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WiiU

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Project Guard E3 Hands-on Preview

by Jonathan Metts - June 12, 2014, 1:38 pm EDT
Total comments: 3

Jonny goes hands-on with Miyamoto's Project Guard, the single-player game that practically requires spectators.

Project Guard immediately feels familiar and yet brand new. It's an idea from the brilliant mind of Shigeru Miyamoto, and it forces you to use the Wii U GamePad differently than anything else. More importantly, it's a game for one person that also actively engages on-lookers.

Fundamentally, this is a tower defense game in three dimensions. You control a set of twelve security cameras/lasers, positioned anywhere you like around a maze-like fort. The goal is to keep robot invaders out of the vulnerable core of this fort. The weaponized cameras are a genius touch -- if you can see it, you can shoot it. This also brings a little action into what is otherwise a purely strategic experience. The challenge is to juggle twelve different views, all of which are displayed on the TV in an overwhelming example of split-screen technology.

In fact, it's really too much for one person to absorb all at once. That's where your friends/family come in. Having extra pairs of eyes in the room can be the difference between victory and defeat, especially on the harder modes of this demo. It's possible, though very difficult, to defend the core all by yourself. That's where the GamePad screen comes into play. It shows an overview of the entire map, allowing you to monitor threats coming in from multiple sides. You still have to tap on a specific node and look back up to the TV to aim your laser shots, though.

There are several kinds of robot invaders, most of them intent on reaching the center the fort. Blue ones are the most important (you must eliminate a certain number of them to win the round), and they take two hits to kill. Their height makes them easier to spot over walls, but they get shorter and faster after taking damage. Some tiny robots carry bombs that look like soccer balls, and these can disable a camera if you fail to knock them out first. (I was assured there is a method to repair cameras, but it takes time and attention away from the main objective.) Yet another class of robot is very fast and likes to steal cameras. You can interrupt his escape to save the camera, but it may be left useless on the ground unless you invest the time to place it back in a strategic location via the touch screen.

Project Guard feels like a second-generation Nintendoland mini-game; not substantial enough to be a retail venture on its own, but significantly more complex than anything you'd find in Mario Party. Despite the blocky graphics and spartan, lunar setting, the game has plenty of charm thanks to several different robot designs, some resembling the Robotic Operating Buddy (R.O.B) and even Falco Lombardi. The latter reference, combined with a classic Star Fox logo on the security cameras, leads me to think Project Guard may be destined to serve as a special stage or bonus mode in the upcoming Star Fox game for Wii U. Nevertheless, it is a fun and innovative approach to the TV-GamePad design space, and I hope it does get some kind of release with additional content.

Talkback

RazorkidJune 12, 2014

That sounds cool. I missed all the Miyamoto reveals on the treehouse stream and haven't gone back to look through the archived material.

ShyGuyJune 12, 2014

I want to play this

azekeJune 12, 2014

Quote from: Razorkid

That sounds cool. I missed all the Miyamoto reveals on the treehouse stream and haven't gone back to look through the archived material.

Usually Miyamoto's reveals of both games were awkward. Treehouse's own demos of the games looked much more fun.
Project Giant Robot looked like great drunk fun on Day 2.
Project Guard looked fun in company -- there were 8 people screaming which camera player needs to pay attention to. And there is actually a lot of depth in there with different types of enemies and camera moving on the fly.

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WiiU

Game Profile

Star Fox Guard Box Art

Genre Action
Developer Nintendo
Players1

Worldwide Releases

na: Star Fox Guard
Release Apr 22, 2016
PublisherNintendo
RatingEveryone 10+
jpn: Star Fox Guard
Release Apr 21, 2016
PublisherNintendo
RatingAll Ages
eu: Star Fox Guard
Release Apr 22, 2016
PublisherNintendo
Rating7+
aus: Star Fox Guard
Release Apr 23, 2016
PublisherNintendo
RatingParental Guidance
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