Star Fox Zero asks players to split their attention between two screens. One shows the ship flying through space. The other shows the ground beneath it, where a fox named Fox McCloud runs, jumps and fights. That split is the whole idea behind the game, and it is also the biggest problem.
The Two Screens
The setup is simple on paper. Players control the Arwing ship with a Wii U GamePad. They can move it through open space, fire lasers and dodge enemy fire. At the same time, a second screen shows Fox running across the ground, dodging enemies and fighting with a gun and a sword. Players switch between the two screens at will, moving the action from air to ground and back again.
It sounds clever. In practice, it rarely feels smooth.
“It sounds clever. In practice, it rarely feels smooth.”
What Works
When both screens are working together, Star Fox Zero has moments that feel genuinely new. A boss fight that forces players to coordinate between the two views, switching between ship and ground to avoid attacks, can be satisfying. The game’s story, built around Fox and his team fighting against a rising threat, gives the action some shape even if it plays safe with familiar characters.
The look of the game is bright and readable, which matters in a game asking players to watch two screens at once. Enemies are easy to read at a distance, and the world is full enough to keep the action from feeling empty.
What Doesn’t Work
The trouble starts when the two screens stop matching each other. The game’s camera for the ground view can turn on itself without warning, hiding Fox from sight just as he needs to be seen. The ship’s camera, meant to show the sky clearly, often hides the ground below it instead, forcing players to guess where Fox is before they can switch to him.
The difficulty rises without warning too. Some stages ask players to manage both screens at once while facing enemies from every side, and the game offers little help when things go wrong. A missed landing on the ground can cost the player several minutes of progress, since the game does not let players save mid-stage.
The Wii U GamePad
The GamePad is meant to be central to Star Fox Zero. It controls the Arwing, fires its weapons and handles the ground view. But it is not built for comfort. Holding the controller while reaching for the touch screen to switch between the two screens quickly grows tiresome over a long play session.
There is also a version of Star Fox Zero made for a single screen, controlled with a standard Wii U controller. That version removes the split-screen pressure entirely, though it cuts the game’s central trick in the process.
Where It Lands
Star Fox Zero is a game trying to break the rules of how players see and control action. It mostly fails at doing so gracefully. The ideas behind it are worth noting, and the occasional moment where the two screens work together proves the concept could have gone somewhere better.
But the camera issues, the difficulty spikes and the tired hands add up to a package that is more curious than comfortable. Players who want a pure shooting experience might find the split-screen design gets in the way more than it helps.
The Numbers
- Platform: Wii U
- Release: 2016
- Score: 6.7/10
- Key mode: Split-screen control between ship and ground
- Lead character: Fox McCloud
Star Fox Zero is a bold experiment that does not quite land on its feet. The ideas behind it are good, but the execution falls short at almost every turn. It earns a score of 6.7 out of 10.
