VG REVIEW: Star Fox Command

“STAR FOX COMMAND” Nintendo, for Nintendo DS rated E 10+ for ages 10 and up (mild fantasy violence), $34.99.

They’ve taken him to dinosaur planets and had him driving tanks, but Nintendo’s little fox mascot works best when he’s blasting nasty aliens in tricked-out spaceships.

How fortunate then that Star Fox’s first adventure for the DS, “Star Fox Command,” puts him once again in the pilot’s seat.

The exact plot of the game isn’t terribly important. Suffice it to say there is an evil menace threatening the solar system, and it’s up to Star Fox and his team to make sure good triumphs.

While the plot might be standard video-game fare, the controls are unique, at least compared with past “Star Fox” titles. Here, you control Fox’s ship via the DS touch screen: Moving the stylus up, down and around pilots the craft in the same direction. You fire by pressing the D-pad.

It sounds a bit forced, but actually it proves to be a rather intuitive control system and quickly became second nature for me.

In between dogfighting sequences (often involving some odd-looking spacecraft), you move your fighters around on a gridlike map that resembles the kind used in turn-based strategy games such as “Advance Wars.”

These sequences help you protect your main ship as well as take care of any potential problems early on, such as missiles fired by enemy outposts.

The missile sections, where you have to fly through a series of beacons, might be the most irritating part, as the difficulty level is set quite high here.

“Command” also makes good use of the DS’ networking capabilities, as six players can join in on one game through a local wireless network or go on the Net for four-player matches.

Overall this is a solid entry in the “Star Fox” series that features strong controls and adds an enjoyable layer of strategy to the mix. The more inclined you are to these sorts of space shooter games, the more you’ll like “Star Fox Command.”



Copyright The Patriot-News, 2006