Released simultaneously with Star Fox Zero (and in some territories, bundled together with it), Star Fox Guard is a unique tower defense game starring Slippy Toad and his uncle Grippy, who runs a mining business. Taking place after the defeat of Andross, your job as a security commander is to defend these bases from a horde of invading robots.
The mining encampment is surrounded by a simple maze-like structure, with several cameras placed at key areas. Each camera is equipped with a laser and you can only directly control one at a time. This is viewed in the center of the screen, but footage from the other cameras is shown surrounding it. Switching between cameras is handled by touching them on the Wii U control pad screen, which also shows a map and positions of any enemies. Each stage begins with robots pouring into the entrances, before weaving their way towards the center of the area. You’re given a rough battle plan at the beginning of each stage, allowing you to concentrate on where enemies may come from, and are provided with some freedom to determine the best places to position the cameras.
There are two types of robots: Chaos and Power. Chaos robots are mere mischief makers – they’ll disable your camera if you don’t shoot them first, or pull other kinds of tricks, like detonating smoke bombs to cloud your view or loop fake footage so you might miss other invaders. The Power robots are the ones you really need to worry about though, as if any of them touches the gem in the middle of the encampment, you’ll lose the stage.
Of course, the game itself has very little to do with Star Fox other than borrowing its setting. Each of the planets of the Lylat system are used for the backdrop of various the mines, though, and Slippy acts as a tutor to help you learn the ropes. Many of the assets seem taken from Star Fox Zero, though the robot designs are mostly new. They’re all rather cute, in spite of the trouble that they cause.
Despite the repetition inherent in the concept, Star Fox Guard manages to remain entertaining because it’s always escalating, tossing new tricks at you once you think you’re comfortable. There are over 20 robot types in total, plus as you get higher scores, you can unlock new types of guns, including weapons like lock-on missiles. Further the levels are short enough that they manage to intensify (and potentially overwhelm) pretty quickly. The only real control issue is that it’s heavily suggested to use the stylus to change cameras, because the game demands quick camera changes and the indicators on the touch screen might be too small to reliably hit with your fingers. As either a freebie or a cheap purchase, it’s decent enough.
