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Stunning Handheld Gaming at Your Command

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 66 / 69
Date: August 29, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The Nintendo DS has enjoyed much success lately. Star Fox Command joins the ranks of being one of Nintendo's better DS games out there. It has a couple of misses, but it excels heavily in the places where it counts. Star Fox Command is a fantastic handheld gaming experience.

The Star Fox team, after defeating Andross, has disbanded. Soon afterwards, a new threat known as the Anglar has emerged. It's up to Fox McCloud to deal with these foes, and there's no way he can go at it alone. When you first go through the game, there's not really a whole lot you can do, and the story doesn't seem very satisfying. In fact, the first time through the game the path you go is completely set for you. The standard storyline is pretty short and easy. The good news is once you complete the standard story you can choose different paths to take, and uncover several different endings in the process. Each character has his/her own storyline. In short, the game will keep you busy for a while.

Star Fox Command definitely sports some fantastic graphics. Perhaps even some of the best the DS has seen. There's no slowdown, and the character models and storyboards are fantastically detailed. It's far superior to Star Fox 64. The graphics are just one of the high points of Star Fox Command.

One of the high points of Star Fox Command is the gameplay. While in the past Star Fox has pretty much been your standard flight/shooter. Before it was to kill everything in sight. Now the gameplay has taken on a more strategic feel. Just about everything you do is done on the touch screen for the game. At first it feels a little strange, but the execution is straight on. You'll have to plot out your ships courses and then fly to them.

This isn't to say you won't be doing any aerial combat. The game has a map mode and a battle mode. When in battle mode it's basically the same as all-range mode on Star Fox 64. This will mostly be used to battle bosses and shoot down enemies. From time to time you'll have to do a "chase" mission. In these mission you'll have to fulfill special tasks, such as shooting down a missile. The only thing the touch screen isn't used for is to shoot. You'll use the face buttons (or directional buttons) for that. Other than that, all your flying mechanics take place on the touch screen.

There are plenty of things to beware in a mission, however. The objective is mainly just to kill all the bad guys, but there are plenty of ways you can lose. If the Great Fox is destroyed, or the time runs out, or you lose all your spare pilots, the game is over. It may seem like a lot at first, but most of the areas to fight your missions in are pretty small, and it's not so hard to deal with everything going on at once. Of all these assets that could cause you to lose a mission, the only one to pay any real attention to is making sure the Great Fox doesn't get destroyed.

Star Fox also has multiplayer. Up to six people can play off of one card. Or you can go online and battle with three other people. Multiplayer drops the strategic ploy, though and instead pits you in aerial combat against your friends (or online opponents). Multiplayer basically consists of you shooting down your opponents and collecting the stars they drop. It's on a time limit, though, so you have to work fast. When the time runs out, the one with the most stars at the end wins. Multiplayer is a blast, but there really should've been a lot more of it to go around. There really aren't enough modes.

There's no voice acting in Star Fox Command. It's mostly the gibberish you heard in the original Star Fox on your SNES. However, the game does allow you to record your voice using the DS's microphone. You can say a few things into your DS microphone and Fox, while in combat, will say these things in your tone of voice. It's really cool, but doesn't really enhance the gameplay any at all. It's just a neat little gimmick.

Star Fox Command is a great game. It has a couple of short-commings, but for the most part, it's a great gaming experience. Star Fox fans should be pleased at the new strategic direction of the game, and the intuitive gameplay.

On the Positive Side

+The game looks absolutely gorgeous
+The strategic gameplay is fairly addictive
+The touch screen controls are great
+Extras after you complete the main storyline
+Different scenarios
+Recording your own voice is pretty cool
+There's Multiplayer

On the Negative side
-The main storyline is rather short
-The game is also rather easy
-Multiplayer is fun, but severely limited
-Even though it's really nice to record your own voice, it's rather sad that the characters don't have real voices, and instead have the same gibberish used in the original Star Fox

Third strike, Starfox is out

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 58
Date: August 31, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Adventures was garbage, Assault was even worse, and now Starfox hits rock bottom with Command.

