Star Fox Zero is out right now, and the reviews have been pretty divisive. They focus heavily on the most immediately unusual aspect of the game: The highly distinctive controls. Star Fox Zero controls are like nothing we’ve experienced before. And they’re weird, and easily disliked, if you just jump right in. But guess what: It’s your job to get used to them, and evaluate the game on its own merits, beyond the controls themselves… Even if the game itself is found a little wanting.

Star Fox Zero Controls And The Job Of Gaming

I’m sad to say it, but Star Fox Zero is not as good as it could have been. The game’s level design just isn’t that great, which is a surprising failure coming from Nintendo of all places. Still, it has a lot of that old Star Fox magic that made us fall in love with the series over 20 years ago. In fact, it’s a lot like Star Fox 64, the best game in the series, with the notable exception of the controls.

Star Fox Zero uses a weird combination of motion controls and “normal” controls. The television screen shows the full field of battle while the GamePad represents Fox’s cockpit. A good deal of aiming is accomplished simply by moving the GamePad around or tilting it in certain directions. It’s a very motion-control heavy game, and one of the first AAA Wii U games to really put the system’s GamePad to proper use.

And it’s our job to give it a fair and earnest shake. Do you remember when Super Mario 64 first came out, and you had no idea how to use a control stick? Did you give up? No, you gave it a try anyway. Do you remember when Star Fox 64 introduced the Rumble Pak, which brought us the totally new innovation of vibration that has since become ubiquitous? Innovations in controls are sometimes immediately intuitive, but sometimes they aren’t. Look at the debut of the double control stick system. It’s not easy stuff for beginners. Look at the Wii, or at touch screens (pioneered for gaming on the Nintendo DS long before smartphone gaming became a massive industry).

You could just assume that Star Fox Zero’s controls are just straight up terrible because they’re not intuitive. Or you could give them a try, and then another try, and then a third try in a different way, until you get the hang of them. Then you can truly evaluate the game on its merits. And sure, we may never see another game with controls like Star Fox Zero—the age of motion controls seems to be on its way out, after all. But Nintendo is trying to be innovative and that means a lot.