So, Star Fox Guard comes packed in for free with Star Fox Zero. Clearly the side-dish in Wii U’s Star Fox installment. Instead of flying around in an Arwing shooting enemies out of the sky, you’re controlling the security system of a mining facility owned by Grippy, Slippy’s uncle. So how does this one play? Really well, as a matter of fact.
The entire game consists of missions that each will have you setting up cameras around a facility using the Gamepad’s touchscreen. After setting them up, begin the mission and robots will start pouring in through the various entrances and try to make their way to the center of the maze-like facility to steal the mine’s resources. Why are the so many wide open entrances in a place containing such valuable materials? Why are there so many hallways that make the place almost like a maze? Nobody knows. Point is—you have to shoot all the robots that come in before they reach the center or else you fail.
All twelve camera views are shown around the edge of the TV screen. The camera you’re currently controlling is right in the middle of the screen. The Gamepad gives you a top-down perspective, showing the entire facility, all the cameras, and the real-time location of enemies. Every camera has a laser gun attached. Tap the camera on the touchscreen to control with either the left or right stick and press any button or trigger to shoot. You’ll be looking at your TV as you aim so in this sense it plays like a first-person shooter, except you’re stationary. Cameras can be moved during a mission, so if a camera is destroyed or otherwise incapacitated, you can adapt to the situation.
Missions are very short, but they will keep you on guard. No pun intended. The action can get pretty intense. There are many different bots that will infiltrate the facility and each brings something unique. When there are many different kinds of bots in the area at once, you’ll need to think fast on how to best deal with them. You will also have to be mindful of where you leave your cameras pointed, as you will constantly be looking at your screen to see where enemies are coming in. On top of that, you’ll have to be moving cameras on the fly if things aren’t working out.
Adding more strategy to this, there are special cameras that you can utilize. By leveling up, you acquire a number of enhancements that you can add to a camera, such as one that will lock-on to multiple targets, or one that will slow down time. Find the best enhancements to use for the mission and the best spot to place them and things will go very smoothly. Neglecting these can cause some serious trouble in the more difficult missions. Should you fail a mission, you’re shown the path where the offending bot went which is helpful for adjusting your strategy the next time you set up your camera placement.
Flicking the camera in a direction will quickly aim your camera in that direction. Mastering this is very useful, as it will be almost impossible to take care of a swarm of bots aiming slowly with the sticks. This is a nice feature and very much welcomed, just as long you don’t accidentally pick up your camera and drag it to somewhere you didn’t want it. Time is very much of the essence here, and wasting just a few moments can ruin the success of your mission. Letting you adjust your stick sensitivity would have been great, but this option is nowhere in sight, forcing you to rely on flicking the touchscreen for quick turns which not everyone will like.
Between all these elements that are necessary to pay attention to, the small amount of time these missions last will keep you engaged during the whole thing. Star Fox Guard is better played in short bursts. Playing for a long period of time can become a stale experience. You’ll encounter boss battles that do help break up the repetitiveness and force you to think in different ways than the rest of the missions.
Additionally, extra missions will unlock as you progress. These missions are based off the regular missions, but add in a twist such as adding switches that will give enemies temporary invulnerability, or having enemies that drop in on parachutes, as well as many other things. The content is really gets packed on in this game.
Looking back and forth between the TV screen and the Gamepad can become jarring at times. The different stealth bots show up only on the big screen or only on the radar on the Gamepad, showing up as invisible on the cameras. Using a stylus and an analog stick at the same time can also feel awkward, as you have to tap the cameras shown on the touchscreen.
There is no reason the camera views could not have been put around the edges of the Gamepad screen. This way you wouldn’t be forced to look back and forth as much, and would allow you to tap the edge with your thumb and hold the controller like a normal controller. And as stated before, giving you the option to turn up the aiming sensitivity would get rid of the need to swipe the touchscreen for turning around quickly. However, it does still work well enough once you get used to it, so we can let that slide.
Star Fox Guard is compatible with the Fox and Falco amiibo. Once a day per amiibo, you can tap them during mission setup to allow an airstrike. If things get out of your control, call in the airstrike and Team Star Fox will fly in with their Arwings and wipe the map of all enemies. This is a good safety net. However, this really could have just been a feature of the game without making players spend extra money on amiibo if they don’t already have them. At least the airstrikes aren’t necessary to complete the game.
Beyond the main game, Star Fox Guard features a squad creation. As you encounter new bot types in the main game, you can use them in your own squad online. Creating a squad lets you choose from the existing maps and place bots at any entrance you like and the time slot that they come in. It allows you only so many bots per time slot, so you’ll need to get creative to make a difficult mission. Missions you create get a course ID so you can share them for others to play. If you want to play some creations made by other players, you can head to Rival Squads where you’ll take on missions at random. After completing a mission, you’re given the option to take on more missions created by that user, which is a nice little feature if you really liked what they made. It would have been nice if you could create your own maps and place your own walls, but that may be more effort than it’s worth. Squads was a great way to give people who love Guard’s style of gameplay a way to continue playing after completing all the missions in main game. As long as people keep creating, there will be a virtually endless supply of missions to take on.
So that’s Star Fox Guard. A simple concept but with plenty of strategy and action that can keep almost anyone entertained for short bursts at a time. This is a great compliment to Star Fox Zero. And as a free bonus (unless you’re buying digitally), you really can’t complain.
