Come on Nintendo and Platinum, tell it like it is!
This game is one 1280X720 image and another at 854X480, with the level of visuals we're seeing that's not very impressive. Even if all frames in each second were unique it wouldn't exactly be difficult to accomplish, often the cockpit view is just a smaller representation of what you're seeing on the exterior to vehicle view, with a cockpit laid over and a slightly zoomed in image.
1280X720=921,600 pixels and 854X480=409,920, those 2 added together equals 1,331,520, 900p is 1600X900 or 1,440,000 pixels, so the latter is more demanding.
The game engine only has to render the wider view in 3D space and then use a fraction of that data in a more specific view for the cockpit view and overlay the cockpit bars.
This isn't a 120FPS game, it's a game with fewer pixels than 900p rendered at 60FPS overall, with a level of visuals and gameplay that's very un-8th gen.
You can't even say it's demanding from a technical perspective when it comes to the gameplay! I mean there's no dynamic physics, small enemy counts on screen, mostly on rails flight paths through levels, with a small free roam section at certain points of a level (the kind of gameplay usual for a Star Fox game that has been in them all since the N64 era) and a viewpoint gimmick.
Sure you've now got the addition of a couple of new craft, but it's hardly difficult to achieve from a technical point of view.
Can't say I'm impressed TBH, but I guess it's something a bit different for the Wii U being a game with some dog-fighting style combat and there hasn't been a Star Fox game released for a long time.
I just expected a lot more.
A game featuring space craft, which can travel to another planet in minutes should allow the player to be able to traverse large areas of space in the game, with a level of freedom, only limited by logical barriers like masses of enemy forces preventing you moving where you want, which the player should be able to tackle as they see fit and perhaps some ally AI that interacts with a player, as that would be a current generation level of gameplay.
It's not too much to ask for some proper dynamic physics in environments or on enemies either!
It can of course be legitimately staged for Andross and his forces to block off certain areas of the system, but overall a game like this should allow players to explore full worlds and interesting expanses of the vacuum of the Lylat System, but Nintendo missed that opportunity with this game.
If Nintendo still wanted to go down the more linear route then they should have still offered players more options for different flight paths through levels, as well as adding destructible objects into each level and more, larger pockets of free roam spaces to add proper dog fighting into the equation and break up the standard style of play that's been in Star Fox forever.
IMO this game should feature open worlds that let the player tackle a variety of missions to repel Andross's forces or maybe a bunch of new enemies, as they see fit.
I guess Wii U is just too limiting for any of this stuff though, so it was easier to just stick with the simpler dual screen, such a missed opportunity, this could have been a real gem.
The game engine and asset creation technology exists to make constructing this kind of title pretty easy, even for an independent developer like Hello Games, procedural creation could have been used to build the solar system, then Nintendo could have added in specific stuff by hand, using a tool chest of specific assets.
Such a shame!
