Starfox is a franchise tucked away in a corner of my adolescence. It was the first 3-D game I had ever played. As far as new experiences go, it's somewhere between my first trip to Wal-Mart (which was pretty awesome if you're only four feet tall) and the first time I rode a bike on my own.
Starfox was somewhat of a marvel. It was triumph of limited polygonal display, kinetic game play and frustratingly difficult level design.
Though time has corroded its technical luster, the way Jazz Singer is now only a cinematic curio, and subsequent iterations dampened its challenge, the franchise remains an endearing series.
The newest edition, Starfox Command (only for Nintendo DS) honors some of the nostalgia while introducing novel elements to the traditional shoot, fly and dodge found in most of the previous games.
The biggest change is the game's "command" element. Whereas before one would simply select a stage before engaging in total war against the enemy, Command demands some discretion from players.
The game has an overhead map which displays both your units and the opponents. The terrain can be obscured with fog and impeded by obstacles. The player is granted a limited number of turns and in each turn draws flight paths for his fighters. The objectives are to intercept enemy units and missiles going after your base, while simultaneously destroying enemy command stations. Engaging the enemy means entering a sortie within a free range combat arena (essentially a box governing domain of movement) that should be familiar to most Starfox fans. Sorties are won by destroying specific enemy fighters, which vary depending on the character used. The player is given a limited amount of time (representing fuel) to destroy these fighters. Remaining health and fuel quantity is carried over from one fight to the next, though they can be replenished by power-ups dropped by the enemy or found on the command map.
The player wins points by the enemy units they destroy in any skirmish and if all the enemy units -- not just the ones given as mission objectives -- are destroyed, the player earns a missile. The missile can be deployed to wipe out an entire enemy squadron, saving the player time and resources, but losing potential points.
In terms of control, Command is completely dependent on the stylus, save shooting. This scheme is pretty intuitive especially with targeting, except for rolling. Rolling is a defensive maneuver performed by making a right-left scribbling motion on the screen. This is fine and dandy except if you're trying to snipe at an enemy while dodging shots. Just as performing micro-surgery during an earthquake can be somewhat imprecise, so is trying to shoot and roll at the same time.
While the game features multiple endings and plot choices, the real replay comes from the multi-player aspect. Up to six players can fight it out on a single cart. What makes it interesting is that points are not earned by actually downing someone else's ship but getting the star icon that appears when the ship is destroyed. It's subtle, but for the clever player who has read his Sun Tzu and not just his Von Clausevitz, it adds a welcome element of finesse.
Command is a sharp game with charming graphics and novel design. Though, the Starfox franchise is less familiar than its other Nintendo brethren (one of my friends commented that it sounded more like a porn title) it remains a fixture of any gamer's library.
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