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Fox McCloud is done fooling around with Zelda-esque adventures and third-person shooters. He's hopping into his faithful Arwing full-time, and he's putting the band back together! It's been almost a decade, big guy; we were starting to think you had rabies or something.

Wingin' It

A DS game is not a DS game without reinventing itself to take advantage of all the zany things the hardware can do, and Star Fox Command is no different. As with most DS transplants, some things work and some don't. Thankfully, the bulk of the control is pretty intuitive. It may take a while to get accustomed to piloting your ship using the stylus but, like the FPS control in Metroid Prime: Hunters, it becomes second nature before you can say, "Star Fox on space rocks wears socks bearing clocks."

Swipe back and forth to do fancy barrel rolls, while U-turns, Tom Cruise loops, and bomb planting require hitting applicable sections of the touch screen. For firing, any button will do. The steering does struggle on tight-angled turns and lacks speed control, but all in all it's a fine way to pilot.

The Gang's All Here

The only thing missing from this motley crew is Nikki Sixx overdosing, almost dying, then returning to the party. Slippy, Falco and friends return, along with plenty of new pilots -- many of which are (gasp) female. It only makes sense: You can't have a group called Star Fox without a few stone-cold foxes. Everyone has their own unique ship, and there are several weapon configurations that may have you favoring one critter over another.

Star Fox Command borrows from strategy board games with its flow. While plotting your course is a nice way to let your guns cool down while your brain heats up, it's a take-it or leave-it sort of feature. Bringing it down is an annoying cloud of fog that covers some maps -- requiring you to drag the stylus around to catch a glimpse of what lies beneath. This is one of those DS exploitations that doesn't work so well. The actual combat is as sly and as swift as you would hope, however. You get lots of enemies to blast with the ability to either go for main baddies or exterminate the whole lot, as well as aerodynamic and aesthetically pleasing graphics.

Command Performance

The sole fact that Star Fox Command is entirely about dogfighting is enough to make fans of the series rejoice. The action is intense; single-player is packed with replay; and the controls will quickly grow on you like a tick on a dog. Though multiplayer is as predictable as a bologna sandwich and it's a little too save-scarce for being a portable title, Star Fox Command nonetheless asserts itself as a DS top gun. 

Article by: Justin Leeper
Video produced by: Tim Jennings