Digital Foundry: Hands-on with Star Fox Zero

Star Fox Zero shoots for an arcade-style experience on Wii U, where 60fps is a must. Tom takes a look at how performance holds up in its two demanding opening stages.

[AKR]

So the game is technically running at 1200p? Dang.

As someone who's sunk so much hours into Splatoon, I'm totally game to use the second screen. I don't care about the visual quality; you're playing the game to have fun, not to sit there and masturbate to the screen.

[herbs]

Totally agree. Just finally found a used copy of Splatoon last week and it is easily the most innovative online shooter to come out this gen. Controls stellar with no auto aiming assists like pretty much every other console fps or otherwise. Starfox will be great, funny how few people comment when its a positive article from a reputable site.

[marloc_x]

"The system works brilliantly once you get the hang of it, and the built-in gyrometer is again surprisingly accurate for targeting."😏

[Concertoine]

This is what i've been saying for a while, the Wii U is spitting out 120 frames at once between the two screens. All things considered, this is a technical marvel. Its a shame that one has to look deeper to see the effort put into it, because so many accused Nintendo of laziness with this game.

You can call Nintendo many things, but laziness is not one of them, and this game is no exception.

[AKR]

Exactly. I'm sure this was no easy task, especially considering the fact that is is a FAST paced action game, with effects flying everywhere. Yes, the overall visual quality took a hit, but they still did a great job nonetheless. I have yet to come across a single preview which spoke ill of the game, so I expect some 7s, 8s and maybe even a few 9s.

[pcz]

to be fair, nintendo only put this game BACK into production because what they were willing to release didnt satisfy the large majority of people who saw it, and those who played it.

its only after people complained about the shockingly poor presentation that nintendo polished it up to what is now acceptable/great. people also complained about the very poor controls.

'' many accused Nintendo of laziness with this game'' because they were being lazy with it!

thankfully they turned it around.

[Concertoine]

@pcz

That is an assumption. This is a Miyamoto produced game, which are often delayed. Look at Metroid Prime or Pikmin 3 for examples. No one was bitching about Pikmin 3, it got delayed almost a year for the multiplayer mode and extra polish.

[pcz]

incorrect, there is no assumption when miyamoto specifically stated it was being delayed to basically make it not be shit.

''I made a big decision last week.

We have been developing Star Fox Zero for Wii U with the aim of releasing it this year. Although we felt that the development had been progressing well, we now believe that we will need a little more time to work on areas such as the unprecedented discovery that we want players to experience in the game by using two screens, and further POLISHING THE LEVEL DESIGNS and perfecting the tone of the cut scenes. While we have already reached the stage where it would be technically possible to release the title in time for the year-end holiday season, WE WANT TO POLISH THE GAME A BIT MORE so that players will be able to more smoothly grasp the new style of play that we are proposing.''

Since he stated the game was practically finished before he made this decision, one can conclude with absolutely no doubt, that he came to this decision because of feedback from the industry.

lets not forget this game was being poorly received after all its previews up to this point, people were criticising the laughably bad gamecube generation graphics, and also the broken controls. nintendo had no choice but to delay it since it was clearly not going down well.

obviously you can deny this all, but i think if it were for people like you, who blindly praise anything nintendo show, we would already have the broken starfox zero game nintendo were fully prepared to release had it not been for the vocal criticism from more level headed nintendo fans

[Concertoine]

@pcz

You mean like he delayed Pikmin 3? That game that no one was complaining about in the first place and was also nearly finished? Was that for audience feedback? No, Miyamoto is just a perfectionist.

Also, what about all the negative feedback going into AC: Amiibo Festival and Metroid: FF? If you look at the initial Star Fox reveal, it has like 20% dislikes compared to 90% for those two games.

So, I'm just looking at the pattern here. Miyamoto games are often delayed... Nintendo has gone through with several games with poor fan reception prior to release... put two and two together, my friend.

But if you want to pat yourself on the back for a job well done, by all means. Surely, this is because of YOU and not any internal design decisions.

Also, i haven't touched my Wii U in like 6 months, I have not had a positive opinion on Nintendo lately. I'm still waiting to see what comes next for them before i leave or stay with their hardware.

[superchiller]

No, the game is only running at 720p, and the frame rate drops to 40-50 in places. You can't add the gamepad resolution to the TV resolution to try to make it seem better, no matter how much you want it to be.

And 720p with 40-60fps certainly doesn't sound like a tech powerhouse, at all. Shame Nintendo didn't design the Wii U with better internal specs, but obviously they put most of their effort into the gamepad, sadly.

[herbs]

To bad you can't get over yourself and be reasonable and instead have to bend reality to meet your bias viewpoint. Game is dual rendering at high frame rates similar to VR except its running off a Wii U which has less than a fifth of power required for VR. If you can't appreciate the talent behind Nintendo and Platinum to make this work with such limited resources then you are just lost as a gamer. As much as you hate the Gamepad the reality is it enables new ways to experiance gaming with higher fidelity control that can require higher player skill. Wanting only improved graphics with the same old control schemes is for amateurs and is a boring stagnant preference for gaming.

[marloc_x]

"..this also has to combine with the 854x480 resolution of the smaller display. Tallied together, the overall pixel output is higher than your typical Wii U title."
-Thomas Morgan,Digital Foundry

[Segata]

Superchiller is a carrot derpy derp do derpy doo!

[Nevers0ft]

That would be true if the game simply mirrored the output to the gamepad, but it doesn't. It's rendering two entire scenes from different viewing angles, one for the TV and one for the gamepad. The praise the game is getting as a technical achievement (if not an aesthetic one) is valid.

[herbs]

As a PC gamer with a mid range system I get similar performance with most modern games at high settings in terms of frame rates (40-60) drops usually in similar situations (giant explosions etc). Frame rates over 30fps are generally not a problem for control fidelity although that could be more prominent with the high sensitivity of the Gamepad. Going to be fun.

[marloc_x]

"Star Fox Zero thrives on some brilliantly orchestrated levels - an arcade-style experience with unique, well-worked controls."

Really looking forward to this game👌

[blawren4]

This wasn't really on my radar because I've never played a starfox game before. I may pick this up. Looks fun, especially being able to have a second putter for coop aiming/flying

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

You should since this is rebooting the series.