Star Fox Command (DS)

CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
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Overall score: 7.5 (3.5 stars)
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Gamespot editors' review

• Reviewed by: Greg Kasavin
• Reviewed on: 08/25/2006
• Released on: 08/28/2006

Yet another popular Nintendo series has successfully landed on the DS. Star Fox Command features both the futuristic space battles and the likable cast of characters that the series is known for, and its 3D visuals look great. The familiar style of the game is freshened up with unique touch-screen controls, new strategic elements, and four-player online play via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service. It's a compelling combination that makes for an enjoyable game, though the single-player mode's flight combat sequences are loosely structured and aren't memorable like those from the classic Star Fox games for the Super Nintendo and the Nintendo 64.

Fox, Slippy, Falco, and the rest of the Star Fox gang return in this flight combat / strategy hybrid.

The game takes place in the wake of the Star Fox squadron's successful prevention of the sinister Dr. Andross' plans to take over their solar system. With that threat no longer looming, the Star Fox team disbands...so when a new threat arises in the form of a fishlike alien menace called the Anglar, ace pilot Fox McCloud must decide whether to battle them single-handedly or seek out his old friends for help. On your first play through the story mode, you'll take on a series of missions in a strictly linear order, though you'll notice Fox has various locked dialogue choices in between missions. Once you finish the story--which takes just a few hours and has a rather anticlimactic ending--those other choices will be unlocked. You can then go back through the story several more times, and depending on the choices you make between missions, you'll meet different characters, fight different foes, and eventually reach different endings. For a game about anthropomorphic animals piloting little spaceships, the stories in Star Fox Command come off as surprisingly melodramatic, apparently taking their cues from anime space operas. It's pretty good stuff.

Star Fox Command doesn't just put you into one action-packed sequence after another--every mission is couched in a strategic mode in which your pilot (or pilots) will need to thwart enemies that are attempting to destroy your flagship, the Great Fox. You have a limited number of turns in which you can move your ships, engage in battles, shoot down cruise missiles, and destroy enemy motherships. If you run out of turns in a given mission, you lose. Of course, you can also lose by getting shot down and running out of spare ships, and you even have to pay attention to a time limit during every battle. This sounds like a lot to consider, but every mission area is quite small, so the missions don't take very long. Furthermore, the vast majority of the battles you engage in will be easy, simply requiring you to gun down some number of specific enemies that aren't particularly aggressive. There are a few fairly tough boss opponents strewn throughout the game, but for the most part, the easiest way to lose a mission is by failing to prevent a cruise missile from smacking into the Great Fox.

The story mode branches in a lot of different directions and lets you play as many different characters.

The missile-chase minigame forces you to move through a series of checkpoints before getting close enough to shoot down the target, and during the moment of truth, things move quickly enough that you might sometimes miss a checkpoint and lose the missile. Then it continues along its merry way, and oftentimes, you won't get a second chance. It can be frustrating to lose a mission this way, but were it not for these sequences, most Star Fox Command missions would be very easy.

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• 4.0 stars

  "Better for the fans than for new-comers to the series."

  by brianmv on March 16, 2008

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