Star Fox Command is a perfect example of a cool game idea that just didn't work out
Star Fox Command takes the series in a very different direction while still retaining some of the features that made the games so fun to play originally. Of course, the biggest departure from the Star Fox norm has to be Star Fox Adventures -- even though it was different, it was still quite fun. Sadly, the same just cannot be said for Command.
Rather than taking the role of an on-rails space shooter, Star Fox Command places an emphasis on strategy. Each mission takes place on a large map. Placed on the map you will see your partners, enemy icons, and power-ups. The members of your current party are all in your control, and the strategy part of the game plays out in a turn-based fashion. When one of your party members has his or her turn, you'll touch his or her icon, and then draw out a path through the map for that character to follow. If one of your allies crosses paths with an enemy, then a battle ensues (more on that later). Numerous important items are scattered throughout the maps, such as time and turn bonuses and health.
Before I move on to the actual combat, there are some problems that already need to be addressed as well as some further explanation that is required. As I've already said, battles are turn-based; the twist here, however, is that there's a very limited number of turns (you never start out with more than four turns). You can collect more turns on the field or in battle, but this mechanic is one that I really don't like. I can see where the developers were going with this: they don't want you to sit around and be lazy with your tactics; in many situations, you're going to have to be smart to win within the time allotted. However, because there's so little time to beat a mission, the course of action is pretty much set in stone and there's not a lot of experimenting you can do.
Going hand-in-hand with the turn limit is the even worse time limit. Each mission is defined by the number of "cores" that you collect from enemies (explanation will follow). You have both a turn limit and a time limit to collect the required number of cores. During the map section, time is irrelevant -- you can draw, redraw, and rethink you strategy for as long as you need to. But once in the battle segments, the clock starts ticking away. Again, time bonuses can be obtained both on the map and in battle, but this is another implementation that just doesn't work. Your times carry over from battle to battle within a particular map. So, for example, if you start a mission with 200 seconds and then spend 30 seconds fighting a battle, you'll only have 170 seconds for all the remaining battles in the mission. It's an annoying addition and it's particularly frustrating to fail a mission just because you ran out of time.
The battle sequences themselves take place in once Star Fox vets will recognize as "All Range Mode". Rather than there being a set path that your ship flies along on, you've got a big open region with tons of enemies, environmental obstacles, and lots of free space to maneuver. Each enemy icon will give you a certain number of cores, but there's a catch; each enemy icon on the map is made up of tons of different types of enemies, and only one specific type will yield any cores (the other will give you small amounts of time, but they're generally not worth dealing with). Of course, the game will tell you which enemy you need to find and destroy, but they're not marked on the map. It can get pretty annoying when you're flying around, wasting time looking for the last two of a certain enemy to obtain the cores required to complete the battle.
One aspect of Star Fox Command that many critics and gamers alike have complained about is the title's controls; frankly, however, I see no problem. If anything, the touch controls of Command are one of the game's high points. You'll keep the stylus on the screen most of the time, and you guide your ship by dragging the stylus around. For example, if you want to fly up, simply drag the stylus up. Turning is done the same way, and it feels sharp and intuitive. Barrel-rolling is a simple matter of rubbing back and forth across the screen horizontally a few times, and boosting and braking are done via double taps of the top of the touch screen and the bottom of the touch screen, respectively. There are special icons on the touch screen for somersaults and u-turns, so you don't have to worry about inputs for these actions. Firing is the only action that is done with the buttons -- any button you press will fire your ships guns. Overall it's a well-conceived control scheme that's fun to play with and easy to get used to.
The shooting mechanics in Star Fox Command are one of the few things that haven't changed much from the original. You've got your target reticule and mashing on the fire button is generally the best way to take down an enemy. However, this time around, there are differences between guns. The plasma shot is very powerful but you can't lock on to enemies with it; the regular laser is less useful but locking onto elusive enemies can be really helpful. There's also the addition of multi-lock lasers, which can target multiple enemies at a time -- a real help when you've got a large party of enemies. Bombs also make a return, but to use them you simply grab a bomb from the margin of the touch screen and drag and drop where you'd like to deploy it. Each character's ship has specific characteristics, ranging from the weapons they have to how the ship controls. Because you will take control of all the characters in the game (rather than juts controlling Fox and leaving your partners to the AI), you get a good feel of many different combat set-ups in Command.
Aside from time and turn limitations that I've already harped on enough, the biggest problem is that it gets boring far too quickly. The strategy aspect of the game is fun and fairly addicting, but the battles, which play an equally important part in the game, just aren't all that fun. Fighting the same boring enemies over and over again naturally gets old very soon. The game does occasionally mix things up: for example, to destroy missiles you'll navigate through a set of rings (the "slipstream) while firing at the missile. Additionally, to destroy a map's enemy mothership, you've got to engage it in battle and then navigate through a series a rings, and finally barrel roll just as you're hitting the ship to destroy it. Even these actions, which seem original at first, get boring quickly because they're just used way too often.
If you find yourself enjoying this mechanic, however, then Star Fox Command ensures many hours of gameplay. The game's not very impressive plot-wise, but it does feature tons of characters both old and new, and the much-hyped possibility of 9 different endings. After each mission you can make a choice of where to go or who to go find, and the path you take determines the ending you'll receive. Also, the addition of the "fog of war" device, popular in many strategy games, will delight those who are into the tactics portion of Command. The sad truth, though, is that the battles and tactics are both big parts of gameplay and they're both kind of hard to enjoy.
If you're a huge Star Fox fan, you may want to check out Star Fox Command. But if you're new to the series, this isn't a good entry point. It isn't representative of all the fun that Star Fox has to offer, and while I commend the developers for trying something new, you've got to come to grips with the fact that sometimes new ideas just don't work out all that well. If you are interested in Command, I'd highly recommend that you rent it or borrow it first if at all possible. It's a real hit-or-miss game and while there is the potential to have fun with this game, too many problems get in the way of enjoying it.