After hearing the horrid voice acting in Assault, I *thought* Nintendo would do better. No. Now there's no voices at all. After the copyright-infringement worthy "plot" of Assault, I figured someone at Nintendo would spent more than 5 minutes thinking up a decent story. No again. Not only is the plot laughable (Andross is back, more stupid bugs, characters coming out of nowhere) but its even worse than Assault's. They've turned Starfox into something far less than an 80's Saturday morning cartoon now... I'm not asking for much, just for Fox to act like he's over 13, and maybe for everyone else to actually serve a purpose... Speaking of worthless characters, now Slippy's got a girlfriend and Peppy a daughter. And when I thought it couldn't possibly get worse, I learn in the opening that Krystal and Fox have seperated "because of danger." What garbage, I suppose Nintendo never will understand that all those kids that were playing Mario in the 80's are adults now. That's why Sony and Microsoft are killing them in sales right now...

Better than the last two, but nowhere near as good as StarFox 64 or the original.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 10
Date: September 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Team StarFox makes its debut onto a handheld console, and FINALLY returns to the series' flight combat roots. Sounds like a good deal, right? Well don't get too overexcited, because while StarFox Command for the incredible Nintendo DS is a decent game, it has many major flaws.

Command is strictly a flight combat game, and it's about time. In fact, you never leave your Arwing, even when you're underwater! However, as indicated by the title, the game adds a new tactical element to the experience. You have a number of turns in which to clear out all the enemies in each mission. To do this, you must draw flight plans on the touch screen for all your fighters. You determine when and where your ships will encounter the enemy. Also, Fox and friends must face an enemy that is completely new to the series: the clock! You have a limited amount of time to complete each skirmish or you will run out of fuel. But don't get too concerned, about the only points in the game where that becomes a real issue is during the dogfights on Planet Venom. All in all, the tactical system is actually really neat, and adds a strong element of strategy to the game. You really feel like you're in command.

Also, for the first time in the series you get to play as other characters! For anyone who's ever wanted to play as Falco, or even the Star Wolf team, now's your chance. This is a very nice addition to the series.

However, as I said, the game suffers from some very major flaws. First and foremost of which is the control scheme, which is unbelievably terrible. The entire game is controlled from the touch screen. All of the buttons fire your lasers, and you steer your ship with the stylus. Sounds intriguing, but it was implemented awfully. The controls are incredibly unresponsive. When it comes to piloting your ship it either barely turns or jerks so severly that you end up out of control. And since there is no option to adjust the sensitivity of the touch screen, you're stuck with that. To boost or brake you double tap the top or bottom of the screen, however it rarely responds. And to use your bombs you have to drag one from the side of the touch screen and drop it onto the radar display which makes up the majority of the screen. However the radar is INCREDIBLY inaccurate, and even if you manage to find the target you want the bombs detonate so painfully slowly that nine times out of ten you end up missing the enemy you were trying to hit. This makes your bombs, for all intents and purposes, completely useless. Don't like those controls? Tough, because you're forced to use them. There's no option to change control styles. This is by far the worst thing about the game.

Also, all of the combat is, to use StarFox 64 terminology, in all-range mode. Every fight takes place in a square area of varying size in which ALL YOU DO is fly in circles trying to find the specific enemy you need to destroy. There are no classic rail-riding shooting levels that defined the original games. Which makes this game VERY repetetive.

All in all, StarFox Command is a fairly decent game. The graphics are beautiful, and with multiple pathways and nine different endings to unlock it definitely has a lot to keep you coming back for more (if you so desire, that is). It is much better than the last two games - although since Dinosaur Planet wasn't even a real StarFox game and Assault was just atrocious, that's not really saying much.

Ultimately, Command is decently entertaining, but those of us who have been waiting all these years for a worthy sequel to StarFox 64 will just have to keep on waiting.

Fantastic single player; lackluster multiplayer - Feels like a rushed title

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: September 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

3 1/2 Stars

This is actually the first Star Fox game I've ever played. I just wasn't into flight games when I was younger.

