Star Fox Command

Can Fox McCloud and pals bring back their SFX glory?
Version
 DS		Developer
Nintendo		Publisher
Nintendo		Genre
Platform



By Daniella Lucas

So many people have been waiting and looking forward to Star Fox Command so we're not going to keep you hanging: I didn't enjoy it, and that's a rare and hard thing for me to say as I'm the type of person who likes most things. Even brussel sprouts.

Technically this game is sound, with impressive graphics that show off what the DS is capable of, and a nice storyline, but the controls ruined it for me. You use the stylus to steer your ship on the bottom screen and watch the action on the top screen and tap any of the buttons to fire your weapons, it doesn't sound particularly bothersome but in practice it's a lot more difficult to adjust to, as it can be overly sensitive in regards to barrel rolling.

"Wi-Fi lets you go up against players from across the globe in impressive dogfights that are amazingly good fun."

If you find yourself needing to turn in different directions quickly, you end up in a barrel roll that wastes your boost gauge. I found this extremely irritating; Murphy's Law meant that whenever I needed to barrel roll, I couldn't. Star Fox Command would have been so much better if they'd kept the controls simple and more akin to those of Mario Kart DS, or at least an option to this end.

Nintendo also completely changed the nature of gameplay; it now revolves around strategy type scenarios where you have to send off your ships to intercept enemies, which then trigger an encounter until you finally get the chance to shoot them down.

With a limited set of features in the missions such as clearing away fog and chasing down enemy missiles, it soon became very repetitive and felt like a chore to get through. This definitely is an interesting change to the way the game is played, but it just doesn't feel like Star Fox.

However, Command does have a redeeming feature for me, in the form of Wi-Fi multiplayer that lets you go up against players from across the globe in impressive dogfights that are amazingly good fun - especially if you're winning. It's probably not quite as fun if you're rubbish at it and a sore loser...

However, you can only get up to four players in a fight at once using wifi or using multiple carts, but if you get a friend who doesn't own the game to use download play, you can have up to six players fight it out at once. You do all end up with the same ship though, just in different colours.

My gripes with this game aside, it still manages to be above average and fans of the series will probably enjoy it as it helps further the plot, but you're going to have to face it - it's not a return to the original form of the SNES and N64 versions that so many people wanted this game to be.











Graphics Sound Gameplay Depth Presentation OVERALL
8.5 8.5 6.7 6.0 7.0 6.8


THE VERDICT: Star Fox Command is like Marmite, you either love it or you hate it. Having said that, it's essential that all traditional Star Fox fans give this a look.













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DescriptionDur.SizeDetails
Star Fox DS
Direct feed gameplay   (DS - Nintendo)		 00:35 5 DF, SD, 4:3
640x480p30
1.3Mbps