"It's good to be back."

This review assumes readers have completed Star Fox, Star Fox 64, Star Fox Adventures, and Star Fox Assault, or otherwise do not mind having said games spoiled. There will be spoilers, you have been warned.

Back when I first got my Nintendo 64, Star Fox was one of my first games. I loved it to death, even though I was unable to consistently get past Fichina... I loved the characters, I loved the story, I was hooked. Years later, Adventures and Assault came out, and I bought them both upon launch. They were both fairly disappointing- Adventures strayed too far from the classic Star Fox formula, and Assault lacked the option to pick your own path that made 64 so much fun. Some time after the release of Assault, I also picked up the original Star Fox at my local EB. Sure, I was playing a game that was over 10 years old, but I loved it. Then at E3 2006, Star Fox was announced for the DS. It was a good day.

==Overview==

The first thing that you must realize about Star Fox Command is that while it is much more faithful to Star Fox and Star Fox 64 than Adventures or Assault, it too has strayed in some areas, often quite drastically. First off, this game is not a rail shooter- all the combat save for a few final bosses takes place in 'all range mode'. More importantly than being exclusively 'all range', however, this game is a strategy game. That's right - you move up to four pilots around, making paths with the touch screen. The aim is to take out all enemy forces while protecting the newly rebuilt Great Fox (it looks horrible, I might add, nothing like the majestic mothership it was before the end of Assault) from enemy units or missiles. If a single enemy gets through to it, that's it, you've failed the level. Of course, this shouldn't happen, save perhaps a time or two when you're just getting use to the game.

So you've got Fox and his wingmen (although these wingmen aren't set in stone - several paths have the story revolve around Falco or Slippy or even Wolf) flying around the touch screen, trying to take out all the enemies - Anglars, a race of fish from Venom's acidic seas who will stop at nothing to take over Lylat. They've got nothing on Andross's army from Star Fox 64, but they're a much better enemy than the Aparoids or the SharpClaw army. The goal of each level is to defeat all of the enemy clusters on the map, as well as take out any enemy-occupied cities.

==Story==

I've personally always enjoyed Star Fox's cast and storyline. In Star Fox Command, the team's gone their own separate ways. Slippy's off on Aquas with his fiancee, Peppy's been promoted to Cornerian General upon Pepper falling ill, and Falco's off doing his own thing. Fox has told Krystal to leave Star Fox for her own protection, and nobody's supposedly heard of her since. Since then, Fox and ROB 64 have been cruising around, trying to clear his thoughts. Star Wolf returns once again, playing major roles in several of the game's paths. Other returning characters include my personal favorites Bill Grey (although he's thrown his west coast accent away for a southern one), and Katt Monroe. Newcomers to the series range from Peppy's daughter Lucy, Slippy's fiancee Amanda, and Andross's grandson Dash. Every single one of the above is featured as one of the game's 15 pilots, as well as one super secret character that you'll NEVER GUESS. Each character pilots their own custom aircraft with its own armor, laser type, lock system, and boost capabilities as well as differing amounts of bombs able to be carried.

Some people gripe about how much the characters age. This doesn't bother me personally, and likely won't until we end up seeing someone dying of old age or something several games down the line.

Colorful cast of characters aside, the game's story is a breath of fresh air after the disasters that were the Gamecube Star Foxes. The Anglars want Lylat, and it's up to Fox to stop them on his own. Over the course of the game, Fox will encounter his old friends and enemies and assemble an elite Star Fox squadron.

Overall, 8/10.

==Controls==

Ah, a touchy subject. Initially, everyone was devastated about the lack of D-Pad controls, myself included. However, after a bit of hands-on experience, I discovered that it wasn't half as bad as I'd feared. Essentially, you use the stylus for everything. No more pressing Z or R twice to do barrel roll, they're now performed by drawing circles on the touch screen. You can also try a somersault, use the brake, use the boost to get through, and use bombs wisely via the touchscreen. Bombs are interesting - you drag them to where you want on the touch screen and they explode there. I personally prefer the classic method of dealing with bombs, but this isn't by any means bad, even though it's difficult to hurt more skilled enemy pilots this way.

I'll give controls a 7/10.

==Sound==

Eww, no voice acting? That was a major disappointment, Star Fox's voice acting has always been incredible and now they give us this Animal Crossing speak. And for those of you who've never played Animal Crossing, that's NOT a good thing and leaves much to be desired. It's rather like the original Star Fox, really...

Disappointing lack of voice acting aside, the game's music is incredible. Awesome. Nostalgic. Epic. The sort of music you expect from Star Fox. Each pilot has his or her own 'theme', as well as each planet having faithful renditions of its classic music. Wolf's theme, the standard Star Wolf music, is as incredible as ever. Much love for Star Wolf.

8/10, only because of the missing voice acting.

==Fun Factor, Replayability, and Multiplayer==

This game is actually FUN. It's incredibly addicting, especially trying to get all 9 of the endings. I can't seem to pull myself away from it - it has the lasting appeal that Star Fox and Star Fox 64 had, and Adventures and Assault lacked. You'll probably want to play through it at least 9 times, so replayability's of no major concern. Finally, multiplayer was initially a bit disappointing for me- I was expecting grand dogfights between any of the 15 characters. Nope, just Fox in different colored Arwings. That said, it's still fun and incredibly addicting.

Rent or Buy?
Although I personally really enjoyed Star Fox Command, I would recommend testing out the stylus controls before shelling out $35 for it. If you find that they're your cup of tea, then by all means buy this game.

Final Verdict
An incredibly fun and addicting step in the right direction for the Star Fox series, Star Fox Command is a solid title and has rightfully earned my 7/10.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/08/06