"Could have been better"

I've played Star Fox games since the first one came out on the Super Nintendo Entertainment system. The concept was simple: Pilot your Arwing through a series of levels and defeat the big bad guy at the end. Recent Star Fox games, however, have been breaking away from the flying routine. (Star Fox Adventures and SOME of Star Fox Assault). This made me leary about trying them, but they turned out to be good games after I got the gumption to test them out.

Then comes Star Fox Command for the DS. All in all I was ecstatic. I finally was gonna be able to take Star Fox out on the road with me whilst I did my usual running around for me, my wife, and my kids. Unfortunately, this enthusiasm didn't last after I started playing the actual game.

First off, the graphics. Some of the models used are indeed better than ones used for the N64 version of the game. But they seemed to be lacking in several departments. Charging your cannons, for instance. The N64 game actually had a nifty little charging effect that showed at the tip of your ship's cannons. SFC? Nothing. Your crosshairs change from green to red when you're charging up (Which is kinda lame, as I didn't even know I WAS charging until I finally released the shot). The environments, for the most part, were well designed. Especially Fichina's areas.

Next, gameplay. When I first booted up the game I was hoping for long levels of non-stop shooting action. Did we get that? Nope. Instead, we're given a cross between a Strategy RPG and a Flight Simulator. Before a battle begins, you have to draw your ship's flightpath to take out enemy ships and bases before they reach the Great Fox (Which also received a major overhaul in it's appearance). Now, this isn't ENTIRELY as dull as it seems, because if an enemy ship touches your flightpath at any point they'll stop and follow you to where the path ends. Thus beginning a battle sequence.

Almost every battle is fought in All Range Mode (Reference for you N64 SF fans). The goal is to destroy the targets shown onscreen before the fight begins and collect their cores (Which are silver and urple colors stars). This is pretty fun, save for one thing... YOU'RE TIMED IN EVERY BATTLE!! I miss the old days when you could more or less circle around for hours on end blasting baddies. but now, you more or less have to focus on destroying the targets as quickly as possible to save time for the next fight(s). Sure, there's ways of increasing your time. Just barrel roll into some oncoming enemy bullets or collect green fuel cells. But it ain't worth it half the time. Destroying enemy motherships is pretty cool though, as you get to barrel roll right through them.

There are SOME battles that are not fought in all range mode. These fights are normally found when you're chasing missiles launched at the Great Fox. Honestly? These are the most annoying things to deal with. You have to fly through red beacons to sty on the tail of the missile long enough to destroy it. Miss one, and the missile flies away and gets closer to destroying the Great Fox (Do NOT try intercepting these using Krystal's ship when she's still affiliated with Star Wolf).

As far as sounds are concerned, I tend to leave the voice option OFF in this game. Why? Listen for yourself. The sounds each character's voice makes grates your eardrums. It's better to just turn it off. Everything else sounds fairly decent. Even some of the music is remixed from the N64 game. (Star Wolf's theme is a personal favorite of mine).

And finally, the plot. Seems there are about 9 different endings in this puppy. Which adds to some of the replay value if you don't mind a lot of the quirks in the game. I'm not sure I'll stick with the story that Krystal leaves Fox to rejoin Star Wolf though. Seems cheesy.

Oh, before I forget, I should talk about Multiplayer. Yeah, this is a nice touch to this game, being able to play against people from around the world. There's just one teensy little problem though. Do NOT let the other opponents get the Plasma Shot before YOU do. Otherwise, RUN LIKE HELL! Those shots hurt, and they can take you down VERY quickly. (Believe me, I learned the hard way.) People like spamming others using it, so that kinda takes away from the fun factor. (Probably why you see so many people drop out of fights when someone snags that thing). You can get a lot of practice in Free battle mode, as winning or losing there won't affect your overall rank (And choosing less than 3 opponents sometimes gets you into the arena faster). Aside from the annoyances of the Plasma Shot, Multiplayer is fun all around, local or WiFi.

If you're a die hard Str Fox fan, I say go ahead and get this. Otherwise I would try it first before you decided buying it. This is only my opinion, but Nintendo could have done better.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 09/22/06