"Star Fox Episode III: Return of the Arwing"

This is a strange one. On the one hand there are gamers who have grown up on the classic Star Fox space-shooting games, and on the other we have those who are relatively new to his adventures. Thus with the former group there are certain expectations, and as you may already have gathered elsewhere, this is not your ‘standard' Star Fox experience. But it is still a damn good game.

The N64's Star Fox/Lylat Wars introduced an all-terrain mode in addition to the classic on-rails shooting sections. The planned sequel to the SNES version was to be the first to have this in a way, but that project was canned. This new DS title is nearly wholly based upon these free-movement levels and although some may be disappointed by this, it does retain the charm of the original games and, along with a whole bunch of new additions, is highly addictive.

GRAPHICS 8.5/10
Those who remember the N64 game well will no doubt appreciate the graphics here. The polygon models for the Arwing and other assorted ships and monsters are equivalent, the explosions and other special effects look the part, and there is a lot of on-screen action occurring with only a few instances of slowdown and pop-up. The arenas are all boxed-in, but without taking attention really to detail, you'd be hard pressed to see that; you will be captivated by each strikingly different world. There is a very solid engine here, also displaying some rather neat particle effects too at times.

SOUND 9/10
The Star Fox franchise has always been an aural treat, and the DS' hardware & speakers do a great service to maintaining this excellence. There are no voiceovers, but instead the characters speak jibberish (which you can sort of customise with your own voice, broken up randomly to form unique samples). It is fine for the most part, and since you can skim through the narratives, it doesn't really get annoying. Just like any great space epic, the sounds generated by lasers, missiles, collisions, alarms, gear shifts, etc. all capture the intensity of the action happening on-screen. The samples are crisp, well varied and true to the previous games.

The music really hits home. Each character has one or more themes to accompany them as they take flight. Some classic Star Fox is here, recreated beautifully, some new variations, and some totally new tracks. Along with the great sound effects, the BGM instantly places you in their universe, and it is arguably the best experience for the DS yet; just like with the Castlevania games, the score makes playing that much more exciting. There isn't a sound test to speak of, but you can easily listen to your favourites by browsing through the character profiles.

GAMEPLAY 8.5/10
It is inevitable that some may be so consumed by the original style of on-rails action that they won't like how it is so different here. That's a shame really. I was initially disappointed that it was not to be the follow-up to the successful Star Fox 64 formula, but in short time I began to appreciate Star Fox Command as a game of its own merits. It is based in the Star Fox world with all the familiar characters and solar system and it does feature purely flight-action, but at heart it comprises a range of mini-battles linked together by turn-based strategy gameplay.

In each mission the goal is to gather all the ‘cores' from the enemies around the map. You can plot the course of any ships currently deployed to meet up with the opposition's units whereby you'll initiate a couple of the aforementioned mini-battles. There are terrain effects to consider when charting an optimal course, and in some maps there is a ‘fog of war' which can be handily removed (with limited use) by a special machine in game AKA your stylus in real life. These elements are fun to work with, but ultimately there is not much variety and overall it comes across as strategy-lite.

But the meat of the game is in the battles. During encounters with the myriad of enemy types, your goal is to retrieve the ‘cores' by destroying specific enemies. There are perhaps 10+ different ‘levels' in all which doesn't sound like much, but the fact that they are fast to get through and simple means it doesn't get too repetitive too fast. Adding to that there are motherships which you'll have to barrel-roll smash into (supremely satisfying!), missiles which you'll have to chase and destroy, and a few boss battles. All said and done, it could have used a little more variety.

Even with such a limited selection of levels, each run-through is still different thanks largely to the wide range of ships you'll gain control of. There are about 13 different ships (plus the subs) and each has their own pros and cons. Slippy's can carry more bombs (which are WAY too effective in this game), sustain more damage, but has limited boosting capabilities, whereas Falco's can lock-on laser (or multi-laser in some cases), manoeuvres well, but lacks in the shielding department. It is a lot of fun to play with all the different craft available, each one providing a unique experience.

So the gameplay is sound, but does it control well? Especially with stylus control being the only option? Truthfully, it does take a while to get used to piloting with a tiny little stick, but most will get the hang of it soon enough. It is workable: tight turns, somersaults and barrel rolls will be as easy as eating just one more piece of cake. I still think it is kind of loose, but with touchscreen control, I don't think you could get much better really. Several complaints have been made with regards to accidentally barrel-rolling when changing directions quickly, but I've never ever had that problem.

With the new control setup and new gameplay system, there is a learning curve, especially before you decide to step into WiFi-world. Unfortunately (for me anyway) a couple of hours will sort you out and then you'll find that most of the game is much too easy; you can finish levels in 10-20s, 10s extra if a mothership is involved, perhaps 1 minute or more for bosses. The use of bombs is truly broken in the single-layer mode; a few well placed will mean destruction of the enemies within a few seconds – that's just crazy! Luckily the load times are extremely fast so you'll be fighting your next match as soon as you've completed the current one.

Just like in Star Fox 64, we see the return of branching paths! Hooray! Decisions you make between missions will change the destinations travelled to at different times, so unlike its predecessor, in-game play has no bearing (boo!) All up, there are 9 different endings to obtain; that's a lot of replay for those who enjoy it. I think that's great since you can easily pick this up now and again and have slightly different experiences each time. A gimmick for sure, but it works well.

I'll touch briefly on WiFi since other sources have documented this aspect well already. Nintendo have decided to streamline the whole experience and the only scenario is deathmatch/collect the tokens. It is rather enjoyable and this time around friendly matches can be carried out (to discourage dishonourable gamer from disconnecting at first signs of a loss). While I'm on the positives, I might as well point out that single card download and play is a nice option too. But it is a real, big shame that only Fox's default craft is available (for balancing purposes right..)

OVERALL 8.5/10
Star Fox Command is a great portable game. It has got great graphics, an awesome soundtrack, fast gameplay, WiFi connectivity and a lot of replay value. The last quality being a major boon to those who enjoy these type of games, easily making this a 9/10 title. But, there is something lacking still. I can nitpick about the small things like no damage effects to your craft, but really its main fault is that the game comes across as too simple. But then again, simple, addictive gameplay – just like Tetris – is a heck of a lot of fun

N.B. I consider this to be the 3rd true (and decent) title in this series; Star Fox Adventures was only Star Fox in name and Assault had a personality conflict on what it wanted to be.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/05/06