Star Fox Command

Plot

Star Fox Command takes place two to three years after the events of Star Fox: Assault, and tells the story of the invasion of the Lylat System by the Anglar, as well as the recently separated Star Fox.

According to the prologue, every member of Star Fox except for R.O.B. 64 and Fox McCloud himself have disbanded from the team. Fox broke off his relationship with Krystal and forced her to leave the team for the sake of her safety. Slippy Toad found amphibian love with a frog named Arwingpedia:Amanda, and Peppy Hare was made the general of the Arwingpedia:Cornerian Army as a result of General Pepper's forced retirement due to illness. Falco Lombardi became somewhat of a loner, and simply drifted from job to job. There are also new characters such as Dash Bowman, who is the grandson of Andross, and for the first time ever [James McCloud]] is also playable during the Dash Makes a Choice level.

Throughout the course of the game, however, the team can reassemble and thwart the Anglar Empire, or take entirely different paths...

Several other characters make playable appearances, such as Wolf O'Donnell, Leon Powalski, and Panther Caroso, who want to remove bounties from their heads, and Katt Monroe, who usually appears when Falco needs a hand. Other familiar, but unplayable, characters are also present, such as Andrew Oikonny, who had joined forces with the Anglars.

Gameplay

Gameplay in Star Fox Command is far more rooted to the styles of Star Fox 64 than Star Fox Assault was. The levels start out with a turn-based movement system similar in style to Advance Wars. Players are marked by Arwings, enemies are marked by red dots, and bases are marked by small building sprites. This is very similar to the map system from Star Fox 2. "Fog of War" covers the field and the player can remove a certain amount of the fog once every turn. A player's flight path must intersect with that of an enemy to engage in battle. After engaging, the battle goes to a fully 3-D "All-Range Mode" stage. Here, the player uses the stylus to move their ship about and perform various maneuvers, while they can use any of the face buttons to fire their main weapons.

Gameplay Modes

The promotional artwork for the Star Fox Command logo.

Star Fox Command has two types of play within the single player game: a strategic map mode and a battle mode. The overworld-like map mode is where the player takes command of several ships. This mode is used to get ships into the battle mode and is essentially a simple turn-based strategy game. Up to four ships can be maneuvered at a time. The object of this mode is to prevent enemy ships from reaching the Great Fox. This mode also allows players to fire missiles from the Great Fox that they have picked up from exploring in this mode, or from meeting certain conditions in the battle mode (usually destroying all enemies). When a craft that is controlled by the player encounters an enemy group or missile in this mode, the gameplay switches to the battle mode. Battle mode is similar to the "all-range mode" employed in Star Fox 64 for some bosses and levels. Like the canceled Star Fox 2, the game is completely all-range as opposed to the "on-rails" levels featured in most other Star Fox games (however, the game will sometimes force the player to engage in classic "chase" missions in order to complete an objective). The usual objectives are to destroy a base ship, destroy all enemies, or collect a number of cores to complete the battle mode. Once the battle mode is completed, the game returns to the map mode.

As players progress through the game, they will be able to choose to go different routes upon completing certain levels. Each route has its own character dialogue to accompany it, and players will be able to visit differing planets depending on what routes they choose. The game features 9 different endings altogether. Players can access all of them by playing the game multiple times, selecting different routes each time. Instead of merely giving different perspectives on what happens to the Star Fox team, each ending is unique — the characters go in various directions depending on what ending is watched.

Star Fox Command does not feature traditional voice acting. Instead it outputs gibberish akin to the "voices" in Star Fox for the SNES, or the "Lylat speech" present in Star Fox (but not Star Fox 64). Players can also record their own voices into the game’s "gibberish generator" using the built-in DS microphone where it is converted into the garbled speech of the various characters.

Multiplayer

Star Fox Command supports 6-player local wireless for multiplayer matches via DS Download Play. Up to four players on the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection are supported. In Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection matches, only the Arwing II is available. Players score not by killing opponents, but by collecting stars from them when they have been destroyed. It is also possible to collect a star from an opponent not killed by the player. This is a modified version of the mode from Star Fox 64.

Power ups

• Twin laser upgrade: Equips player with twin lasers.
• Plasma laser upgrade: Equips player with plasma lasers.
• Time bomb: Gives players a modified smart bomb. When dropped, it leaves a five second countdown visible to others; at its end it explodes.
• Supply ring: Health.
• Stealth: Makes players invisible on screen and radar.

Stages

Stages are randomly selected, and all of them are in single player.

City: City with buildings. Buildings are intangible but cause damage if flown through.

Mountains: A green landscape with canyons and rivers.

Ocean: A flat arena above water, very simple.

Space: A space like arena.

Fichina Mountains: Snowy mountains on the planet Fichina.

Reception

Star Fox Command debuted on the Japanese best seller list as number 14, selling over 20,000 copies on the first day. In the United States, it was the 5th best seller in the first week. Star Fox Command has received mostly favorable reviews. IGN gave it an 8.0, or "Impressive", calling it a "surprisingly rich and faithful action game" that had similar gameplay to Star Fox and Star Fox 64. Star Fox Command received IGN DS's August 2006 Game of the Month Award for capturing "the fun and essence of what made the series so significant. Fox is finally back in the Arwing -- where he belongs, Stylus control is mostly excellent, Strategy elements work well." The Associated Press noted the game for having developed the game to work well with the DS controls, but had mixed feelings about the turn-based sections of gameplay. Electronic Gaming Monthly claimed that while the game has its own charm, it lacks the original gameplay from Star Fox and Star Fox 64 and becomes repetitive. UK website Mansized gave Command a three out of five stars, stating that "Star Fox Command can’t hold a candle to previous games in the series." Command was nominated in three categories in Nintendo Power's annual vote-in awards, although it did not win any of them.