Star Fox Command (DS) Review
Introduction
Its probably better for me to get this out of the way nice and quick. No dont worry too much; there isnt anything particularly wrong with Starfox Command, but I have to make sure that people know that this is not Lylat Wars, but rather a new take on the world of Starfox tailored specifically for the Nintendo DS.
Subsequently, there are many fans of the series who have complained about the game departing further from its clearly defined gameplay roots, especially after taking into account the last game to grace our screens, Starfox Assault for the Nintendo Gamecube, a title which was a rather hit and miss affair and quite a letdown to fans of the series. Luckily this is not the case for Starfox Command. While, ditching the traditional on the rails shooting action of previous instalments in the series, Commands gameplay focus is specifically on dogfights against opposing ships, with the added twist of some tactical based gameplay.
Far be it from me to spoil the finer points of the game in a simple introduction, but I will say this; Starfox Command is one of the most enjoyable and refreshing titles to grace the Nintendo DS system yet.
Gameplay
From the get go Ill make the point that youre going to be using your stylus an awful lot in this game. Almost every action and manoeuvre is performed on the touch screen, with the only exception being firing your lasers, which is performed simply with the press of any button on the console. Be warned, playing with the stylus does seem a little strange and foreign at first, almost as if the touch screen controls were tacked on for the sake of simply being there.
However, Starfox is a game which does have a bit of a learning curve in this respect and after a while of playing the game the touch controls become second nature to the gamer, and in my personal opinion could even go so far as to be superior to analogue stick controls. As expected, you steer your ship (which isnt necessarily always an Arwing mind you) by sliding the stylus across the screen in the direction you wish to turn. No big secret of course, but the first surprise is seen when you learn how the boost and brake controls have been implemented.
Imagine your touch screen has been split symmetrically with a horizontal line across the middle. Now, tapping the top half of the screen twice in quick succession, keeping the stylus in contact on the second tap activates the ships boost with players now being free to steer their craft, which is now zooming around at breakneck speed. Now if youve cottoned on being the intelligent people that you are, youve probably guessed that repeating the process on the latter, or bottom half of the touch screen causes your ship to do the opposite and brake; too easy. However the most useful manoeuvre in the game has to be the much loved barrel roll. By sliding the stylus quickly side to side, the players ship will enter into a spin and youll Do a barrel roll! This is a trick youll be using rather frequently as it generates a magnetic field, which causes you to become impervious to enemy fire.
To be blunt those are probably the most difficult actions to perform in the game and to be honest they really arent. Lastly, there are the loop the loop and u-turn actions that can be performed simply by tapping the relevant icon to the left and right of you map on the touch screen, each of which is useful in a dogfight against a rival ship. Yes, you do get a pretty little map on the touch screen as well, which is also used for placing bombs that are set by dragging a B icon from the top right hand corner of the touch screen and dropping it anywhere on the map to engulf enemies within the shown radius.
All the controls are simple and easy to remember, and after getting over the initial scare factor of the stylus controls any gamer will feel right at home, but on to the way the game itself is played. In similar fashion to its predecessors, Starfox Command lets you travel all over the Lylat system taking on foes on different planets and environments. Command also allows you to choose your own path through the game, which is how the player in question can arrive at one of nine different endings depending on the choices they make.
Players have to play through the basic story once first however before they can head off to unlock the alternative endings. To begin with youre only blessed with the company of little foxy and everyones favourite robot, Rob 64. Dont worry though, hell soon meet up with his fellow wingmen, but who they are is anyones guess.
One unique thing about command is that you gain control of a party of ships throughout your adventure that changes depending on the pathway you select, which includes old favourites and rivals. Perhaps youre confused about the concept of controlling up to four ships at once, but this is where the strategy side of Starfox Command is employed. Upon the beginning of a mission, your fighters, whatever they are, are deployed from the Great Fox. The player is given an overhead view of a map of sorts, some of which may be obstructed by fog of war.
Now the objective in most missions is to eradicate all enemies, which basically involves sending out your fighters to charter the unknown and napalm any silly bugger who gets in your way. The gameplay is divided up into turns, and upon the beginning of each turn the player has the opportunity to clear some fog of war that may be restricting your vision and to draw a pathway for your fighter units to take. They can only move a set distance per turn depending on how much fuel they have. Once your turn has ended your ships will move off and if any of their flight paths cross with an enemys a battle will ensue at the end of the turn.
Once youve destroyed all your foes the next turn will start. You only have a limited number of turns to progress, however recapturing enemy bases can increase this. The premise is the same as engaging enemy fighters where you simply draw your flight path so that you fly into the base, fight the battle and win. Allied bases can be used to refuel your own ships and increase your flight distance plus you earn a 2 turn bonus for liberating it. Some enemy bases also release fighters or missiles, so getting them back has another side of advantages.
