Star Fox Command

StarFox is an oddity amongst the Nintendo roster of franchises. The first game, introduced on the SNES, ushered in an era of 3D on home consoles as well as the cutting-edge polygon rendering SFX chip (yes, it’s hard to imagine but Nintendo did 3D first!). StarFox had one memorable sequel with StarFox 64, but subsequent sequels were farmed out to third party studios with predictably poor results. Rares’ rendition of StarFox Adventures was an action-adventure Zelda clone that nearly did away with the flight shooting action, and Namco’s StarFox Assault received a mediocre reception at best. With this in mind, is there any hope in Q-Games’ StarFox Command? Quite a lot, actually. StarFox Command not only beautifully captures the style and tone of the original, but also pushes the series onto brave new ground: turn-based strategy. Fox, it would seem, may redeem himself and emerge as one of Nintendo’s favorite sons.

Anyone familiar with the series will quickly grasp the customary setting: the Lylat solar system is being overrun by a hostile force. This time it is not the Andross, but instead an aquatic race known as the Anglars from the planet Venom. The plot is not too much in focus, as is typical for a Nintendo game, however StarFox Command does pay unusually strict attention to the events that preceded it (Zelda and Mario, for instance, have no such continuity: each game stands as an adventure all its own with only the barest of threads linking previous titles together). Command starts with a prologue summing up the trajectories of each character introduced in the various sequels of the original and I must say that it is refreshing to see proper homage paid to the past no matter how silly or archetypal the stories may have been. This prologue is also helpful to gameplay, as you will be required to eventually hook-up with your primary crew and all these ancillary characters from the past (along with a handful of new characters to boot). What I found amazing is that, with the exception of Peppy, the new Cornerian General, every one of these sixteen characters is playable and comes with their own unique vehicle! To have this much variety in an action shooter is remarkable. These characters and their fighters differentiate on several factors including shield strength, boosting strength, bomb capacity, and primary weapon type. As such, how you deploy each of the characters available to you requires a surprising amount of forethought, thus deepening the experience. In other words, you have to strategize, and the introduction of turn-based strategy gameplay in StarFox Command is a dramatic and fantastic new addition setting this game far apart from its predecessors.

The turn-based portions of StarFox Command are more than just dressing, they are the foundation from which the traditional shooting action is launched. Each mission, represented by a different planet or sector of space in the Lylat system, begins with a top down map of the area on the touch screen. It is from here that you deploy your fighters across the map to intercept enemy squadrons. Once your fighters do intercept a squadron or base, you then enter into free flight combat with a mission completed by destroying all enemy bases/squadrons. This simple description belies a truly impressive level of complexity. Each fighter only has a limited amount of fuel from which you can draw a flight path towards you goal, so you’re going to have to prioritize where you send your fighters each turn. The Great Fox, functioning as your base, must be protected; should a missile or enemy squadron reach it---game over. Further complicating how you should proceed are areas of the map concealed by the “fog of war,” thus concealing any enemy units or bases. Plotting paths wisely and thinking ahead is key as you only have a limited amount of turns to completely rout the enemy. Bases, should you clear one, will give you more turns, but more pressing issues such as eliminating squadrons or missiles before they reach the Great Fox may prevent you from reaching them. Suffice to say, there’s more than enough to keep you thinking, and this description touches upon only the basic aspects!

The stylus and touch screen come into excellent use during the turn-based strategy portions. Drawing flight paths is accomplished by simply dragging the stylus from your ship to you destination, with the path terminating at the limit of your fuel. You are also able to reveal more of the landscape and enemy positions by using the stylus and touch screen to “scrub away” the fog of war. Should the Great Fox acquire missiles during a mission, you can take out enemy squadrons by touching the Great Fox and dragging the stylus over to the squadron you wish to strike; simply lift the stylus from the screen, the missile launches and the squadron is completely eliminated. Furthermore, every single active object on screen can be tapped by the stylus with detailed information on the object appearing in the top screen. Tap one of your fighters and the top screen details shield strength, amount of bombs, weapon type, and so on. Tap an enemy squadron to see the primary enemy type you need to destroy, its shield strength and weapon strength. Tap an enemy controlled base and it will advise you on how many turns before a missile or another enemy squadron will launch. The implementation of these touch screen features is neither gimmicky nor hastily produced. In fact, the touch screen features are brilliantly executed and are quite necessary in making the whole game function well.

