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Star Fox’s Controls Are Fine…Deal With It

Star Fox’s Controls Are Fine…Deal With It

I can’t think of a game that’s come out in recent memory as divisive as Star Fox Zero . The breadth of varying opinions about this game and how amazing or awful it is, how beautiful or ugly it is, how easy or how difficult it can be, or how baffling or rewarding the control scheme is has been pretty incredible. There’s a good chance that if you randomly select two different sites and read over their Star Fox Zero reviews you might wonder whether or not they’re talking about the same game. Of course, if you go to Polygon you won’t find a review at all. Apparently the control scheme was so hard to grasp that no one was willing or able to commit to mastering it and completing the game.

This was particularly troubling to the Editor-in-Chief of Aussie Gamer who points out that Polygon’s decision to disregard the game completely is akin to giving it a score of 0/10. “Gone are the days that game reviewers need to put any effort into their work,” he fumes. Obviously he’s bothered, and in his article he comes across as somewhat hyperbolic, but he does make some good points. Generally I feel like I can count on Polygon to produce thoughtful, well-researched content, but they made a questionable choice in their neglect of what, for many, is one of the biggest releases of the year.

I have no doubt in my mind that if motion controls were mandatory to play Splatoon it would have run into similar problems come review time. This is interesting because Splatoon is celebrated as the best new IP Nintendo has cooked up in a long time, and it’s by far some of the most fun you’ll have on your Wii U. It’s also interesting because almost everybody (myself included) starts off playing Splatoon using the two analog sticks. You discover really quickly, however, that you’re at a great disadvantage playing against competitors who use motion controls which allow you to aim faster, and much more accurately. Every serious Splatoon player, at some point, resigns him or herself to starting from scratch, learning to use the motion controls, and adapting strategies accordingly (to great effect).

That process of forcing yourself to spend a few clumsy hours with a new control scheme is pushed onto players from the very beginning in Star Fox Zero , and therein lies the frustration. In this day and age patience is in short supply, and players are much more willing to tolerate a difficult game if they at least feel like they’re in lucid control of their character or vehicle. That’s why games like Dark Souls III and Super Meat Boy are so widely loved, even though they’re exceedingly (if not excessively) difficult. We don’t have a big problem with “easy to learn, hard to master,” but “hard to learn, hard to master” is something we don’t seem to tolerate very well.

Star Fox’s Controls Are Fine…Deal With It

I’m of the opinion that the fault is ours in that respect, and companies like Nintendo don’t owe us by indulging our desire for a game that’s easy to pick up. Star Fox Zero should be hard to learn for the same reasons Dark Souls III should be hard to master; it’s more rewarding for the persistent few. Players who take the time to conquer the controls (like our own Jenni) end up loving the game very much. Once you learn how what you need to do and how to do it, you realize that the game wouldn’t have worked any other way. You have to learn any game that you play, and that’s what makes it interesting. Ty echoes that sentiment in his Aussie Gamer article, saying “Games are supposed to be difficult to master. You don’t buy a Rubik’s Cube because it’s already solved.”

I’d be really interested to hear from any of you who have played Star Fox Zero . Ideally I’d love to hear from someone who loved the game and from someone who regrets their purchase. I’d be willing to bet that many of you who start off hating the control scheme will, after a few days, end up loving it very much. I’d also be so interested to know how much easier the learning process was for those of you coming from Splatoon . Give me a shout in the comments and tell me about your Star Fox Zero experience.

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