However, you have to be careful. If a fighter or missile gets to the Great Fox, shes a goner and your mission will fail, hence the new strategic focus. Balance between defence, exploration and attack is necessary, as the player can pick up all sorts of useful doodads in their flight path such as long ranges missiles to shoot down fighters without having to bother with a battle. The strategy is a new element that, while being simple, is also a lot of fun, and gives a fresh outlook on the way you play the game.
Of course the main focus of the gameplay will always be on the flying and dogfight battles. Basically, the units you run into throughout the course of your adventure will vary in type and number, and theres literally a huge variation in the types of enemy fighters youll face. Some enemies will attack in huge swarms; others will impede your way with explosions and the like while there are some that will just take an awful lot of shooting to kill. Just so you know bosses of gargantuan proportions make a welcome return.
Every time a new enemy is encountered, half the fun is finding its weakness and devising the best strategy to defeat it. Besides from that however, at the start of each battle you are shown a screen of your target enemy with a counter indicating the magnitude of the enemy forces. This will be the foe you encountered on the map and you must destroy all of these enemies and collect special items known as cores that are dropped as pickups in order to win the battle and advance. However, other enemies will try to hinder your way, and whilst destroying them is not essential, making them eat laser fire can help further your cause. Each battle also has a time limit, and you will lose if this reaches zero at any one time.
Players can obtain pickups by flying through supply rings or for every 5 enemies defeated. These pickups range from golden repair rings to regain health to extra bombs and time bonuses. Pickups are one way in which players can increase their battle time, the other bring deflecting enemy fire with the barrel roll manoeuvre, with a small bonus gained for each reflected shot. At the end of each battle players are also given a time bonus based on how many enemies they defeated, so within a battle you can either defeat your target foes for a quick victory or wipe out all enemies in the field in a bid to collect some bonuses. Its your choice of strategy.
Of course players have be careful not to overexert themselves, as boosting, braking and rolling are all controlled by a meter in the upper right corner of the action screen, and executing the aforementioned actions is impossible if this meter is empty, so while boosting can allow quicker completion of missions, abuse of it can mean that not enough meter power is left to perform the defensive roll, leaving your ship open to be damaged. Fighting style can also depend on the ships you have at your disposal. Different machines vary in their laser type, target lock, bomb capacity, shield capacity and boost capacity. Some are high powered but slow moving, others quick and nimble but lacking defence.
Its up to you to formulate your strategies around these attributes and experiment with what works and what doesnt, and send specific fighters to tackle and exploit a foes weakness. All in all, Starfox Command offers an expansive adventure with plenty of replay value, so much so that there isnt really much more you can ask for.
Graphics
Starfox Commands visuals are nothing to scoff at. Youll be amazed at how well classic ships like the Arwing and the Wolfen are rendered in real time during the battles, which is where most of the visuals are centred. The varied environments of the different planets youll visit are also quite nice looking and battling in locations such as the underwater world of Aquas, or the freezing glaciers of Fichina is a real treat.
Starfox Command is visually everything that you could possibly expect. In some ways the environments are a little basic, but for most of the time you wont be flying too close to the ground to appreciate it too much. Occasionally there may be slight evidence of slowdown on the screen in rare cases, for the most part its all smooth flying.
Sound
On the whole, most of the sound isnt all that varied, but there are some nice theme tunes in the mix to accompany the pilots as their theme music. On the whole it isnt anything too out of the ordinary, and a bit of disappointment comes from the fact that the original Starfox theme that we all know and love is actually absent from the game. Sound effects are also not too far off the mark, as theres really not much to deviate from other than the sound of standard laser shots and bomb explosions. The sound is above average; nice and suited to the gameplay, but lacking any real epic feel.
Replayability/Lastability
Starfox Commands expansive single player campaign alone is enough to justify purchase of this title based on replay value. The many different paths and options throughout the journey just give going back and completing the whole thing over again that little bit more of an incentive, although to some this could prove to be a little bit of a chore for the less patient, as youll have to repeat several missions over to see all the endings. Stage select has also been added to options so that you can replay any one level youve finished it in the main story.
Starfox Command is also a Wi-Fi Connection title, and it could be one of the best yet. Whilst not having a lobby system like Metroid Prime Hunters, the game offers a number of different online play options such as being able to choose the number of players to battle against. In contrast to Metroid the game is also a title that is much easier to pick up and play for multi despite having to get used to the stylus controls. Multiplayer simply consists of a dogfight between 4 people online, or up to 6 on multiplayer wireless via single card downloads.
This is without a doubt my favourite WFC title so far and full to the brim with content.
Final thoughts
Get your head around the fact that this is not Lylat Wars, but rather something new and different, and most gamers will discover that Starfox Command is a game whose fun factor does not disappoint. Apart from an apparent learning curve the gameplay is completely sound and well refined. While the sound is a slight bother, youll be too busy gunning down the enemy to care and the visuals are everything you could ask of the Nintendo DS.
Try it out and you wont be disappointed. Starfox is worth of any gamers attention and proves more than anything else that fun factor is most important of all. An amicable purchase and one of the must have titles of this gaming season.
