Star Fox Command

"Not for Noobs"

Star Fox Command, the latest Star Fox game. I say it's about time for a new game! It seemed that a lot of people were either worrying that this game would fail, or they were mad about the changes from Star Fox. I was one that was in the middle. I love Star Fox games, but with the resent failure of Assault and Adventures, I was worried that a loved series of mine was going to wash away. Plus, when I first saw the picture of what Fox was going to look like in SFC, I was surprised, in a bad way. He looked more like a woman than the normal Fox I remember. So weeks went by, and I finally bought it. I must say I absolutely loved this game and played it for hours and hours. It seemed that everything fit together. Even the new Fox looks good!

Story: 7/10
The storyline is a little bit different from the normal Star Fox games. How it goes, a race in Venom's sea, Angulars, has sprung to life and, like Andross, wants to invade and take over the Lylat system. Normally, the Star Fox team would get through this easy, but, that's not the case. Slippy, a clumsy but intelligent frog and Fox's best friend, has found a girlfriend named Amanda, so he has less time with the team. Falco, a bird with an amazing amount of flying ability and arrogance, has flown off on his own. His location is unknown. Krystal, a fox who loves Fox (lol) and with telepathic powers, was separated from the team. Fox forced her to leave because he worried for her safety and didn't want her to be harmed. So they had to break up, leaving Krystal very angered and sad. Like Falco, it is unknown where she is. So now, Fox has to fight on his own. Eventually, he will need to gather his team back to take down the Angulars.

Not the most entertaining story, but at least it is different from the normal “ZOMG! ANDROZZ IS BACKNESS!”, so bonus points for that.

Graphics: 9/10

The Graphics are indeed lovely for the DS. The intro and the endings have scene's that look hand-drawn, and the characters look really good. Of course, The DS isn't made for GCN graphics, but it is better than a close up Trace from Metroid prime hunters. The ships look cool, the characters are well, and everything moves smooth and without and glitchyness.

Music:9.5/10

I LOVE the music in this game! You can actually hear all the instruments playing while you are listening to the song, cymbals, timpani, all the dramatic stuff that makes music with feeling and goodness. Classic Star Fox fans, you won't be without your classic music either! They have remixed music from Area 8 from Star Fox 64, The first level of Star fox Assault, and others too. Although, since the DS's speakers are slightly (SLIGHTLY!) in the lower quality zone, I have to take a .5 off the score. Still, the music is something you want to put next to your ear, and listen to it all day.

Controls: 4/10

…..Ick. I bet you SFC haters were waiting for this. Unlike Metroid Prime Hunters, you are forced to use the touch screen. Now, you touch screen users will be thinking “That's not THAT bad, right?” Well, yeah, in a way. When you first start off on the game, you'll be going left and right trying to get through the training rings, and it might take you a while. Eventually, you'll be able to boost and turn whenever you like, but if you're a new DS owner or you don't have many games that use the touch screen (which is a rare person) it's gonna take you a while before you get to like this game.

Gameplay (Single Player): 9/10

Now that you mastered the controls, lets head to single player mode. Single player mode is something you'll want to play over and over again. What you must do, is to draw a line through enemy ships and bases to engage battle with them. It's not as easy as it seems. Sometimes you'll see an enemy in front of you and you'll want to engage battle with, but, what is this? There is a missile that is very close to the Great Fox, and if you don't take care of it, the mission will be failed. So, instead, you change courses and let another teammate get him, and all is good! When you engage battle, the game transforms from a strategy game to an action packed flying shooter game. You do barrel rolls, loops, drop bombs, destroy mother ships etc. Also, once you beat the game once, you can go on different paths to get different endings. There are a total of nine endings. Some are canons, and some are just for fun. Believe me, Single player will not bore you.

Gameplay (Multiplayer and Online play): 6.8/10

Now don't get me wrong, Multiplayer is fun, but it is also frustrating. There are the type of pick-ups that are the “you grab it, your chances of winning are upped by 80%” type. So then it might get into an unfair fight. Also, when you kill someone, you HAVE to pick up the star they left behind to score the kill. So, instead of, say, HappyMan killed SadMan and HappyMan gets the point, Happyman Has to get his star, but, oh no, AngryMan grabs the star before Happyman, so he gets the kill instead of Happyman. And don't get me started on IndifferentMan, he has the Plasma Shot, one of the “80%” upgrades I was talking about earlier, and kills HappyMan in a few shots! So, Now that IndifferentMan has the Plasma Shot and AngryMan keeps stealing everyone's kills, HappyMan is screwed, and ends up in 4th place. And that's not all folks! They play a second game, and HappyMan gets lucky and is in first place! Now only 10 seconds before the game ends, and HappyMan is, well, happy. But, what is this? OMG! SadMan Disconnected, and the whole game is over! The game ends, and HappyMan doesn't get his wins! The game ends if ONE person disconnects. If you've played Mario Kart DS or Metroid Prime Hunters, you would know that there are a LOT of disconnecters. While there aren't as many in this game, they're still are D/c'ers out there. So, HappyMan becomes EmoMan and cuts his wrists because of the last game. Now, I'm gonna stop with all these “emotion”man's and tell you the good side. There is a mode that doesn't record records, so you can lose or win all you want, and your record will not change. That's good if you don't want to be frustrated with any unfairness that may happen. The gameplay itself is also fun, when you turn and dodge the shots to fire and kill others, it feels good when you get a star. So, in conclusion, Wifi is fun, but unfair.

Re-playability: 10/10

Hmm….lets see…a very fun and challenging single player, nine different endings, wifi….if you think that this game has no re-playability, smack yourself in the head with a metal bar, right now. >_>

Overall:8/10

This game is NOT for newbs, you'll want to have to be experienced with the DS in order to play this game. The controls are something you'll need to practice on, since you can't use the D-pad. Wifi can frustrate you to become an EmoMan because of some of the unfairness and things that they could improve on to make it better, and THEN it will become fun. Otherwise, this game is something you'll want to at least try out. It's got fun, graphics, music, and all the good stuff you'll want, so don't miss out on this game.

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