"Great introduction to Starfox!"

It's not everyday that a fussy noobcake like me can buy a game that I haven't researched to the finest detail. Perhaps that's why Starfox Command came as such a suprise, when I picked it out. For all who may want to know, this review is based soley on my experiences with this game, not any fan based desire for you to give my favourite company more money. In other words, this game was my introduction to the Starfox series... and what an introduction it was.

Story:
As soon as a new game is started, the plyer is treated to a set of slides decorated with text and pictures that detail the important events of the earlier games in the Starfox series. Fox, Falco, Peppy, Slippy and Krystal have gone their seperate ways since the defeat of Andross. In the growing years, the quarantined planet Venom destroyed the Cornerian force that controlled it and struck back against the Lylat System, leaving all innocent civilizations in terror. Now it's up to Fox to re-group his old friends and destroy the new threat of the Anglar forces.

Of course, no previous knowledge of the other games is needed, as this introduction does a great job of setting the scene. Anyway, from here onwards, the rest of the story is played out in conversations between our furry friends, each represented by a single image with some mouth-moving features. Fans my notice that Peppy is no longer part of the crew, but has taken the role of General Pepper as the commander of all Cornerian forces. Anyway, from here on, the game plays out in a situation similar to a choose your own adventure book. At the end of each mission, after the character conversations, you're given a choice of what to do next. These can effect any character, and at times your decisions cause you to lose control of other characters and move onto other groups. One downside to this large level on non-linearity is that many of the battles that you fight seem worthless because they don't progress much of the story, although the humourous dialogue certainly makes up for it. 9/10

Gameplay:
This is where things get tricky. If you're new to Starfox, like me, you won't have a clue what some fans are complaining about. However, longtime fans may be disappointed with the changes to the formula they've loved since the first game. I know I said that I've never played a Starfox game before, and this is till true. My only knowledge of the previous games is that that I've learned from complaint posts. While the original games followed a 3D space shooter format, across long and varied stages, Star Fox Command takes a more tactical approach which, as the title implies, puts you in command. To those who still aren't sure, this could be described as mix of Fire Emblem and Star Fox. Every level or stage is represented by a map. On this map you are given little sprites of your character's faces, to represent their position and groups of red circles to represent the enemy. The battle then proceeds in a turn based format, in which you must drag your character icons along a flight path you design, in an attempt to fort the enemy attempts to destroy your base ship. The fuel meter helps to indicate your maximum movement distance and in game problems such as asteroid clusters can disrupt your strategies completely. Once all character routes have been set, the player ends the turn and the planned actions are carried out. When a character meets an enemy, a battle ensues and this is where the Arwing battles are brought in.

In battle, the touch screen represents the radar, where red dots (similar to those on the map) represent each enemy and recognizable sprites indicate item locations. These maps are not entirely small, but may not be what a Starfox fan is used to. The Arwing is controlled completely by the stylus... and a button of the player's choice. The touch screen is used to drag the crosshair across the top screen (where all action is displayed) and this moves your Arwing. Any button on the DS can be used to fire. Small icons to each side of the radar can be tapped for things such as somersaults or U-turns, as well as other weapons such as bombs. Outside of the regular battles are bonus things such as mothership attacks or missile deflection, in which the player must manouver the Arwing through several boxes while trying to accomplish a goal set by the game.

The strategic aspect to the battles is certainly welcomed by an RPG fan such as myself, and it tends to give the player more control over the battles as a whole. 9/10

Sound:
I myself have never been much of a sound critique. The sound in this game is certainly comparable to any other quality DS game, in that all can be heard clearly. There is unfortunately no voice acting, but jumbled voiced recordings similar to that in Animal Crossing. In game effects sound exactly as intended, and background music certainly adds to the drama. Overall, nothing about this area is to be overly commended or criticized. 8/10

Graphics:
This area definately depends on past experiences with the DS hardware. The graphics used here could be compared to Metroid Prime Hunters, in that the game uses full 3D without glitching or lagging as such. The in-battle maps are varied, and those such as the cities or mountained areas are certain to catch attention with the detail to every building or mountain. The Arwing models are varied for each character, every ship is personalized well to fit the respective personalities. Character models are only ever displayed by their portraits, and these have receded to a less detailed version then one may be accustomed to after playing Star Fox Assault. 9/10

Replayability/Extras:
One of the greatest things about Starfox Command is the replayability. The game comes packed with nine different endings, each as rewarding as the other. The lovely thing here is that while Nintendo could have easily forced the player to repeat the same maps for performance-based endings, they decided it best to give an ending depending on the plot route you took. So this means that every choice you make determines the maps you play, you'll hardly be repeating the same map! Some additional features to the game can be found in the form of Wi-fi aswell as the options menu. Wi-fi plays similar to any other wi-fi game for the DS, you have a status bar of your wins, losses and so on. As you can find on the Starfox Command boards, some players display their status in their sigs, to give an idea of what this looks like. Wi-fi battles are just multiplayer enabled versions of the ship battles, which unfortunately means you won't be able to take your strategies online. These battle require the players to collect the most stars and to do so they must destroy each other. Another form of extra is the voice recording factor. As previously mentioned, the game uses jumbled voice recordings (at different pitches) for each character. What the game then allows you to do is record your own voice (through a nice interview of common questions) and then this can be used during the game in single player. There is never any character confrontation online, so don't expect to compare your voice jumbles online...but... who does that? 10/10

Conclusion:
Overall, if you've ever been looking to get into the Starfox series, I see no problems in starting with this game. The strategic influence hardly rides over the games action flight aspect, and while it may only be a gimmick, it certainly helps catch the interest of those who are more RPG based in their gaming preferences. My final score is the average of all category scores.

Final Score: 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/16/06