The seventh stage in Star Fox Zero is Sector γ (Gamma). It’s just one free-range space map, but there’s a lot going on that can easily distract you from your target mission and cause you to fail. The main focus here is to stay on task at all costs.
The task in question is to destroy three missiles that are constantly heading toward a portal, making this a race against time. If you should fail to keep any one of the missiles from entering, the Great Fox will sacrifice itself to intercept it, bringing up the dreaded MISSION FAILED screen.
First thing’s first: let’s get those missiles down. Each missile has three segments which must be destroyed by hitting the weak points until they break off. The first segment has one weak point, the second has two, and the third has a whopping six points to blast. To make matters worse, each segment is spinning. Which each piece lost the next segment will begin spinning faster, and the missile will speed up as well.
Taking down the first segment is easy enough, but you must be careful with the second and third. The two weak points on segment 2 will intermittently fire powerful lasers from them, so take advantage of your barrel roll and braking maneuver to dodge, and fire when ready. As soon as that second segment is down, the one remaining piece will begin spinning rapidly and shoot like a rocket toward the portal. If left alone it will reach its destination in seconds, so be sure to keep firing as fast as you can to down it. You’ll likely need to use your boost to keep up with it, because if it gets away from you there’s simply no catching up.
The same methodical procedure should be used for all three missiles, and it’s best to start with the one in front. However, soon after felling your first missile, an unidentified object will land on the Great Fox. Several drones are dropped onto the ship which will constantly damage it. If the Great Fox is taken down while you’re taking down the missiles, it’s game over and you’ll have to try again. Even so, do not go to the Great Fox’s aid. The ship is much too far away from the missiles, and even using boost it will take much too long to get there, destroy all four drones, and get back to the missiles. If you leave them alone and focus on the missiles, you should complete the level with the Great Fox still at a healthy 50% or so.
During all of this you will, of course, be bombarded with attacks from small, obnoxious ships that are constantly on your tail, but by this point in the game you should be fairly used to braking, dodging, and somersaulting out of harm’s way to fell your foes. Just remember that you don’t need to destroy them all. Take down those that you must, then get back to the missiles.
If you haven’t caught on by now, just keep barraging the missiles until you’ve destroyed all three. It may take a few tries to get into a good rhythm, but so long as they are your primary targets, you’ll be on to the planet Fichina soon enough.
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