROLL" so clearly even now. I seriously enjoyed playing this game a lot. So I was a bit hyped about Star Fox Zero, especially when I heard that it took elements from Star Fox 64.
But those controls. I won't have any choice but to switch between the gamepad and the TV screen, which makes it so clunky. It sort of removes me from the experience, especially when I have to keep switching back and forth like that. I think this was a major mistake. Why did they do this? I mean it makes sense if you have two people playing it, but when you're the sole player, it gets rather annoying.
Writer's Note:
Oh Star Fox...we wanted a remake of you for so long, but not like this. Suddenly I'm not as sad that Nintendo hasn't made a new Metroid game for the Wii-U. Who knows what they might've tried?
As the Star Wars reference implies, it may have been best for Nintendo to launch this game as co-op only (with one person piloting as Fox and the other shooting as Falco, since that's the buddy-cop movie we've all been waiting for). Many "triple A" studios fall prey to the game design sin of choosing complexity and novelty over simplicity, but in the case of Star Fox the error was particularly stark, since Star Fox was successful in part due to its very simple design (on-rails) and tight controls (shooting direction = steering direction).
With any luck, this setback will curb some of their neophiliac tendencies, and maybe we'll see a return to form in time (the great design of Splatoon suggests they still know their shit). And by time I mean at least 2017 since apparently they've got nothing planned until then :(