Once you have engaged a base or enemy fighter, the game segues into the traditional flight combat the series is known for bringing to life. Flight is silky smooth with your fighter nimbly navigating the skies and avoiding trouble with grace. Here, too, the stylus manipulates the game with great success. Performing a barrel roll, which will deflect incoming fire, is done by rapidly swiping the stylus left to right and back again in short strokes. Boosting is accomplished by double tapping the top of the screen; braking by double tapping the bottom. The touch screen displays a complete radar map of enemies with separate buttons to perform loops and u-turns. There is also a bomb icon that, when dragged onto any position on the radar map, will cause a bomb to drop on that particular area. Lastly, firing your main weapon is accomplished with any of the DS’s buttons. On paper, it all seems very cluttered, but in practice it is very well executed. There is rarely a moment when confusion ensues, it is all surprisingly intuitive and very responsive.

Thematically, the turn-based strategy and flight action fit together well; it is all part of a military motif. But these are two very different kinds of gameplay. Even so, they never feel clumsily lumped one onto the other. The flight combat helps considerably in this regard by introducing subtle gameplay mechanics that carry over into the strategy portion. For instance, you have a limited amount of time to take down a base or squadron, a limit that persists in each subsequent battle. Clearly, this motivates you to destroy the enemy as quickly as possible! However, it is possible to add seconds to your time limit by picking up fuel cells or using barrel rolls to deflect enemy shots and thereby adding more time to the clock. Furthermore, although you’re only required to destroy certain enemies in a squadron, by taking out all enemies you earn the Great Fox a missile which can then be used during the turn-based segment. The game gives you choice, and keeps you thinking ahead even in the heat of battle. While seemingly juxtaposed, like smashing a square peg into a circle, these disparate gameplay styles have been cleverly woven into one completely coherent package.

The icing on the cake is a considerably lengthy adventure, at least for this type of game. While an initial play-through is quite short (a few hours or so at most), there are a total of nine different endings to discover. The story unfolds like a choose-your-own adventure novel, periodically giving you the choice of what action or path any particular character may take. It is in this way that you’ll traverse across all the different areas in the Lylat system, each with their own distinct look and feel, and discover all of the endings. You’ll also occasionally get a welcome surprise here and there with some traditional boss battles that you’ll only find by exploring every possible avenue. It would have been nice if there was some more guidance as to which paths will lead you to new levels/endings; I’ve mistakenly repeated story lines I’d already completed. Regardless, you will be motivated to finish many of them as there is a convenient and very welcome gallery section that stores each completed storyline as well as a biography of each discovered character.

It is also a very good-looking game for the DS. There are many vibrant environmental effects, such as for planets or patches of space, that adds to the trill of gameplay. I only wish more DS games would take a cue from StarFox Command and try to wow the gamer not just with gameplay, but with graphics as well.

Completing the package is a Wi-Fi enabled multiplayer mode. You can play either ranked or unranked matches. Unranked allows you to play against anywhere from one opponent to three. Ranked matches restrict to playing against three opponents---no less. Ranked matches also record how many wins you’ve tallied and, of course, your ranking from Z to A. In most cases it takes some time to get connected with the maximum amount of players, but once the match starts the action is pretty frenzied and stable to boot. However, with only Deathmatch available, there is not much to it; it is just there and it works. Regardless, the multiplayer is a welcome addition, worthy of a mild distraction from time to time.

Having said all this, the game is not without its flaws. During the strategy portions there are too many “chase the missile” scenarios, and until you learn the trick to beat ‘em, they become quickly tedious. During flight combat, there are times when the stylus controls do become mildly frustrating. For instance, when moving your ship from left to right or vice versa, you may inadvertently enter into a barrel roll. Speaking of the barrel roll, it’s relied on a little too much; you’re going to have to perform it over and over again to keep yourself from getting whacked. On a few occasions, I have also accidentally dropped a bomb onto the playing field, thereby wasting it. Furthermore, as is typical for any DS game that makes abundant use of the stylus, finding a comfortable position to simply grasp the DS with one hand and use the stylus with the other is difficult. Perhaps most notable of the drawbacks is the fact that there are no “on-rails” flight levels; every combat sequence takes place in a free-flight arena. I miss the kind of thrills that the on-rails levels and their scripted events can deliver, and those who are fans of the series will likely feel the same. The levels do have some sparse attempts at introducing scripted obstacles (such as pillars bursting from the ground directly in front of you) but not nearly enough. Despite these drawbacks, which are mostly nitpicking, what is great vastly outweighs the not so great.