I was excited to get this game for the multiplayer dogfights. But it turns out I was hoping for too much. To me, it seems like the multiplay was an afterthought (the opposite of Metroid PH where the multiplay is strong but the single player campaign is weak). The game doesn't include any settings to change besides shield strength and controls; no time limit options, level select, CPU vs., or teams. Just 2 - 6 player fights, which is still fun, but a letdown.

However, the single player game is really great. Drawing a path to determine battles adds some nice strategy elements. But the real fun is in the battles themselves which are never too challenging, but not exactly a walk in the park. You get to use many different characters also (including members of Star Wolf), which is fantastic because they each have their distinct strengths and weaknesses. The touch screen controls are intuitive and work well. The game is beautiful. The mountain landscapes you fly over are impressive graphically. And the story is serviceable.

In all, I can't help but feel like this game was rushed to be released. It's certainly a nice start for the series on the DS. I'd like to see a sequel so that they can offer a robust multiplayer mode and maybe co-op play. This game could have been so much more, but as it is now, it's a fun and solid game worth the lower $29.99 price (especially with the nine different endings which add lots of replay value).

Fox McCloud is back in the pilot's seat!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: September 06, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Star Fox is a franchise that's had a few ups and downs since the classic N64 rail shooter. It seems like everyone wants to take the series in a new direction instead of looking at what made the series good in the first place. Star Fox Command, the first installment of the series for Nintendo's DS handheld is definitely a step in the right direction, returning to the game's spaceship shooting roots.

Gameplay:

Unlike 64 and the original game, Star Fox command does not take place "on-rails" but rather like the cancelled SNES game Star Fox 2 and 64's "all range mode" the game takes place in 3D arenas giving you full control of your ship. You are charged with destroying a certain amount of a particular enemy, though you're rewarded for killing off everything on the map and the game is far more satisfying if you do this though you're on a timer and must make strategic use of your limited seconds. Though most of the enemies exibit crude AI, occasionally you'll be engaged in more intense dog fights with smarter foes like the venerable Team Star Wolf.

Between these flight segments is a strategy mode where you draw flight paths for your fighters or use missiles stored in the Great Fox, your base ship, to obliterate enemy squadrons without having to put up a fight. In the strategy map part of the game you must track down and liberate captured bases by destroying the enemy mother ships as well as prevent enemy missiles and enemy squadrons from reaching the Great Fox and ending the game. You also have a limited number of turns which are increased by re-taking bases and they've thrown in a "fog of war" element that hides your enemies which you can scratch away with the stylus. The strategy part of the game isn't very tricky or deep but it adds an interesting element that can be expanded upon in future games. After every other mission you'll find yourself in a boss fight, most of the bosses are fairly easy to defeat and not as classic as foes you've faced in earlier Star Fox games.

The stylus-only control scheme works very well and feels natural. It will probably be one of the things that keeps you coming back to the game just to soar through missions with your stylus. Every character has their own unique ship which also adds to the game considerably, from Fox's sleek Arwing II to Slippy's heavily armed and armored Bullfrog. A lot of familiar faces are brought back from Star Fox 64 and a few new ones are introduced.

The game can become repetitive, but the gameplay itself is so satisfying that it rarely becomes a chore. This is good since the game requires you to play through multiple times, which brings us to...

Story:

The story is fairly interesting and different from standard Nintendo storylines. The plot is heavy with heartbreak and melodrama, at the beginning of the game Team Star Fox has broken up again and Fox has also done some breaking up with Krystal, the blue vixen introduced in Star Fox Adventure. The first play-through of the game will leave you scratching your head at the ease, lousy ending, and incredibly short length though you'll soon find out that the game has just begun. The story branches off into nine different endings forcing you to blast through around thirty or so unique missions until you've seen everything there is to see. Many of the endings are dramatic and even depressing and the story telling and characterization in the game is generally good. Luckily, as you play through from beginning to end again and again the first mission or two will become more difficult to accommodate your increasing skills.

