Corpse Run 612: Zeroing in
So there’s the new Star Fox game that came out recently… NEAT! After all of this complaining that Nintendo isn’t releasing any good games, it’s refreshing that a major WiiU title launched in the last month.
…granted it was supposed to come out in 2015… but whatever, I guess…
…surely all that extra development time resulted in an amazing game, right?
Noooooooooooope.
Mandatory tilt control aiming.
Mandatory tilt control aiming.
MANDATORY TILT CONTROL AIMING.
That’s some total BS right there and Nintendo knows it. They’re just trying to push the gimmicky WiiU features and they are now actively ruining the playing experience because of it. Other than the fact that the tilt controls are incredibly imprecise, it is astoundingly jarring to constantly switch from looking at the TV to the game pad depending on what you’re doing at any given point in time.
Furthermore, the tilt controls are so janky and broken that you have to recalibrate them multiple times while in the middle of missions.
That sucks. That really sucks.
…but hey, at least there’s that fast paced Star Fox action you loved as a kid and in college, right?
Nooooooooooope.
There was one level in particular I remember being singularly terrible, where you’re driving a painfully slow hover-copter-thing that would drop a tethered robot that you then also painfully slowly drive around.
I think that was the Zoness level… Zoness! One of the coolest levels from the N64 game. Totally ruined this time around.
There are definitely things to like, some of the boss battles are great… but ultimately if a game controls like crap, has crap pacing, and has a mix of crap voice acting and character design, it’s hard to label it as something other than crap.
Oddly enough, I want to play more of it, I feel like if I could just get over how awful the controls are there could be a lot to enjoy…
Mandatory? I mean, yes, they can’t be turned entirely off, but you can hit the “motion controls” button which turns them off unless you are holding the fire button… which, if you’re like me who rapidly mashes the button, essentially acts as if the motion controls are off, because it doesn’t have enough time to activate the control before they turn off… That said, the motion controls are actually really good if you get yourself in a stationary position… Moving around too much is the only thing that causes the tilt controls to function badly, which is easy enough to fix with a quick press of the Y button… The game is really good… it’s just that Nintendo is giving you a new style to play in. You can’t spend your whole life relying on games to stay the same. They’re going to change, controls are going to change, etc. You’ve got to learn how to use the new controls.
Seriously, though, when VR games become a thing, I expect a lot of people to hate on them, cause they won’t use “standardized controls” either… I’ve already seen some people playing games with beta VR equipment. You will absolutely NOT be able to control those games with any manner of standard controls. You will have to learn an entirely new way to game. If VR is going to be the future as everyone claims… you’re gonna have to get used to playing with newer controls, and Star Fox Zero does a REALLY good job of utilizing both the gamepad and the motion controls. It’s probably the game that has utilized them the best yet.
Also… Zelda Wii U/NX will likely utilize the gamepad as well… so yeah… really gonna have to get used to the new way that games play. That or, you know, stick with Playstation and Xbox… one of which has a built in touch screen into the gamepad like the Wii U does and no companies even utilize that cause it’s a piece of crap… and the other who is trying to make all their games use a camera to play all their games…
It’s not hard to get used to new controls when they add something new to the game. I don’t believe Star Fox Zero adds anything that couldn’t be done with old control scheme.
It’s like DS 3D Zelda games which forced stylus controls. They lacked precision, were tiring and required a lot of work to make link roll. The same could have easily be done with classic button control scheme. Nintendo could have allowed us to use both, just like Phoenix Wright. Instead we had to tire our arms with medicore controls. You don’t know how many times I was hit, because I didn’t move my stylus all the way from right side of screen to left quick enough, or because I didn’t hit running zone, but instead the walking zone. Link would run only if you were touching edge of the screen.
And if it was something so good that it warranted “getting used to” then why Link to the past is back to normal controls instead of stylus control?
Yes, mandatory! If you cannot completely turn off motion control aiming, then that means it’s mandatory. Also, it didn’t just happen while charging shots, it happened every time I was rapid fire shooting as well.
Even if it was just charge shots however, that’d still be awful. Star Fox is an arcade style game, going for high scores is fun. Charge shots reward you not just for the enemy you kill, but anything else that takes splash damage grants you Hit + points. Having tilt aiming completely ruins the game.
What if I want to use my WiiU Pro Controller? I guess you can’t at this time. There’s nothing in SF0 that couldn’t have been accomplished with a normal control scheme.
The VR comparison doesn’t work for me. Motion controls can be good provided that the player is completely immersed in the game. VR does that, sitting on a couch holding a game pad and looking at a TV does not.
I also understand that the new Zelda will likely use the game pad in some fashion… I just don’t want it to. Nintendo was most successful when they were making games that have a low skill threshold for users to play and a high skill threshold for users to get high scores/whatever.
These motion controls give you neither.
Well, I mean, if you turn on only while shooting mode, the reticle moves with the ship when you’re not shooting, so you essentially recalibrate automatically every time you stop shooting for a second. It makes it kinda like the controls in Splatoon, or in the 2 Zelda HD remakes, where you do big movements with the stick, and then use the motion for pinpoint accuracy. It’s not perfect, but it really isn’t THAT bad, and in only while shooting mode, you essentially don’t have to use the motion at all if you don’t want to.
Really thankful for my total lack of interest in console gaming.
Well, there’s still hope. There’s a Star Fox-themed mod for Freespace 2 that’s still in development, and it’s looking promising so far: http://www.moddb.com/mods/star-fox-event-horizon/
This is nintendo, you know how they are with fans showing actual love for a franchise if it can’t be immediately milked to wax their limousines.
Late reply, but are you saying they might send a cease-and desist letter?
Your last thought sounds like Stockholm syndrome. I’m sure these guys would be great if I could just get over the fact they kidnapped me.
So, how do you feel about mandatory tilt control aiming?
This is why I still haven’t played through Skyward Sword. I’ve played most of the others but I hate mandatory tilt controls=[
What irked me most about this Star Fox business (I managed to get over the controls with some practice) is that I was hoping they’d release Star Fox 64 on the Wii U virtual console alongside it, or a little before it to promote the new game (that’s the only reason I could think of for why it wasn’t already there). Then I found out I was right, but about other countries. It got released on the Europe and Japan eShops, but no word on a North America release
I really don’t understand why people are so upset with this Star Fox game. I don’t really see the voice acting as bad. I believe it’s on par with the 64 game, which they’re bringing you back to with this game. The graphics are great and I love them, as well as the character movement (as it’s also more of a throwback and supposed to look like puppets), and the controls, while they take some time to learn, I thought added a whole new layer of depth and helped me aim at enemies a whole lot better.
I feel like I can do bombing and strafing runs because of the controls, and that’s soooo freakin’ cool! I love the dog fights with enemies and how the camera pans out to show both pilots in the ships when you fly really close to them, and the game slows down so they can make a quip they make at you.
There’s some stuff from the 64 version I missed, but I thought they did an excellent job with this game, and I’m really looking forward to future iterations of Star Fox with it!
Also, I do have to say that I honestly don’t understand the problems with motion controls. They ARE forced on you, so I can understand that argument. However, I feel Skyward Sword was a game where they were ALSO forced on you, but it was incredibly fun when you learned how to work with them. And I feel it’s the same here.
Also, I do want to say, in certain instances, Z-targeting is your friend. It helps out a lot.
My brothers and I used to love this game on the N64, even with the voice acting and legos/attention deficit type narrators. I’d definitely play it if I got a chance if only for the lulz and giggles.