Graphics:

Definitely one of the prettiest games on the DS and perhaps even an improvement over Star Fox 64. The environments are lush and interesting, your fighters and your enemies are very detailed and well rendered. Despite all this you'll rarely to never experience any slowdown. The graphics along with the control scheme are another high point of this title.

Sound: Most of the sound effects are classic Star Fox which is good. Voice acting from the previous titles has been replaced with the gibberish from the original SNES game which can get annoying however an option is included to record your own voice and let the game chop it into gibberish. This is entertaining and abusable.

The music is fitting and well composed with each pilot having their own unique theme song when you enter battle using them.

Multiplayer/Online:

The game's WiFi mode was meant to be one of its biggest selling points but generally it's one of the most disappointing parts of the game. If someone drops from a match, it ends the game for everyone while not adding any points you've earned to your record. Also with the wealth of vessels to choose from you are only allowed to use the Arwing II in multiplayer, apparently the developers feared the balance issues seen in Metroid Prime Hunter's multiplayer mode though the lack of variety causes multiplayer to become stale very quickly. At least a few other modes besides free for all dogfight would have been appreciated.

Overall:

Star Fox Command runs the risk of becoming repetitive with its gameplay formula and some players will be upset about the lack of on-rails shooter levels though this is the closest Star Fox has come to being its old self since the N64 days and that being said it's probably the best recent game in the franchise. Though the multiplayer mode is a bit of a miss the single player is still an engaging experience and also a very long one by hand-held standards by the time you achieve all nine endings. The storyline is more than worth the play time as well, not to mention the intuitive controls and gorgeous graphics. Star Fox Command is a definite thumbs up for the DS and here's to hoping for an improved sequel for the DS or even the Wii.

A serious review from a serious gamer

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: September 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I was really not expecting too much from this game because of the last two star fox failures, but I was pleasantly surprised. This game definitely gives you more of the good old Star Fox 64 feel.

Story:

The story is definitely sub par in certain places, but the multiple endings make up for it. I found a few endings that I thought were clever, so hats off to nintendo. It definitely could use some improvement in this area, but at least it isn't as bad as the last two. The multiple ending element gives the game a lot of replay value. 3.5/5

Gameplay:

Stylus Contorls- While it does take some getting used to this is actually a pro and not a con. It provides you with smooth fluid movement over your ship, and is very easy after you get the hang of it.

Fighting- All of the fighting takes place in all range mode, which is a little disappointing, but doesn't take away too much from the game. In each fight you have to destroy a set amount of a paticular enemy. If you destroy all the enemies in the area you can get nice little bonuses. There is a time element to each fight, but because of powerups which give you more time, killing all the enemies in one area is a piece of cake and definitely worth the effort. The fights are normally incredibly easy, but you will run into a few that will give you some difficulty (like most of the boss fights). The bomb system requires you to drag the bomb from the side of the screen and on to the radar. The only downside to this is that it distracts you from flying while you're doing it. The bombs are incredibly useful when you have to kill a large number of weak enemies, but they're useless in dog fights and in some boss fights. Overall I approve of the new bomb system.

Strategic Element- This is what the put the "Command" in Star Fox Command. You get to set flight paths on the map for you different fighters, so you control which enemies they engage. Be sure you know all of your different fighters strengths and weaknesses because some fights will be easier for a character like fox, and others might be easier for a character like slippy. The Fog of War element makes it so your enemies can hide behind a purlple fog, while you have to scratch away at it on the map to reveal their location. This makes it so you have to be very careful of where you move. If any enemies get past you and make it to the Great Fox you lose. Of course, the Great Fox isn't completely defenseless. It can fire missles at any visible enemies on the map, which can make your job a WHOLE lot easier. The new strategic element adds a lot, and is quite enjoyable. Hopefully it will be expanded on in future Star Fox games.

My favorite part of the gameplay are the many unique characters you get to control along the way. Have you ever wanted to fly as Wolf O'Donnel or Falco? Well in Star Fox Command you get that option, and with each ship having its own unique look and abilities it is definitely a plus to this game. Overall I give the gameplay a 4.5/5

Graphics:

Personally I think it looks better than Star Fox 64. 5/5

Sound:

The voice acting has been replaced, and the gibberish from the SNES has returned, but it is tolerable. The music was satisfying, and the voice recording option is nice. It makes the gibberish far more bearable. 4/5

Multiplayer:

Huge disappointment, but thankfully I wasn't drawn to the game becasuse of its multiplayer. The WiFi mode is hugely limited, and very disappointing. You only get to use Fox's Arwing II, and the only battle mode is free for all dogfight. If a player drops out of the match the game automatically ends and you don't get any of the points added to your record. The online multiplayer gets old very quickly, so do NOT get this game just for the multiplayer aspect. 2/5

Overall:

Pros
Addicting gameplay
Heads back towards the old Star Fox 64 feel
The Stylus controls are very nice
The multiple endings to the game give it a lot of replay value
It looks amazing
You get to record your own voice
The music was well done

Cons
The game can start to get repetitive
The multiplayer is a huge disappointment (but at least it has it)
Lack of voice acting
The game is a little too easy

Overall Rating 4/5

Touch screen NOT a negative point!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: September 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I just thought there might be one big concern (and a few small ones) for almost EVERYONE who was considering buying this game - the touch screen, and how it's used to control nearly every single aspect of the game. Here's the mindset you need: It's gonna be really hard to pull off a really sweet portable flying game. So you get used to the controls, 'cos once you do, you're gonna have a totally awesome flying game in your pocket. And it's not that hard. You get it, and it's worth it - even becomes nearly intuitive.

Graphics - FANTASTIC! IGN and Amazon have some lo-res shots that really didn't convey how beautiful this game is - in fact, in the online screens, the game kinda looks straight-up BAD. Don't be fooled - it's gorgeous.

The story and dialogue - the voice acting, or lack thereof replaced by tweetering and twittering, SUCKS. The dialogue ITSELF, though, is pretty cool - the characters are way more fleshed out than they ever were in the N64 StarFox - Fox's history with Krystal, Flaco's independance and refusal to admit to softer emotions and feelings (that in the N64 game was just a blustery façade), Slippy's insecurity (which was just idiocy in the N64 game), and the dialogue from Star Wolf - it's all way better.

"I hate that frog..."

Just a good game.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: September 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Another solid title for the DS. Controls are very intuitive and fun. Give it a shot!

Fox McCloud is back

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: September 13, 2006
Author: Amazon User

One of Nintendo's lesser known, but nonetheless fun, franchises has now hit the DS too. Star Fox Command returns the series to it's dog-fighting, space shooting roots that made the series such a hit on the Super NES and N64 years ago, by ditching out of the ship platforming and rail based missions in favor of some pretty wide open environments and some innovative features using the touch screen to help pilot your ship. The graphics are some of the best to be seen on the DS so far, despite some polygonal break up here and there, visually the game still packs a punch. The touch screen features are also some of the best of any game to take advantage of on the DS, and the multiple strategic options and braching storylines help make Star Fox Command a winner. The only real drawbacks of Star Fox Command is that it's ultimately too short and may be too easy for some, but the multiplayer modes are fun enough (only needing one DS card to play with others is always something to be happy about), and the WiFi capabilities are a nice touch as well. All in all, while it's not perfect, Star Fox Command is yet another great, first party DS game that further helps sell the dual screened hand held as the best portable system on the market today.

Finally, Star Fox gets back to its roots...more or less.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: September 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Unlike the movies, with a video game franchise the user sometimes wants a sequel to be the old experience enhanced with the new powers of an updated console. With the Gamecube, Nintendo has to do this with StarFox. The Gamecube sequels strayed too far from the core concept of the franchise. Adventures and Assult were both fun games, but I've wanted a real StarFox game for a decade: I want to fly around and blow things up! Is that so wrong? Finally Nintendo has delivered with a sequel that contains nothing but cockpit combat, but the game does have its flaws.

First off, the rail stages are gone and replaced with large free-flight open areas introduced to a limited degree in the N64 game. Back on the N64, I preferred those stages to the ones on rails. The free-range areas were simply more fun, but that doesn't mean that I disliked the rail stages. I think a few rail stages would have spiced up the experience in this game.

Second, the free-flight areas just aren't up to par with the ones on the N64. In that game you sometimes had what seemed like a hundred enemies flying around and it was a blast just flying around enjoying the destruction. In this game the developers introduced an extremely annoying time limit feature that simply spoils the experience. On the DS, these boards are basically have a "get in, get out ASAP" feel that spoils things. I've waited a decade for a StarFox game that will let me fly around blowing things up, and now that I finally have such a game I find that these stages are sometimes completely spoiled by that constantly nagging timer. Imagine that the Arwings are actually cars that can only hold a pint of gasoline and you have to use these cars in a racing game. Since these stages are oftentimes extremely simple and it is sometimes possible to increase the timer during the game, the timer is sometimes non-issue but in those stages with obnoxious enemies that won't die or are impossible to locate, this limitation becomes a real nuisance. The timer limitation adds nothing positive to the experience and doesn't even make any sense. These ships can fly extended distances in the strategy mode but suddenly in combat mode they can only fly a few dozen feet? And if you run out of fuel you suddenly have a full tank again on the next turn of the strategy mode? It's cheap and it's dumb. When I play a game I like to, you know, play the game! If the designers have to make some sort of blatantly obvious timer limitation to increase the player's death count then that just means the actual game isn't challenging enough.

Third, what happened to the character voices? Unlike the Mario franchise that uses some of the worst vocal work I've ever heard, the StarFox vocals actually click. The voices seem to fit their characters perfectly. I was incredibly disappointed to find that the vocal work introduced way back on the N64 were eliminated and replaced with the gibberish vocals used on the ancient SNES. I know there's a lot of dialog in this game and these packs only hold 128MB, but they couldn't squeeze some low-res mono speech? (Oh, sorry Nintendo Marketing Department! I forgot that you prefer using "1 gigabit" because it sounds so much larger) It's more likely Nintendo just didn't want the time and expense of localizing all that content, but surely a Japanese and English version could have been done.

Wow. So much ranting, I really do like the game. Why? Because...

Pros:
(*) Finally! No more missions on foot!

(*) Excellent play control - I was worried, but it works great. I have found complaints about using the stylus to perform the barrel roll to be overblown. It wasn't really an issue for me and when the accidental roll did occur it usually didn't hurt anything. I did find that some fingers on my hand got locked into place an hour or so after starting, but this game is not the play control nightmare that is Metroid Prime Hunters.

(*) Online multiplayer is fun (though I'm usually the one losing!)

(*) The turned-based strategy element works very well and helps mix things up a bit.

(*) Ability to play as different characters. Different characters have different ships, I only wish I could spend more time blasting things with some of those other ships but, you know, that time limit thing....

(*) Big cast of characters. I think nearly everyone from the franchise is shown or referenced in the game and new characters have been added to the mix.

(*) Interesting storyline with multiple endings but how does it really end? How will a sequel pickup on this game? And Slippy's getting married? To a woman? I didn't think he was that kind of frog (Not that there's anything wrong with that)

(*) Supports the rumble pack

Cons:
(*) Short time limits on battles. This is a feature that should have been eliminated.
(*) No vocal work. The ability to record your own voice is a lame replacement and sounds identical to the original gibberish voices to me.
(*) The ships can no longer lose a wing and limp along after an impact. Either the ship is working fine or in the process of being destroyed. I think that weakness of the ships would have been a better way to add challenge than the time limit.
(*) No more powerups to pick up along the way to increase your firepower.
(*) Hit detection is poor when the enemy is in the distance. You can clearly see your weapons going right into the spot with the enemy but it fails to read as a hit.
(*) Stages eventually feel a little monotonous
(*) Most boss characters are too simple - especially the numerous motherships that must be destroyed.
(*) No stages on "rails" scenes like the SNES and N64 versions

Even with its limitations, I definitely recommend this game.

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